Moral Evil and the Existence of God

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Why God Allows Evil I. Introduction: An approach to explain why an all-good God tolerates the existence of evils. A. Theodicy: A vindication of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil. This is the basis Swinburne uses in justifying his reasoning on the possible co-existence of both God and Evil. B. Swinburne claims that if there is a God, the occurrence of evils is to be expected. C. If the theist cannot explain why the co-existence of God and Evil is possible, then his belief in God is not rational. II. Moral Evil: Any evil doing that does harms to others and is done by humans with intents. A. Based on the theodical “free-will defense,” it is possible for a God to possess the properties of being “benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient” while at the same time allowing the existence of evils; therefore, the two should not be contradictory. B. Set aside all the legislative, judicial and government regulatory systems, it is an indisputable fact that the all-loving God has given us, humans, free-will, which is defined as a “free and responsible choice” by Swinburne. The “choice” here represents a decision between good and evil, which implies that there is always an inevitable non-predetermined possibility (of either evil or good or both), which may substantially harm or (and) benefit the others, the initiator (one who makes the choice), and perhaps, the world, that comes with this privileged free-will. C. Taking it literally, the word “free-will” means a discretion that is free-of-restraints. Since God has presented us free-will and if he monitors every action we make and prevents us from doing anything evil, what is free about this “free-will”? Consequently, let us be reminded that if God does not allow evil, there will be no rationalities in such a “free-will.” D. In addition, the significance of free-will is itself
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