Analysis Of Thomas Aquinas For Armchair Theologians

Aquinas for Armchair Theologians examines the nature of evil in chapter 3, “Why Is There Evil? Do Humans Have Free Will?”. Aquinas answers the first question by stating, “…that God does not make evil. God only makes good. Evil, in a sense, does not exist at all- at least it is not a substance or a thing” (Renick, p.33). The author also uses the Daisy Theory and Hitler to make the claim “privation of the good” is evil. However, when looking at what the Bible has written about evil it states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rome 3:23, ESV). This means that all of creation has failed to meet God’s standards and has evil within themselves. In regard to free will, Penick said Aquinas had struggled to make sense of how God is all knowing, even of our actions, yet when humans act in evil, God blames us. Aquinas concluded that God works necessarily and contingently. When Aquinas makes that statement, he is neglecting God’s sovereignty. Because Aquinas failed to capture the full …show more content…
God is Love, almighty, sovereign and just. God is Creator, we are His creation. We cannot perfectly understand His nature. We have the Bible to understand who He is, but I believe we don’t understand God solely through philosophy or reading the Bible. We need to know Him personally through the Holy Spirit. God’s word states that mankind has a sinful nature and that is why we are not wholly good. Man’s will is free but his will is bound to his nature, which is spiritually dead. That is why grace is so marvelous. God never depends on anything. He accomplishes His plan by His power for His own glory. People are questioning “if God is good, then why does He allow disasters or sickness”. God can see our suffering and pain, but God can use the suffering to make blessings. Eliminating God from the argument will not allow for a full understanding of evil and its