Theistic Worldview Analysis

Improved Essays
The theistic worldview maintains that the universe was created by a perfect being who continues to actively observe it. Conversely, the atheistic worldview avows to a belief in the existence of only the materialistic world, which they contend was not created by a supernatural being. Non-believers commonly employ arguments that are grounded in the problem of evil to dispute the theist’s divine creator. The problem of evil elicits the question of how a perfect and loving God could allow evil, such as human suffering and wrongdoing, to exist in the world (Morris 263). To support their theistic worldview, it is imperative that Christians evaluate and devise logical answers to the problem of evil. Through theistic arguments, it can be shown that …show more content…
The reality of “stable natural laws” and the human environment such laws facilitate is that they are conducive to free-willed creatures making real moral choices (Morris 274). People find themselves challenged daily to make decisions that impact their value system. Consequently, individuals have the opportunity to grow and learn from the choices and mistakes they make through their life experience. If God is love and loves humankind, then it would stand to reason that He desires for them to reach the place for which they were designed because He would want them to be “fulfilled and their happiness attained” (Lewis …show more content…
They suggest that if God had unlimited power He would be able to stop all evil before it occurred. C.S. Lewis noted in his book The Problem of Pain that if something is “self-contradictory it is absolutely impossible” and can be considered intrinsically impossible because it carries its impossibility within itself” (561). He argues that the Omnipotence of God means that He has the power to do anything that is intrinsically possible; however, God cannot do anything that is intrinsically impossible (Lewis 561). For example, God cannot give human beings something such as reason or free will and simultaneously withhold that thing (Lewis 561). Thus, the law of contradiction that applies to human beings also holds true to

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    At a young age majority of us grew up believing that there is a higher being above us that created us, that shaped our lives to be where it is now, and that being is known as god. When we were a child, we did not have a choice whether we truly believed in the existence of God. We were told what to believe and never questioned it that belief. In this essay, I will analyze the existence of god between “Does God Exist?” by Ernest Nagel and “Why God Allows Evil” by Richard Swinburne. Although Nagel rejects the existence of God, he establishes two causes for why God exists.…

    • 1614 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1968 a philosopher named H.J. McCloskey wrote an article titled “On Being an Atheist,” which attacked the main arguments held by theists. The main arguments that he refers to as “proofs” are the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, and the ontological argument. McCloskey’s article debunks these arguments as being false and without proof. He states that theists should dismiss the idea of God entirely. He claims in his opening statements that he will show reasons why theists should be miserable just because they are theists (1).…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Cosmological Argument

    • 2037 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In the middle of the 17th century, thinkers in the enlightenment began to question how belief in the existence of a monotheistic God could be rationally supported. A number of arguments for and against the existence of God emerged at this time, and while the philosophical debate on the existence of God is still in session, the initial dust has settled. At this point in time, it is abundantly clear that a the cosmological argument is untenable at both a metaphysical and empirical level, and that the various versions of the cosmological argument fail to support the existence of God. There is good reason for critically examining the cosmological argument. Theists have made a claim that God exists.…

    • 2037 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When you hear the word evil what thoughts pop-in your head? Do you believe an evil can exist if there’s still a higher power or God? In this essay, I will be discussing Williams Rowe’s argument for atheism based on the Well-Known argument “The Problem of evil and Some Varieties of Atheism”. The problem of evil questions the existence of a God based on the evil in the world. In this paper, I will discuss his reasoning for atheism, I will explain in depth what he means by each premise.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Julian's Theory Of Evil

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The problem of evil is an atheistic argument, against the existence of God. It is a deductive argument that pits the existence of unjustified evil against the existence of any kind of divine being. Julian of Norwich presents a response to the problem of evil, but there are also some possible holes in Julian’s theory. This paper explores the problem of evil and how it is connected to human suffering, Julian’s theory in response to the problem, and a critique of Julian’s theory. One must assume that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God exists.…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. Thesis The discovery and acceptance of Natural Selection refutes Paley’s design argument. Beyond this, Natural Selection offers new conclusions to theological problems, most of which are atheistic. Despite these plausible solutions, a skeptical mindset towards atheism should be adopted since logical arguments still remain in favor of theism.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Response to McCloskey’s Article Shamyra Thompson Liberty University Introduction In the short article On Being an Atheist, H.J. McCloskey discusses several arguments pertaining to the whether or no there is a God and what one believes to be evil. McCloskey also refers to the arguments as “proof” as well as implied several times that they can’t define or establish the existence of God. In the light of Foreman’s comments in regards to the question of God’s existence, I felt that he addressed the question by discussing the commonly asked question “Is there a God or if a God exist”. He also discussed what exactly is evil.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Préciso of The Problem of Evil In Rowe’s work, The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism, he discusses three interrelated questions which are the following: 1) Is there an argument for atheism based on the existence of evil that may rationally justify someone in being an atheist? 2) How can the theist best defend his position against the argument for atheism based on the existence of evil? 3) What position should the informed atheist take concerning the rationality of theistic belief? Before answering his question, he defines his view of theist and atheist.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the article, “God,” Simon Blackburn gives different insights that may seem logical to a person limited to a self-seeking mindset. Therefore, I will be making the argument that Blackburn is incorrect when claiming that, due to the existence of evil, there must not be an all-powerful God whom doesn’t care. Through his piece “God” Blackburn addresses various different cases through famous philosophers and theologians, namely Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Cleathnes. He firmly disagrees with these three scholars in their belief of the existence of God.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The evidential problem of evil determines the degree of how much evil must be a part of the evidence of God’s existence. While on the other hand the logical problem of evil is seen through our own eyes. It bares the question whether God is a perfect because of all wrong taking place in the world. Through these two problems it is hard to even imagine that God is perfect. Through Richard Swinburne’s theodicy (theodicy - an attempt to defend God's omnibenevolence in the face of evil) , one comes to find the case that initially escapes the evidential and logical problems…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his article “Evil and Omnipotence,” J.L. Mackie explores the various adequate and fallacious solutions to the “problem of evil,” a problem in which “God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists” (p. 119). While Mackie discusses, analyzes, and criticizes many solutions, including “good cannot exist without evil” (p. 120) and “evil is necessary as a means to good” (p. 122), my paper will solely focus on Mackie’s response to the fallacious solution that “evil is due to human free will” (p. 123), which begins “first I must query” on p. 124. This paper will formally extract, justify, critically evaluate, and engage with Mackie’s argument that existence of evil due to free will is erroneous. Mackie describes the free will…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Universe Next Door” by James Sire provides insight into the various opposing worldviews society faces today. Beginning with the Pre-Modern thoughts that believe in God’s existence, spanning to the Modern view placing matter in the center of reality, and concluding with the Postmodern thoughts which deny the existence of reality. Throughout the semester we have discussed several of these viewings of the world, noting some views appear to be more practical than others. With the use of Sire’s eight fundamental questions I would like to compare and contrast the Pre-Modern thoughts of the Christian Theistic worldview to the Modern thoughts of the Naturalistic worldview. Beginning with Sire’s first question “what is prime reality-the really…

    • 2051 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The existence of God, a topic discussed in both William Rowe’s and Robin Collins’ papers, but for two very different reasons. The argument of good vs. evil and the existence of an omnipresent, benevolent being such as God is a topic that many find very difficult to find answers for, and will continue to plague mankind for the rest of our existence. After reading the published works of Mr. Collins and Mr. Rowe, one may find it easier to formulate their own opinion. In the publication by Mr. Collins, he addresses the topic of atheism and theism in respect to physics.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Femenism Vs Utilitarianism

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The acceptance of evil or theodicy within our modern world, has become questioned more and more as we as citizens of the world and children of God are constantly exposed to the terrors of religious fanatic’s, murderers, and tribes of kidnappers around the globe. The phrase, if God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good, how can that same God allow evil to exist and for bad things to happen to good people? Some authors have even attempted to answer this question directly, there is at present a widespread philosophical consensus, shared by atheists as well as theists, that (the logical problem of evil) has been satisfactorily answered by Alvin Plantinga’s Free Will Defence’, (Phillips, D, 2007). To imply that freewill is the absolute…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Does God Exist Essay

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the vast study of philosophy, a particular question has baffled even the most intelligent minds. This question is, “Does God exist?” Philosophers have considered the answer to this question for centuries, each coming up with their own argument and reasons behind their thinking. A platform of debate often used is Antony Flew’s parable of the two explorers, who find a garden so beautiful, that one of the explorers is positive that there must be a gardener tending to it, even if he can’t be detected in any way. The other explorer is not so easily convinced that a gardener exists at all.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays