Theodicy

appropriately termed free persons, God has made things which he subsequently cannot control”. So is there a limit over the control of people’s actions even if what they do is done out of pure evil or are we free to choose what actions to perform? Free will theodicy explains our human nature and our evolving world. As complex as times get from the very beginning to our current times we will always have to live together to survive and evolve into an efficient species. One way is creating an…

The issue of evil and suffering in our world poses a serious challenge to the belief in a God, both from western and non-western perspectives. The problem of evil also called the problem of suffering, is an argument against the existence of God and is fundamentally the main argument for God’s non-existence by an atheist. In the western world, it is unmistakable that many theists believe in an omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent God. However, these set of beliefs cannot all be true at the…

some are just concerned with not getting wrapped up with evil. Evil is necessary and allowed to exist by the almighty for several reasons. With all the questions about why evil exists, I know we are not to question God and his actions and plans. Theodicy is defined as “the explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God permits evil” (Britannica). Why would such a loving and just God allow so much evil, hate and bad to exist in the world? Why does he allow Satan and his…

Theodicy and Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero Every day certain circumstances cause people throughout the world to face undeniable questions about God and his abilities. Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero takes viewers through the stories and theodicies of multiple people affected by the horrendous tragedy of 9/11, questioning God’s role in the evil that took place on that sorrowful day and the impact it made on their futures. In the film Kirk Varnedoe, Tim Lynston, and Dasha Rittenberg provide their…

When one examines religion, one often finds a glaring contradiction between the existence an all knowing, all powerful, all loving God, and evil. This is known as the problem of evil, and it has perplexed theists and atheists for centuries. One 20th century philosopher, J.L Mackie, used a formulation of the problem of evil in an attempt to disprove the existence of God. Over the course of his career, he sought to prove that God could not exist alongside evil. While Mackie’s argument is valid,…

The largest obstacle in believing the existence of God is the theodicy problem or the problem of evil. The problem of evil states there cannot be the co-existence of a good God and the existence of evil. How can an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient loving God allow such evil acts of hatred and suffering in our world? Why do bad things happen to good people? Understandably so, because of this, it has become the largest threat to Christian theology. Many theologians have sought to…

As a believer of the divine, one could make three statements about the world: 1, God is omnipotent 2, God is wholly good and 3, evil exists. J.L. Mackie takes a logical approach to why there is evil in this world and concludes that if God is what He is defined as – omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good – evil should not exist for either God is not omnipotent, meaning all powerful, or He is not wholly good. Mackie claims that at least one characteristic of the divine must be untrue because it…

Underestimating God When something evil is happening it is normal for mankind to go through the five stages of grieving (Axelrod, 2006). Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance are all normal parts of processing a detrimental moment in life. No two individuals will go through the stages in the same time or even the same order yet rest assured that at some point we will all ask: why? As part of our quest to understand our relationship with the rest of mankind and God we…

Evil can be defined as anything that is painful, malicious or disastrous. There is much evil in the world, which can be split into either natural or moral evil. Natural evil refers to the suffering caused by natural disasters whereas moral evil refers to suffering which has been caused by human selfishness. I believe that the existence of these evils in the world disproves the existence of God. These evils would not exist if there was a perfectly good, all loving, omnipotent, omniscient God as…

The problem of evil arises in both of the philosophical arguments by Gottfried Leibniz and J. L. Mackie, as they attempt to argue for and against the existence of God. The title of Leibniz’s book, Theodicy, translates into “the vindication of God’s power and goodness despite the existence of evil,” and so Leibniz attempts to solve the problem of evil through his work (Martin 313). Mackie’s work, Evil and Omnipotence, sets forth a strong thesis in his argument challenging religious belief in God.…