The Problem of Evil

The Problem of Evil

  • Submitted By: Bowestown
  • Date Submitted: 11/25/2008 12:07 PM
  • Category: Philosophy
  • Words: 1851
  • Page: 8
  • Views: 2

The Problem of Evil

The problem of evil has been has long been a source for questioning the existence of god. The argument is that if God is omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent, then how could there be so much suffering? There is suffering that affects an individual in everyday life, terrible acts in history such as the millions of innocent people killed in the holocaust, as well problems such as starvation and poverty. If God is truly benevolent, it would be expected that he would intervene and dispose of such suffering, or “evil”. Another factor that would reinforce the problem of evil is the fact that God supposedly created a perfect world. Yet in this world, besides the evil that is brought about by humans, there are natural evils that cause obvious suffering such as volcanoes, flooding, severe storms and hurricanes. One would have to question why God would choose to create these aspects of the world. Clearly if God was an omnipotent creator, why would such evil exist for which obviously no human could be responsible? This incompatibility of the existence of God and the existence of suffering and evil is known as “the problem of evil”. The two types of evil that are considered here are evil done and evil suffered. Augustine believes that the problem of evil is based on evil done and that humans created evil through free will. On the other hand, Emmanuel Levinas believes that evil suffered is the cause of the problem of evil. This paper will examine both these aspects and derive a solution to the problem.

It doesn’t take a great deal of convincing to see that the problem of evil is a huge problem for religion. There have been many arguments known as theodicies formulated over the years to contradict the problem of evil. St Augustine came up with a theodicy in his time that was greatly considered. Augustine claimed that God created a perfect world, and that humans sinned in accordance to their own free will, thus creating evil in this...

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