Philosophy: Problem of evil

The inconsistent triad

Posed by Epicurus and returned to by Hume: If god was all powerful, he could abolish evil. If god was all loving, he would abolish evil. BUT evil exists. God cannot be all loving and powerful at once if evil exists. God not real oe not abrahamic god

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BAD Christian response critiqued by Phillips

We need black to appreciate white. evil not a painting observed by a distant person. it involves real harm and suffering. D.Z. Phillips suggests this response adds to evil in the world. suggests exterminating jews was for good to grow from suffering

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GOOD christian Response- Hans Kung

suggested that god tries to relate with humanity and shows he will not abandone humanity in its suffering. Kung suggested that god suffered as jesus on the cross in order to stare suffering humanity in the face. BUT no answer to why god allowed evil!

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Theodicies

an attempt to justify the goodness of god given the fact of evil

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Theodicy of Augustine: the fall (OG sin)

adam and eve chose to reject gods command and ate the forbidden fruit. as a result, expelled from eden, suffered during childbirth and had to live by labour. this links to the sould deciding theodicy. so evil is a test of good and faithfulness to god

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Objections to Augustine- dawkins

his science is outdated, people were not stored in mens sexual organs, we were not present in adam during OG sin. even so it is still unjust for the whole human race to suffer for the mistake of two people. dawkins- god is a sadomasochist

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Objection to augustine 2: Imperfection + hell

if creations were made prefectly then they would not go wrong. if as augustine thinks, god made hell as a place to send the wicked, then he had built into the universe not only imperfection but also a place of suffering that isn't good in itself

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Soul-making theodicy: Iranaeus

the idea that there is evil in the world to provide opportunities for people to develop in goodness and character. people go to prison and suffer in order to become a better person(argueably)

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Reaching divine likeness

genesis 1:26 'let us make man in our image, according to our likeness'. this means that we are made in gods image but need to grow, throughout history, into his likeness. we need to be like god, mature and self directed. Iranaeus A+E morally immature

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Reaching divine likeness continued

he does not see this as a catastrophe and has no sense of OG sin. god wanted humans to mature over a lengthy time. not just a lifetime. he sends jesus to help us learn how to do so

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John Hick's Iranaean theodicy approach

supports free will defence and states that god wants a genuine relationship with us. only worth relationship is one freely chosen. if we have genuine real choices then there will be real consequences.

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John Hick's Iranaean theodicy approach continued

if we cannot be harmed then we will not learn patience, tolerance or forgiveness. hick states that god creates epistemic distance, a gap in our knowledge to allow us to come to our own rational conclusions about god and life in general.

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Hick's Instrumental good

something's goodness may very much depend on its purpose. he argues that a world without pain will be a good world in itself but will not be good for making us better people, or soul making in the sense of development of our natures.

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Hick's universal salvation

Hell is a problem, it does no good butcause pain and punishment. Hick states that not evryone goes straight to heaven, but temporarily go to hell for a further opportunity for soul making until they are ready to reunite with god, he never despairs.

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Philosophy: Problem of evil

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