The Philosophy of Religious Evil

The divesting and widespread effects of evil are all too apparent. Questions regarding why and how evil exists in the earth that according to several individuals, is sustained and created by powerful and loving God have been composed beneath the name “the problem of evil”. Theologians and philosophers have long wrestled with issues of the evil and continue to put forward diverse of answers to this problem. Investigating the significance and cogency of several of these answers is the overall objective of the challenge of evil in the contemporary and modern thought. The epistemic wonder presented by evil is whether the world has undesirable states of affairs that give the ground for an argument that creates it unreasonable for everyone to conceive in the existence of God (Hick & John).

Why I believe evil is present in the world if an all-powerful and all knowing deity actually exists?

The ill of evil rest on two exceedingly reasonable fundamental assumptions, if God exist then he is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good, and that there is evil in the world. It is on the other premise, which indicates that if God existed, evil would not exist. The existence or presence of evil appears to be indisputable. There is pervasive in suffering in the whole world. All of us have wittiness some amount of pain, both emotional and physical; evil confronts each and every person. However, some have sought to refute the existence of evil, and hence avoid the problem of defining or explaining how evil is real in the world.

 

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Christian philosophers are in the group that teach that evil is an illusion. According to Mary Baker Eddy movement, explain that disease, sin and whatever looks to be real to material sense is unreal. Suffering on this perspective, perhaps appears to surround us; however, this is only an appearance. However, it is hard to dismiss all evil as illusory (Mitchell & Basil). If it seems that I am racked with a disease but that appearance is just merely illusory; hence, it is still a painful illusion. Even though, the disease is no evil due to its non existence, the appearance of disease stays an evil. Objective suffering may, possibly, logically be dismissed as illusive, but subjective suffering cannot be.

Evil is privation of good. According to this idea existence of evil is not a good thing that is there in the world, but an absence of good. Therefore, I believe evil exist and God cannot be questioned for existence of evil, evil is not a thing and hence was not brought into reality. The view that the world has evil can, therefore, be reconciled with the view that it was made by a God who could not make evil. It was only that the existence of good in the world that was made the evil is just merely an absence of good.

What I believe to be the primary causes of physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness. Moral wickedness is one of induces of the physical pain and mental suffering, for an enormous amount of pain of human pain develops from individuals’ inhumanity. This pain comprises of such main scourges as war, indignity, oppressions and persecution, poverty, all injustice and inequity that have happened throughout the history (Hick & John).. Even disease is furthered, to a level that has not been exactly evaluated by psychosomatic medicine, by moral factors and emotional seated in both social and in an individual’s environment. Even though, an immense of suffering and pain are generated by human activities, there are more that comes from natural causes as earthquakes and bacteria, fire, flood, drought and storms.

Suffering and evil are not just theological and philosophical elements of human existence but is an individual problem that each and every human person experience. Human starts suffer from physical handicaps, blindness and sickness which are mainly accompanied by physical pain. In many instances, mental suffering is more serious compared to purely physical suffering. This mainly applies to grave mental disorder such as depression, mental retardation and insanity.

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I propose Augustine theodicy to solve the problem of evil. Augustine based his theodicy on key -reading of Biblical passages that are Genesis 1-3 and Romans 5: 12-20. According to the narration of Genesis 1-3, Augustine’s theodicy indicates that God made the world and everything in it, and it was perfect, without any suffering or evil. “God saw all that he had created and saw that it was exceptionally good” Genesis 1:31. Genesis 3 narrates the account of Adam and Eve and diminishes in the Garden of Eden. In this passage, the snake convinces Eve to take the forbidden fruit from tree of evil and knowledge of good. Eve accept the fruit and take some to Adam. As a consequence of their disobedience, God had them ejected from the Garden of Eden. Regarding Roman 5 Paul illustrates the Christian belief that Jesus acceptance on the cross withdraws the disobedience of Adam and Eve. The gift of righteousness was made available through self sacrifice of Jesus (Rowe & William).

Augustine explains evil as the privation of goodness, the same as the blindness is deprivation of sight. Because is not an entity in its own, the same as the blindness is not an entity in its own, God could not have made evil. Evil comes from free will possessed by humans and angels, who turned against God and settled for a small form of goodness, hence making a privation of goodness. This led to the state of perfection being ruined by sin. Therefore, all suffering is a result of abuse of free will.

Augustine explains that natural evil occurred due to the loss of order in nature, defined as penal consequences of sin. Moral evil is derived from disobedience and human free will. All Augustine argued that all individuals are worthy of the punishment of suffering and evil because we are all originate from in the loins of Adam, worthy of the punishment of original sin (Wainwright, William, p 56).

God is justified not to intervene and put an end to human suffering, and evil, because he is a just God and we all deserve punishment. However, it is through his infinite love and grace to some of us who he choose to offer his grace, that we are capable to accept his offer of salvation and internal life in heaven. God love toward the world was indicated through the reconciliation made feasible via Jesus Christ.

According to Augustine theodicy God is good, just perfect and love his own people whom he created. He created no evil and presence of evil on the world was through the disobedience of a human being. It is true that we live by God grace and love; we all believe that there is internal life in heaven. God give out his own son for the love of his people, and this demonstrate the reunion of God and his people. The description of God and facts illustrated in this Augustine theodicy are true and real and that led me to use this theodicy to solve the problem of evil.

I have rejected Irenaen because the idea of Irenaen that every person goes to heaven is not just, and it is contrary to fall in Genesis 3 and Orthodox Christianity. It also relegates Jesus responsibility from savior to ethical role model. Irenaen believed that God was somewhat responsible for suffering and evil. They also argued that God made the world imperfectly hence every imperfect immature being could come via soul making procedure into a child of God, in likeness perfect of God. God could not have made human being in perfectly look like him, because having the likeness of God needs the willing cooperation of human.

I have rejected Modern process theodicy because it uses qualifications instead theodicy to orchestrate a resolution to the issue. For instance, it perfectly revises the originate conception of God. If God is not capable of guarantee conquest over evil, what is the aim in human being efforts? It argues that God is not everywhere and he did not make the world, rather the world is unmade and he part of it. This is inconsistent to the transcendent and all powerful God of Abrahamic religions.

God exist, and he is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good, and that exist evil in the universe. Evil and suffering originate from human disobedience. Human actions also cause physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness.