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the problem of evil
this is a summary all the main arguments about
the problem with evil and it is a result of some lectures that I did in
schools at beginning at this year. I hope it's have some use
to people who are approaching GCSE's
and a-levels now. The problem evil
is defined by Epicurus
and is then quoted of course by lactantius and
by Hume so - if God is all good
and evil exists, where does it come from?
if God is all-powerful
and god didn't stop evil then he's not all-powerful
so we have got a problem -if evil exists and an all good and all-powerful
God exists, evil can't exist
or more worryingly god can't exist
the problem moreover compromises the existence
of a good God
Now, what you're interested in are the two major Theodicies
of Augustine and
Irenaeus but let's begin
with the idea of
Augustine's that evil is an
absence of good Privatio boni so evil in a sense doesn't exist/ one way
to get round
the "inconsistent triad" is to redefine the terms
and when we look at modern writers on this subject, in - for example process
theology, the theologians are saying
that god is incapable of
stopping evil god is in other words is not all-powerful
so we solve the inconsistent
triad by saying well the idea of God is all-powerful
isn't quite... so God cannot stop moral evil
or indeed certain types of natural evil so I have got three points to make before we
go on to looking
at the Theodicies. the first
is to redefine our Terms this solves
the "inconsistent triad" the Epicurious problem
evil may be redefined as the absence of Good. we may modify the extent to God's
power or goodness in order to
account for the existence of evil secondly
evil may be seen as just another part
of God's activity. now there are three
texts in the Old Testament which are particularly important here= the idea is
that "I create good and I create evil" I(God) am responsible for the whole lot
Amos 36 lamentations 330
8 and Isaiah 45 verse 7
now this is then defended by Jewish mysticism Kabbalism
this is a way evil is just another aspect of God's revelation
the third point you are more familiar with
which is the free will defense- now the freewill defense
is then elaborated on in the first Theodicy of
Augustine- the limited sovereignty
idea. the idea that the universe is created perfectly
and then the collective behavior of all mankind and
fallen angels means the universe
degenerates- we are responsible for the evil
both moral evil and the natural evil
that is around us it's a misuse
of free will I have 3
objections to Augustine's theodicy
how can a perfect universe go wrong
but in fact if I have got a perfect computer
if I buy a really good computer and it breaks down
who do I blame I don't blame myself I blame Apple the idea
of a perfect universe that is now degraded
there is no scientific evidence for that and
the third point which I find a little bit dodgy
is the idea of eternal punishment the idea of eternal hell
I don't see that continual
and eternal punishment serves any purpose
sat all let's go on to our second theodicy this in the theodicy
the defense of God against
the problem evil from the greek word THEOS= God and *** =
justice defending God the second theodicy which is important is that of
Irenaeus the soul making
theodicy we're put on this
earth in order to be educated now I have some serious problems with this
it's something which is
particularly favored in schools and sixth forms
rather than looking at term as the image of
a school well when we look at Irenaeus
let's imagine him more as a car factory remember
the word in in Latin for create is "Fiat
the divine fee it also of course has got Italian
ressonance as a rather wonderful car so let's think
of this theodicy as some sort of a garage
god creates the initial model
and then we have two road test it in a hostile environment
but let's look the criticisms
although i renew nurses theodicy the idea that
evil is in some how useful the idea that evil is good for others
Feyodor dostoevsky
in the brothers Karamatzov
takes the opposite view . He asks if you have the opportunity of creating a
world with lots of evil in it to teach you,
would you do so? no! as for this idea
that this is the best of all possible worlds I I just don't buy that one it's
like accepting second-rate work
from the plumber well, it is as good as you're going to get mate!
well I i would want my money back
we can we can look at the actual extent of human suffering
far too much think of the holocaust and I also question
the apparently Victorian idea
that in order to have a good education
you need to suffer I don't see that pain
is necessary to education
now this brings us finally onto on my favorite terms
APOCATASTASIS this is a
displayed by
origen and origen
also takes the idea the image of a school that this world is a school in
that we need evil
in order to learn but he thinks it is a cyclic thing so
that ultimately the ultimate suffering is hell
and that is something that brings us back to purification and then back
again to the good
so the whole creation is starting off good and degenerating into bad
coming round and going back into good again- evil in other words
is a temporary experience and the devil himself
in this cyclical system is destined for salvation
of course origen was completely condemned for this but it is
a solution to a problem of evil
TIM WILSON