Concepts of Natural and Moral Evil

• What is natural evil?


  Evil caused by nature, without human intervention
• What are examples of natural evil?


  Earthquakes, disease, death, plague, volcano
• Why is natural evil difficult for religious people to accept?


  Most natural evil is caused by God. If God is omnipotent it should be easy for him to control natural evil, especially because he created the laws of nature in the first place.
• What is an example of God using natural evil to punish people in the bible?

  Plagues that were intended to persuade the Egyptian pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go free (Exodus 7:8-11:10)
• Why is there a debate about how we should understand these 'acts of God'?


  Some see them as being literally true but some see them as an interpretation of events
• Why are some religious people confused about the existence of natural evil?

  In the New Testament Jesus performed a number of beneficial miracles. If God controlled natural evil 2000 years ago, why doesn't he now?
• What is a moral agent?


  Being capable of acting in accordance with what is right and wrong
• What is moral evil?


  An action where the moral agent uses their free will to bring about morally bad consequences
• What does the moral agent also refer to?

  Inaction
• What are examples of moral evil?


  Bullying, murder, greed, torture, theft