an attempt to show the existence of evil does not rule out gods existence
Epicurious says
"either god wants to abolish evil and can't or he doesn't want to. if he wants to be can't than he is impotent but if he can and doesn't want to then he is wicked"
Mackie's modern version
the "inconsistent triad" suggests that evil shouldn't exists if good is all loving and all powerful. we cannot believe all 3 at the same time without contradiction. evil still exists therefore either god doesn't exists or not all loving and powerful
Mackie's Freewill defence
argues that an omnipotent being could do anything so he could of created a world where humans only choose good. if we were programmed to always do good then we would never be genuinely good and freewill is a higher good.
Rowe says...
that some suffering is reasonable to enable humans to grow but he could not accept intense suffering. an all lowing god would prevent all evil that has no purpose therefore gods existence is unlikely. if you take away all suffering, the world is less valuable and loose the greater good.
Examples of intense suffering
The case of Bambi- lightening strikes a dead tree causing a forest fire, the fawn is trapped and horribly burned and in agony before dies.
Gregory Paul and premature deaths
if god exists then he has chosen a habit to maximise the level of suffering and death among children that are beyond factors of their control so he intended for us to live in a world of greater natural evil. 350billion premature deaths.
Augustian claims...
"god is perfect and the creator of the world so he made a perfect world"
Privation of good
god didn't create evil therefore it is not a thing but it does come from an absence of good. this came from when Adam and Eve destroyed the state of perfection
the doctrine of the fall
god gave Adam and Eve freewill but they choose to disobey god which created the first moral evil
the doctrine of original sin
all humans are guilty of disobedience as Augustine claims that "all humans were seminally present at the fall"
Irenaeus claims...
"let us make mankind in our image and our likeness of god". humans are not created perfect but they have the potential to become perfect.
Morality...
morality that is developed through hard work is more valuable than preprogramed robotic morality. genuine morality is only possible where pain and suffering is present
Swinburne says..
many of the moral values we admire are only possible in an imperfect world. these virtues are in proportion to the severity of the suffering experienced. for example, real compassion comes from real pain.
John Hick's development
used the term "soul-making" to describe the process of moral growth. if god intervened with this it would then undermined human freedom
epistemic distance
God created the world at the epistemic distance to delibiertly make his own existenceuncertain because if people knew he was always watching we would behave in fear and not virtue.
universal salivation
for suffering to be morally justified everyone must attain perfection so everyone must get into heaven