Good and Evil

• Conscience


  Human reason making moral decisions. The knowledge we have of what is right and wrong and the God-given compulsion within all human beings to do what is right and to avoid what is evil.
• Evil


  The absence of good and the impulse to seek our own desires at the expense of the good of others which often results in suffering.
• Free-will


  The decision making part of a person's mind is called the will. A will is free if a person is able to choose right from wrong without being controlled by other forces.
• Goodness


  The quality of being like God: seeking the well-being of others selflessly.
• Incarnation

  "Made flesh". The Christian belief that God became man in the person of Jesus, fully human and fully divine.
• Natural Law


  The moral laws of right and wrong which are universal and not dependent on human laws. The belief in natural law is the belief that the moral law is discovered by every human being and is the same for all human beings in all places at all times.
• Privation


  The loss or absence of a quality or something that is normally present. Evil is a privation of good.
• Suffering


  Pain or loss which harms human beings. Some suffering is caused by other human beings (often called moral evil); some is not (often called natural evil).
• Difference between moral and natural evil

  • Moral evil - suffering caused by humans acting in a way that is considered morally wrong e.g. Murder, violence, greed, lying
  • Natural evil - suffering caused by events that have nothing to do with humans, and which are to do with the way the world is e.g. earthquake, tsunami, volcano, floods, droughts
• Evil and Suffering causes problems for religious people because if God is good, he must want to get rid of suffering, if God is all-knowing, he must have known that his creation would suffer, if God is all-powerful, he should be able to stop suffering
• Stephen Fry: 'The God who made this universe, if it was created by God, is clearly a maniac'
• St Augustine: 'Either God cannot abolish evil or he will not; if he cannot then he is not all-powerful, if he will not, then he is not all good.'
• Richard Dawkins: 'The random way in which natural disasters and diseases affect human beings is clear proof that there is no such thing as a good God, looking after his creation'
• David Hume: 'The problem of evil is the rock of atheism.'
• Epicurus (341-270): 'Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?'
• Inconsistent triad


  Omnipotent, Benevolent, Evil Exists - 3 statements that cannot logically all be true at the same time without leading to a contradiction. The combination of any of these two positions leads logically to the third being impossible. However, theists wish to maintain that all three positions are true whilst still believing that God exists.
• Evidential Problem


  The sheer amount of evil and suffering present within the world cannot be reconciled with the God of classical theism. A small amount of evil might be tolerated to distinguish between right and wrong, to provide motivation for believers to 'do the right thing', or to highlight God's goodness. However, it is not clear why God permits, in some instances large amounts of suffering, e.g. the Holocaust. The evidence of unnecessary evil suggests that God does not exist.
• Jews do not believe in Original Sin from Adam and Eve. The Torah teaches that every human faces temptation and must make choices, they need to be obedient to God to avoid evil. All humans are born with two inclinations - Yetzer ha tov – inclination to do good - Yetzer ha ra – inclination to do evil. The ten days between the festivals of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur give people the chance to atone (make up) for their sins. Jews see evil and suffering as a consequence of our wrong choices.
• 'God saw all that he had made and it was very good' Genesis 1:31
• 'God could only create good things because God is good.' St Thomas Aquinas
• "For everything created by God is good." 1 Timothy 4:4
• He wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom and goodness: Catechism of the Catholic Church
• Evidence of God's Goodness


  • Sunset
  • New Life
  • Plants and flowers
  • Freedom
  • Love
• Evidence against God's goodness


  • Natural disasters
  • Cancer
  • Suffering and death
  • War
• The Torah teaches that God is the creator, he is merciful and will protect and care for all that he has created. Jews do not believe in the devil.
• The goodness of God is shown by the creation of the world and other stories in the Torah, such as God setting his people free from slavery (Moses in Egypt)
• St Augustine: Evil helps us appreciate good


  Sometimes we don't appreciate the good things we have until they go away e.g. our health. The existence of evil helps us to appreciate the good things we have.
• St Augustine: Evil is not a thing


  God made a world full of good things. He did not make evil. Evil is not a thing. Evil is the absence (privation) of good. When we make bad choices (abuse our Free Will) we can't see the good and we experience what we call evil.
• St Augustine: Evil makes us better

  Sometimes suffering may be good for us. God will allow evil as it can teach us lessons and help us to be better people. E.g. Jesus' suffering and death allowed us to be forgiven
• Though the story of the fall of Adam and Eve is in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, an idea of original sin was never developed in Judaism. The rabbis spoke of the Yetzer Ha'Ra, the evil impulse or will. Humans have a tendency, a weakness to sin. Psalm 51:5 says, "Remember, I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception", referring to the tendency to evil.
• Irenaeus - Soul-making theodicy

  Some Christians believe that God allows evil to exist because suffering through evil is necessary for individuals to develop their moral souls. Like Augustine, Irenaeus also suggested that evil could be traced back to human Free Will. However, he differed from Augustine by saying that God did not make a perfect world and that evil has a valuable part to play in God's plan for humans. St Irenaeus argued that humans could not achieve the likeness of God without free will therefore they had to have the possibility of sin. Goodness and perfection had to be developed by humans themselves.
• John Hick


  He argued that God deliberately made a world which was not perfect. Humans learn and grow in an imperfect world. God values free will so much, he wants us to learn how to be loving and compassionate. He said "Physical exercise is painful and difficult, but ultimately leads to a stronger body. In the same way suffering leads to a stronger healthier soul"
• Judaism has one of the most famous reflections on the meaning of suffering in the Book of Job. In the end, for Job, suffering is a mystery and God refuses to answer Job's call to explain it. The idea is that humans could never understand God's plans and should not hold him to account for suffering.
• Atheists reject the existence of God, so the problem of evil isn't a problem at all! Rather, the existence of evil in the world works as a way of solidifying their position against the existence of an all-loving, good God.
• Humanists are people who believe in promoting human reason and science as the answers to life's questions. God & religion are both completely rejected by Humanists. So, for humanists there is no problem either! Rather, the existence of evil in the world works as a way of solidifying their position against the existence of an all-loving, good God.
• Ambivalence


  Having mixed emotions or contradictory ideas about something or someone.
• God must have a reason for allowing evil and suffering, but we cannot know what this is as we are not God. BUT we do know from the life of Jesus that even God's own Son had to suffer, and that Jesus commanded his followers to respond to suffering by helping those who suffer. Jesus dying on the cross means that evil and suffering no longer have power over human beings. If you trust in God he will help you to endure suffering. God has power over death which he showed by the resurrection of Jesus, and his followers will enjoy the next life.
• In the Catholic faith statues and sculptures are not worshipped, they are used to show great respect and reverence to the person they represent. Beautiful art such as a statue or a painting in a Catholic Church is used in the same way Evangelicals use beautiful music (which is also a form of art). We do not worship the art itself as is described in Psalms 97:7 "shame on all who serve images".
• During the Protestant reformation statues were destroyed because they were seen as vain images. So it was seen as 'worshipping false idols'. As the commandment says "You shall not have other God's before me". (Exodus 20:2) (For this reason Jews do not have statues)
• Pieta


  A painting, drawing or sculpture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding the dead body of Jesus. The word means "pity" in Italian. Mary is shown as a beautiful young woman and not as a woman of about 50 to which she would have been at this stage. Some think this emphasises her purity and innocence. Michelangelo said women who are chaste (virgins) keep their beauty for longer. When Mary holds Jesus in this sculpture, you can see that her hands do not touch his body at all – she has her hands on the cloth that he is wrapped in. This recognises the belief that the body is sacred. Mary's left hand is turned upwards in helpless resignation, this shows the intensity of her grief and suffering, Others say her outstretched left hand beckons us to share with her, the profound grief caused by the death of her son. The face of Jesus shows no marks of the Passion, no signs of his suffering. He is calm, abandoned to his fate. In this sculpture there is a scene of deep grief and suffering, but also of hope and a hint of resurrection. True love involves suffering. Christ lies, dead and cradled in his mother's arms. This shows Jesus' humanity.