Implications of the problem of evil and suffering

• may historians conclude that there is no definitive answer to the problem but adopt one of the theodicies as the 'best fit' with their experience

  • the Catholic Church and many protestants adopt the soul-deciding augustinian theodicy with its emphasis on free will, judgement, heaven and hell
  • any others adopt the free will defence (often in conjunction with one of the other theodicies) or hick's soul-making theodicy.
  • some liberal christians accept process theodicy.
• whatever theodicy is adopted, many christians also adopt the practical response of trying to alleviate suffering wherever they can.
• many christians reject any attempt at philosophical understanding in favour of faith

  • they follow the example of Job, who in the end accepts that the limitations of being a human mean that he cannot understand why he suffers, but he is prepared to trust that god does have a good purpose.
  • despite his fear of death experienced in Gethsemane and his sense of separation from god at the height of his agony on the cross, Jesus trusted that there was a good purpose behind his death
• the experience of terrible suffering, especially when it is on a colossal scale, has led to two polarising results

  • it is a major reason for the growth in atheism and agosticism in modern times
  • it is also one reason for the increase in apocalyptic and millenarian christian sects, whose literal understanding of the New Testament book of revelation leads to them understanding the ever-increasing evil on earth as the preliminaries to the final cosmic battle between god and satan that will lead to the end of the world as we know it.
• apocalyptic sects

  religious groups that believe the end of the world is imminent
• millenarianism


  the belief that there will be a thousand years' reign of christ, followed by universal resurrection, judgement and consignment to heaven or hell