The Problem of Evil

• The two types of evil are moral and natural evil. The logical problem of evil arises from the argument that an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God cannot logically co-exist with evil.
• Alfred North Whitehead was an English philosopher, who developed process philosophy, which is the doctrine that reality is comprised of processes of change.
• Charles Hartshorne developed process philosophy into process theology, which assets that God is partly temporal, mutable and passible. It also rejects the omnipotence of God, in the sense that he has unilateral power, i.e. a tyrant ruling over his subjects without being affected by them. Instead, God has persuasive and relational power, so is most affected by humans' joys and sufferings.
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist know for his work 'The Brothers Karamazov', which follows four sons of an abusive father, including Ivan (a sceptic) and Alyosha (a Christian.) In Book V, Ivan challenges the existence of God due to the endless and unnecessary human suffering. He claims god must be malevolent and unworthy of worship.
• Mary Baker Eddy founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, which holds the belief that given that evil is the opposite to God, god is infinite, infinite has so opposite, evil does not exist. What humans perceive as evil is actually just a state of mind, but we must move past material evidence to behold man in God's image.
• Alvin Plantinga is a Christian analytic philosopher, whose free-will defence argues against the logical problem of evil. God could not be expected to perform literal impossibilities, i.e. make a circle square or create beings with free will who would never choose evil.
• The evidential problem of evil is based in empiricism, and argues that, given the scale of evil in the world, it is unlikely that God exists. For example;

  • indiscriminate evil
  • excessive, pointless suffering
  • the suffering of animals
• American philosopher William Rowe believes that the existence of gratuitous suffering, such as a fawn dying in a forest fire, makes the existence of God unlikely. However, his stance is 'friendly atheism', meaning that he is open to the possibility of sufficient evidence for God's existence, and the evil in the world being redeemed by some divine plan.
• Hume argues in support of the evidential problem of evil. He focuses his argument on gratuitous evil and prior probability, which is the likelihood of an event occurring when there is a finite amount of outcomes and each is equally likely to occur.
• In 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion,' the character of Philo argues that a neutral deity is the most likely option, as there is too much evil for a good deity. Demea's sceptical theism, which is the belief that God is good in a way which we cant understand, is also rejected. Hume argues that we should not worship a morally alien being, because it is more likely to increase atrocities. I.e. In the story of Jon, God's values are incomprehensible to Job
• Augustine of Hippo was a 4th and 5th century Christian philosopher and theologian. Before his conversion to Christianity, he followed Manichaeism, which taught a dualistic cosmology. Its influence can be seen in his theodicy.
• Augustine argues that, in the book of genesis, God created a perfect world with humans who were intrinsically good. Thus, God did not create evil as evil is a pervasion of good. God wanted humans to love and accept him, so he gave them free will (Genesis 1:26).
• Augustine believed that the fall is the route cause of moral evil. All humans were 'seminally present in the loins of Adam' so we inherit his sinful nature. So, God is not to blame for humans' poor choices.
• Augustine believed that natural evil is caused by the fall of the angles, which caused imbalance and disharmony in the natural world. 'Satan falling from heaven' is mentioned in Luke 10:18. Natural evil is allowed to continue by God as punishment for original sin. Due to original sin, it would be just for everyone to go to hell. However, God is omnibenevolent and gave humans a second chance. Those who accept Jesus Christ as their saviour may go to heaven.
• St Irenaeus was a 2nd century Greek bishop. His theodicy refers to Genesis 1:26 - 'then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' He insists that the essence of God's plan is a process of maturation. Humanity was created immature, and God intended us to take a long time to assume his likeness. Evil and suffering provides us with a chance for moral development.
• Hick was a 20th and 21st century philosopher and theologian. He contributed to the areas of epistemology and religious pluralism. A former member of the united reformed church, he later joined the Quaker society of Britain.
• Hick's theodicy argues that free will is invaluable, as humans have the power to choose good. In order to give us genuine free will, God chose to maintain an epistemic distance, so humans do not feel constantly watched and compelled to obey. This allows us to be responsible for our actions
• Hick continues his theodicy by calling our world a vale of soul making because suffering caused by evil allows us to respond meaningfully and grow into the likeness of God. Teleologically, pain is an instrumental good, as it allows our choices to have a significant effect and leads to a good outcome. A paradise would be morally static and leave no opportunity for growth - Jesus was a fellow human sufferer.

  For the full purpose of evil to be achieved, our journey must continue after death, so, eventually, everyone will go to heaven.