philosophy
• The Problem of Evil & Johnson
The problem is the inconsistency in beliving the following 3 propositions at the same time:
1. God is all-powerful.
2. God is all-good.
3. Evil exists.
If any two of these is true, the third logically must be false. Since #3 is true, God (defined as having both #1 and #2) cannot exist (any more than a married bachelor could exist).
--Go to the handout.......the Problem of Evil.
--Mark Twain’s “Letters from the Earth” (not in 3rd edition)
Twain points out the unbelievable nature of human reason. Humans equip God with all the traits of a fiend........punishing one’s children for one’s sins, creating disease-pain-suffering, creating humans so he can have someone to worship him, being jealous, being petty, being responsible for sin and evil yet punishing us for it. Then, humans claim this fiend is a all-powerful, good, caring, merciful, God. This, according to Twain, is like saying a malevolent lunatic and a Sunday school teacher are essentially the same thing. (410)
• Responses to the Problem of Evil (handout)
NECESSARY EVIL (text)
Knowledge Defense (Ontological Version too)
Claim................. We must experience evil in order to know what evil is. And we must know what evil is to know what good is.
Response.......... 1. We do not have to experience evil to know that something is evil (Adam and Eve didn’t....they just ate some fruit!)
2. Even if we did have to experience evil to know what good is, there is way more evil in the world than is necessary to serve this purpose. (What was learned by Hitler killing 6 million people that could not have been learned if he killed only 5 million?)
Free-Will Defense
Claim................. Free will requires real choices, some good and some bad. Thus, to have free will there must be evil.
Response........... 1. Why do we need free will at all?
2. Is it possible to make free choices and always choose the good over the evil? (God is supposed to be such a person.....so it is logically possible) If so, then why didn’t God make us so we would be smart enough to always choose the good this (always “choose the right”!) Or at least make us so that we choose the good thing most of the time (which we clearly do not).. Having choices does not explain why some (most people) actually do evil.
3. If God cannot do this then he is not all-powerful. If he will not, he is not all good.
4. Even if we need evil for free will, that does not explain natural evil.
Greater-Good Defense (Ideal Humanity Defense & Soul building Defense)
Claim................. All the evil in the world is necessary so that man can achieve the highest virtues and reach a greater level of goodness than otherwise possible.
Response........... 1. That would mean that any attempt to stop evil (saving a drowning child) is morally wrong. For you would be stopping someone from achieving his/her highest virtues. Disease, earthquake preparations......all immoral.
2. Many who actually suffer the evil (most even), do not achieve high virtues, but become bitter and angry and hateful. So if evil is supposed to make us better, it ain’t working.
OTHER DEFENSES
Finite-God Defense
Claim................. God does not have infinite power. God does not want us to suffer, but God cannot prevent it.
Response........... Then why worship this being? Is this a God at all?