by Polina Meshkova
A big issue that troubles many people, both believers and non-believers alike, is that there is evil present within our society when the main characteristics of God include benevolence and omnipotence. The former means that He is all loving and the latter that He is all powerful. Logically, these combined would eliminate the existence of evil as God would both want to get rid of this and would also be able to, however this is not the case as proven by things like wars, crime, illness and more.
The problem of evil was formed into an inconsistent triad by John Leslie Mackie, an Australian philosopher. This demonstrates that the combination of two points prevents the third from being true, thus being inconsistent. The three points are God’s benevolence, God’s omnipotence and the existence of evil and suffering.
A solution that has been used to explain this is the concept of free will which has been given to humanity by God. This idea suggests that the world was ideal until Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden by disobeying the Lord’s orders and this is where evil was first created. This act was so significant that it affected the relationship between humanity and God in a way that eventually Jesus had to restore it and consequently it also disrupted the perfect world that He created. Many Christians use this to counteract the inconsistent triad as it shows that the presence of evil is a consequence to the actions of people and not a flaw in the design of the world as God is able to intervene and alter as He deems suitable.
Others use the argument that due to God loving us so much; He allows evil to exist so that we can learn from it. This builds on the characteristic of benevolence that He is believed to possess. Lots of believers support this as it permits the existence of all three points and does not challenge God in any way. If decided that it would be best to intervene then that is what would take place but otherwise we are left to adapt to circumstances, be they good or bad.
Many atheists use the presence of evil in the world as a way of arguing that it disproves God’s existence as they believe that surely He would want to ease the suffering of certain individuals as some occurrences are so horrific. Stephen Fry spoke out using this point to support his opinion that if there is a God then He must be a ‘maniac’ who is ‘mean-minded’ and ‘evil’. This is a controversial view that He confidently put forward which later received strong criticism as many felt that it was blasphemous and offensive due to its harsh nature.
Overall, a great majority of people would agree with various arguments to do with this topic and may struggle to reach a conclusion that they are certain with as there is no definite evidence. Therefore, it is one that could be debated for an extensive period of time due to divergent views from one person to the next.
What do you think?
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| Good and Evil Angels - by William Blake |
The problem of evil was formed into an inconsistent triad by John Leslie Mackie, an Australian philosopher. This demonstrates that the combination of two points prevents the third from being true, thus being inconsistent. The three points are God’s benevolence, God’s omnipotence and the existence of evil and suffering.
A solution that has been used to explain this is the concept of free will which has been given to humanity by God. This idea suggests that the world was ideal until Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden by disobeying the Lord’s orders and this is where evil was first created. This act was so significant that it affected the relationship between humanity and God in a way that eventually Jesus had to restore it and consequently it also disrupted the perfect world that He created. Many Christians use this to counteract the inconsistent triad as it shows that the presence of evil is a consequence to the actions of people and not a flaw in the design of the world as God is able to intervene and alter as He deems suitable.
Others use the argument that due to God loving us so much; He allows evil to exist so that we can learn from it. This builds on the characteristic of benevolence that He is believed to possess. Lots of believers support this as it permits the existence of all three points and does not challenge God in any way. If decided that it would be best to intervene then that is what would take place but otherwise we are left to adapt to circumstances, be they good or bad.
Many atheists use the presence of evil in the world as a way of arguing that it disproves God’s existence as they believe that surely He would want to ease the suffering of certain individuals as some occurrences are so horrific. Stephen Fry spoke out using this point to support his opinion that if there is a God then He must be a ‘maniac’ who is ‘mean-minded’ and ‘evil’. This is a controversial view that He confidently put forward which later received strong criticism as many felt that it was blasphemous and offensive due to its harsh nature.
Overall, a great majority of people would agree with various arguments to do with this topic and may struggle to reach a conclusion that they are certain with as there is no definite evidence. Therefore, it is one that could be debated for an extensive period of time due to divergent views from one person to the next.
What do you think?
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