A man wakes up to his family; a wife and two kids. They have a nice breakfast together and he leaves for work, starting his day off in a great mood. As the day passes, he gets swarmed with office work, not even going on his usual hour-long lunch break. As time slips into night, he finally gets off work and his work buddies ask him out for a quick beer. He already missed dinner, so he figures what is the harm in taking the load off and hanging out to relax with his co-workers. He does not anticipate to drink four beers, laughing and eating with his buddies until eleven. It is late and the men and few women decide its best if they head home, having to get up for work again the next morning. One of the other men who lives close to the bar asks if anyone needs to crash at his apartment. He points his suggestion to the man most. The man denies, saying that it is urgent that he get home to his family. They let him go, sleep taking over each of their rational thinking. The man wakes up in the hospital two weeks later. He wrapped his car around a light post, paralyzed from the waist down. His family sits sadly at his bedside, not mentioning how drunk the man was before he irrationally decided to make his own fate.
The man made his decision to drive home intoxicated and sealed his fate; paralysis. He made the choice, whether to sleep the night at a close friend’s place or get behind the wheel when in any other rational moment he would know not to. It was not only his fault but his friends, who should have made the decision to take his keys and make him stay the night at his co-worker’s apartment a few blocks from the bar. A tragedy like this is caused by the free will people are granted with, whether to make the good choice or the bad. ...
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...he strong, a little bit of suffering is good to produce a better generation. Though many innocent people suffer, God does not deliberately choose to make people suffer, they choose so on their own, starting from Adam and Eve to the current decade. The problem of evil is a vessel for mankind to appreciate what they have been given by God, because the human race and animal kingdom could be in a world in which everything is chosen for them so there would be no consequence to bad choice made.
Works Cited
Brown, Neil. "NEW ATHEISM AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL." Compass 47.1 (2013): 29-32. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
The New Scofield Reference Bible. Ed. C.I. Scofield, D.D. New York: Oxford University Press. 1967. Print.
Trakakis, Nick. "Theodicy: The Solution to the Problem of Evil, Or Part of the Problem?" Sophia 47.2 (2008): 161-91. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Sabine Berzins PHI 111; Module 5, Thesis 5 April 30, 2017 Does God Exist? Introduction Nietzsche once said, “God is dead!” However, this famous news bulletin of The Almighty’s expiration may have been significantly overstated since there are some very intriguing and provoking philosophical arguments for God’s existence. These opinions are rooted neither in scientific fact nor in religious doctrine. Instead, they function as thought-provoking scholarly exercises about what we consider to know
Introduction The argument on whether God exists or not has probably been debated over many centuries. The major arguments for God’s existence are presented in the cosmological argument and the teleological argument. In “On Being an Atheist,” however, H. J. McCloskey sets out to reiterate his position as an atheist, and offer counter-arguments to popular theistic positions (McCloskey, 1968). McCloskey maintains that the arguments for God’s existence are fundamentally false. He adds that without absolute
it may never be completely resolved, the problem of evil has been considered by Christian theologians, and within the Bible itself, for centuries. Each potential solution, regardless of its content, emphasizes a common point: Just because evil exists does not mean that faith should be abandoned. In fact, evil’s purpose may be to strengthen our faith in God. For example, Peter Kreeft states that “evil is not a thing but a wrong choice”. Because God creates things, but does not directly make choices
or educated could believe in God. They mainly use science and philosophy to argue their position. One of the main arguments that new atheists use is that there is no proof that God can exist. There are many ways in which this argument falls short. One reason that some form of a deity exists and is the designer of the universe is that the universe is too complex to not have a higher power design it. There are so many factors that would have had to come together
In the book Confessions Augustine seeks to find out why and how evil exists in the world and what role god plays in the existence of evil. Not entirely convinced that evil exist or is what Manicheanism speaks of, mainly being that God is incapable of preventing the existence of evil. Augustine investigates the existence of evil by looking at two aspects, the nature of evil and free will, and with free will the ability to make decisions which result in sins. Both of these causes are investigated by
questions about God, life, and evil. By the end of the novel, Larry refutes the existence of the traditional Christian God, explains evil as the product of heredity and a poor environment, and suggests the existence of an afterlife through his views on reincarnation. These conclusions are based on his experiences in World War I, the tragic deaths of his friends Patsy and Sophie, as well as his own experiences traveling and meditating. According to Larry, the traditional Christian God does not exist
In the article, On Being an Atheist, H.J. McCloskey seeks to disprove theistic beliefs by debating arguments for God. However, before even beginning to examine the arguments, McCloskey is on the defense; defining theism as uncomfortable and assuming that theists should be miserable in their beliefs. After making these statements, McCloskey begins his debate by calling the theistic arguments “proofs”; specifically, McCloskey aims to argue against the proofs of cosmological arguments, teleological
In the text “God?: A Debate Between a Christian and an Atheist” Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and William Lane Craig, an atheist and a theist philosopher respectively, debate the existence of God. They present their informed opinions on controversial topics to prove God’s existence, such as arguing the problem of evil, which I will be focusing on. In this paper I will argue that the idea of God is possible, however, given then problem of evil, the idea of a traditional, monotheistic God is not. When I
Evil exists. This bizarre conundrum has perplexed philosophers since the dawn of civilization, and remains in hot debate today because of the theological implications inherent in the statement. To many on this planet, the source of life is an all-loving, all-powerful, omniscient god who created the universe – and all the laws therein – in seven days, as described in the Bible. And yet still, evil exists. How can these two premises be simultaneously true? Surely, an all-loving god would want to do
The Problem of Evil is an argument that highlights the contradiction between the existence of evil and the existence of God. The Problem of Evil basically states that if a perfect being like God existed, then existence of evil should not and is impossible to co-exist with, because such an almighty, all-power God would not allow it to. It is apparent to some people that the existence of evil and suffering itself in our world is the biggest challenge against the belief in the perfect being, higher
to help them to deal with their suffering? These issues are the ministry of theology. The purpose of this project is to examine natural suffering through the understanding of the earthquake and the various perspectives of the suffering and its relationship with the Ultimate Reality, God. The goal is to identify an appropriate explanation of natural suffering and to help those suffering to heal, undergo personal transformation, and start new lives. The September 21, 1999 Earthquake Basic
Exploring the existence of God or even the possibility of the existence of God, upon the basis of evil is the focal point of this paper. Such evils that will question the probability of God’s existence will be centered on gratuitous and horrendous evils. In this essay, the concept of evil and the existence of God will be explored through Marilyn McCord-Adam’s (1989) discussion of horrendous evils, Stephen Wykstra (1986) and Alvin Plantinga’s (1977) defense of skeptical theism and critique of William
of Evil One of the major philosophical debates concerning God's existence involves the problem of evil. The problem has two basic formulations, one is deductive, the other inductive. The deductive form of the problem asks the following: Is the existence of evil logically compatible with a necessarily benevolent and necessarily omnipotent being? One of the philosophers who discusses the problem is Richard Gale. I will begin this essay by outlining the deductive problem of evil according
in our world. Firstly, Professor Jeffery Radisson is the main antagonist of the extremely despised character in the film “God Not Dead”. Radisson was one a very loving Christian boy happily living his life, when a catastrophic event had occurred in his life. At the age of 12, his mother was dying from cancer. Despite all his prayers, and faith in
of evil is a question that many philosophers have attempted to explain in their perspective. This particular problem made many theorists question the existence of evil in the world when God is claimed to be omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Because this challenging inquiry was illuminated, it challenged the existence of God and His power to be good. In this paper, I will support Voltaire’s argument in Candide against Leibniz’s theory of optimism in the Essays on the Goodness of God, the