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Concept of free will
Concept of free will
Christian beliefs about evil
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Atheistic Argument against God
In the past, and still among many religious people, it was/is believed that God is powerful, good, loving, and all-knowing. Atheists claim that such a God, if existed, would not punish his people by letting evil acts happen. Some theists respond by saying that God loves us and He lets evil acts happen because sometimes such an evil is important for us to keep us on the right path, other religious people claim that God gives us freedom to do evil, and without existence of evil, we would have no freedom. However, atheists respond, evil does not only give a lesson to people to learn about their mistakes, but it also takes their lives and/or the lives of their loved ones. In addition, many children, who are too young
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In the Free Will Defense argument, Lawhead says that, “Hence, God does not will or cause evil to occur, but in order to allow free agents such as us to exist, he has to allow us the freedom to commit evil acts” (Lawhead 366). But since God created the world and everything within it, as theists claim, he could make people do not think about evil acts at all at same time have freedom; in other words, he could make a world free of evil and freedom of will without violating either one. In addition, some theists claim that the heavenly afterlife is free of sins and free of evil. But why, atheist asks, God did not make this world free of evil and let people think about the right things only, if the good God …show more content…
If God is powerful, then he can do whatever he wants, if he is all-knowing, then he knows everything that is happening in this world, and if he is good, he would do the good things all the time. However, even if that is true, he cannot be the one who loves humans at the same time since natural disasters, diseases, and evil acts of God and God’s creatures kill innocent people all the time. Peter Kreeft questions, “It is not logically contradictory to say an all-powerful and all-loving God tolerates so much evil when he could eradicate it? Why do bad things happen to good people?” (Kreeft). Some theists claim that God punishes people since they do not believe in him. But this cannot be true since people who worship the God all the time go through the same punishments as atheists and
The novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston clearly is a great book. In the book a young woman named Janie who was raised and married off by her grandmother. At first, all Janie knows of marriage and love is what her grandmother tells her which is that the only thing that is important is if he has land. As Janie goes on her journey of her life and re-marries, she finds that everybody in the town (and in general) has their own belief towards the role of their spouses in marriage. The reader notices Janie struggle in finding herself and over time Janie begins to develop her own ideas and ideals. In Their Eyes Were Watching God each character has their own beliefs towards marriage which in turn develops a viewpoint of how marriage should be and what it shouldn’t be. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Hurston) explores this marriage issue by showing Janie’s failing love endeavors, showing her real true love, and the after-effects of losing someone dear.
The problem of evil is a difficult objection to contend with for theists. Indeed, major crises of faith can occur after observing or experiencing the wide variety and depths of suffering in the world. It also stands that these “evils” of suffering call into question the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The “greater good defense” tries to account for some of the issues presented, but still has flaws of its own.
Bad things are bound to happen; it’s just a matter of when. I agree with his particular view on this matter, “Some are caused by bad luck. Some are caused by bad people, and others are silly an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of flexible natural laws” (pg.134). I believe the presence of God does not change the existence of good or evil, but may influence humans to have great faith, and therefore act accordingly. I do think people abandon their faith because of the problem with evil than for any other reason. It is certainly a test of faith, and temptation to unbelief. This world is way too random and unpredictable. Things interact in complex ways so their will always be room for the unexpected, and that’s why I think bad things happen to good people. But I don’t have the true answer, Kushner does not have the true answer, and I don’t believe anyone will ever have the true answer. Although I was raised believing in God and having faith, I don’t think there is a higher power interacting with the world causing whatever bad thing to happen. Like Kushner, I think God gives us the strength to cope with bad things when they come our way. Ultimately, I believe the nature of reality is blind as to weather you’re a good or evil. You could be a good person your whole life and then one day something tragic happens; you lose your job, your house
Throughout the world, most people believe in some type of god or gods, and the majority of them understand God as all-good, all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). However, there is a major objection to the latter belief: the “problem of evil” (P.O.E.) argument. According to this theory, God’s existence is unlikely, if not illogical, because a good, omniscient, and omnipotent being would not allow unnecessary suffering, of which there are enormous amounts.
The problem of reconciling an omnipotent, perfectly just, perfectly benevolent god with a world full of evil and suffering has plagued believers since the beginning of religious thought. Atheists often site this paradox in order to demonstrate that such a god cannot exist and, therefore, that theism is an invalid position. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to defend religion by reconciling the supposed existence of an omnipotent, perfectly just God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. In fact, the word “theodicy” consists of the Greek words “theos,” or God, and “dike,” or justice (Knox 1981, 1). Thus, theodicy seeks to find a sense of divine justice in a world filled with suffering.
This is an important point, because if our understanding of God is that He is purely good, then why would so many of this heinous events occur. “Theist reply that because God is necessarily good, He would never do anything morally reprehensible Himself nor command us to preform heinous acts.” (Anderson, 2007). However, God is seen punishing not only those who are considered to be evil, but also those who are innocent, He causes floods, plagues and death to many people because of one person’s act, or if He was angry. This is completely opposite to our understanding of God loving us all and to our most important idea that God is perfectly good. Even if these acts were seen as punishing those who are considered evil, then God would have not done any act that would harm someone, nor would He permit us to do so. The bible is filled with these inaccuracies, is God loving of all, or just the few that follow Him, it states different allowances in stories (Infidels.org, 2016). It is my understanding that these stories are proof that God is not purely good, which itself is an argument for Him not to exist or that the stories themselves or false. Murder was perfectly fine for the soldiers of the First Crusade, who slaughtered every man, woman, and child, however it is written in the bible that murder is prohibited, it is a sin. Many other events like this occurred. When we look
There is so much evil in the world such as: murder, child mortality, torture, rape, assault and more. So how can there be an all loving God if these things are constantly happening? In this paper, I will be arguing that there is in fact no such thing as an all loving and all powerful God due to Evil. When I think of an all-loving God, I think of God as someone who would never allow a child to be kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed. I think of God as someone who would not allow anything bad or evil to happen in this world.
Opponents of God’s existence argue if an all-knowing and good god exists, why is there such an abundance of evil in the world.
“Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast over nature”. From the beginning of time man and nature has been in conflict with one another because, as a whole, there is no cooperating. Each one tirelessly wants its way. The Man is fighting for dominance and nature w never yielding its authority. In American Literature, many authors illustrate this theme in their writing. Specifically the writers Jack London in The Law Of Life, Stephen Crane The Open Boat and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Fin. Each explores the relationship between humans and nature but with slightly different methods. Mark Twain uses nature in a realistic way, Jack London in a naturalistic way and Stephen Crane constitutes a combination of both.
The point and purpose was to promote the great nation of the United States, and
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (Lewis, 1994, p. 91). Throughout history man has had to struggle with the problem of evil. It is one of the greatest problems of the world. Unquestionably, there is no greater challenge to man’s faith then the existence of evil and a suffering world. The problem can be stated simply: If God is an all-knowing and all-loving God, how can He allow evil? If God is so good, how can He allow such bad things to happen?Why does He allow bad things to happen to good people? These are fundamental questions that many Christians and non-Christians set out to answer.
The problem of evil has been a huge debate between atheists and theists. The problem of evil is how can evil occur in the world if God, a perfect being, created the world, and why do bad things happen to good people if God is in charge. Used to critique theism, the problem of evil questions God’s perfection and his existence. It questions God’s perfection by saying, “Whoever does not chose the best is lacking in power, or in knowledge, or in goodness” (Leibniz 89). This means that people do not think that God can be all powerful or perfect because they do not think that this world was the best possible choice. The problem of evil also critiques the question of God’s existence by saying, “If there is more evil than
This is the understanding of a God which includes moral perfection; a God that simply created the universe and left is not whole enough for most theists (for if this were the real God religious morality would have an unsupportable foundation) (Blackburn, 2001: 169). This is the God of the Abrahamic religions. A God that is all knowing (omniscient) all powerful (omnipotent) and, as emphasized above, all caring or omnibenevolent (Blackburn, 2001: 169). Thus the Problem of Evil arises, as formalised below.
INDTRODUCTION “Sex and Religion”? Those two don’t really go hand in hand,” commented a freshman student from UF. Like this student, numerous people around the world believe this misconception to be true. Whether people argue for or against the importance of gender in religion, more than just what goes on in the bedroom has been heating up lately. Many debates have sparked due to the negative connotation associated with sex when confronted about its position in religious cultures.
Religion is a major controversy in modern society. Some reach a final conclusion early on that there is no God or Supreme Being; instead they believe that there is life and then nothing more. Others have so much faith that they are actually willing to die for their religion. It could be viewed as drastic but it is also reality. As a soon to be missionary I see the benefits of religious views and the impact it has on people for their well being. For my religion, I am willing to serve two years of my life to teach other the joy of the gospel while sacrificing my time away from my friends and family. An apostle of my church once said "The most effective missionaries, member and full time, act out of love… If we lack this love for others we should pray for it." -Elder Dallin H. Oaks. This quote just reminds me of why I am so willing to want to go out and serve The Lord. I will do it because of his love for me. But not to be biased of my own personal religion, I want to show that believing in something and having faith is better than nothing. Atheists are people that have a belief that there is nothing more after this life to me would seem to have really nothing to live for believing that they are just here to die which is a sad message. So in this essay I would like to describe why religion is so important and such an amazing thing.