God's Existence and the Problem of Evil
Australian philosopher, J.L. Mackie, states that belief in the existence of God is irrational. He claims that of the rational proofs for God's existence are unreasoned, and that there is positive evidence to deny God's existence. He states that God, who is omnipotent and wholly good, cannot exist if there is evil in the world. There are claims that state the world is "better off" or that the world is a "better place" with at least some evil in it. In his argument, Mackie argues that this claim does not rescue theism (the belief in God) from his charge against it. The argument that Mackie attempts to defend does not hold ground as it is possible to believe in God when evil exists in the world. Mackie
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argues and believes that God is unable to exist if evil is present in the world.
In other words, he argues if God were truly omnipotent and wholly good, evil would not be able to come into existence. He would have foreseen and known about the possibility of evil, and therefore, would have been able to prevent/avoid it in creation. In this paper, I will analyze and present the problem of evil and God's existence, I will provide a detailed analysis of each of the three theistic defenses, and present two criticisms against Mackie's argument and explain why evil and a wholly good and omnipotent God can exist.
Mackie begins his article by stating that all arguments for God's existence are invalid and insufficient. However, he does not use this in order to convince someone that there is not a reason to believe in God. He states "…the theologian can, if he wishes, accept this criticism. He can admit that no rational proof of God's existence is possible. And he can still retain all that is
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essential to his position, by holding that God's existence is known in some other, non-rational way" (Mackie). He does this to demonstrate that philosophy can criticize God's existence while simultaneously demonstrating that God does not exist. Mackie demonstrates this in order to prove to his audience that theologians can accept his criticism and admit that there is no rational proof for the existence of God. He also presents another argument to prove that God does not exist by saying "I think, however, that a more telling criticism can be made by way f the traditional problem of evil. Here it can be shown, not only that religious beliefs lack rational support, but that they are positively irrational, that the several parts of the essential theological doctrine are inconsistent with one another…" (Mackie). He states that within the very thing that unifies theological doctrine is flawed and therefore makes believing in God irrational. Shortly after Mackie states that according to theological doctrine "God is omnipotent; God is wholly good…" (Mackie). In saying this, he brings to the attention of his audience that in the midst of God's all knowing, all loving nature and being, evil still exists and that contradicts who He is as a god and a creator of the universe. Mackie claims that God cannot be omnipotent and wholly good while evil exists in the world. According to Mackie, theists are committed to a contradiction (a set of mutually incompatible statements). He states that theists believe that God exists as an omnipotent, omniscient, all good god and that good eliminates evil to the extent that it can. As a result of the first two statements, he argues that theists believe that evil does not exist. However, evil does exist, and this statement serves as a contradiction to the first. Because of this, Mackie believes that believing in God is irrational because it commits theists to believing in a contradiction. Mackie spends the majority of his argument pondering various solutions to the contradiction in which theists believe. He ascertains two main solutions: adequate and fallacious. With the adequate solution, Mackie acknowledges that the problem for the theologian can easily be resolved should they deny one of the propositions. In other words, one can deny that God is all good and all knowing, or one can deny that evil exists in the world. The latter is impossible to deny and would coerce one to deny one of God's intrinsic characteristics. Fallacious solutions are the solutions that appear to be probable and/or logical but are not. Mackie believes that when theologians present these solutions, they do not respond to nor do they address the problem of evil. His examines these solutions in his discussion in order to clarify how exactly they fail to address the problem of evil. The first fallacious solution is as follows: Good and evil are necessary counterparts. In other words, good can exist without evil. God could not have created a world that was completely good without permitting some evil to enter into the world because goodness cannot exist without evil. Mackie responds by saying that this is a limitation and restriction of God's omnipotence. He states that God's goodness is not relative, nor is it comparative. The second fallacious solution is that the universe is a better place with evil in it. This solution claims that a universe with malice is better than a universe without it. Theologians argue that evil and malice can bring about the good in people and society, but Mackie refutes this by saying for every good that can come out of an evil, a greater evil can come out of it as well. The third fallacious solution claims that evil is necessary for free will. This states that evil is not the result of God's actions, but of the actions of human beings. Mackie responds to this by stating that God could have created free humans that always happen to choose right and choose good if He were truly omnipotent. While thought out and articulated well, Mackie's argument does not really address the problem of evil or adequately respond to the "fallacious solutions" of theologians; with specific regard to the third fallacious solution of free will.
Mackie states that God could have created "free" humans that "happen" to choose good all the time. That is not freedom and those are not humans. According to religious philosopher Hick, to be a human is to be flawed and capable of evil (Hick). One cannot truly know what goodness is without an evil or something of the opposite nature to compare it to. It is impossible to know what goodness is without knowing what evil is. Actions would simply be actions that are neither good or bad. They are necessary counterparts. His argument does not acknowledge the intention of free will which was intended to be a good gift from God. Actions come from humans, who are inherently flawed, and therefore evil comes from humans. Because of this, evil and a wholly good God can
exist. Both evil and the God can coexist. Humans are flawed by definition. It would be impossible to know what goodness would be without evil to counter it in the world. God created a world that was good for humans to have reign over. He gave them the gift of free will, and from there came about the evil that persists in the world today.
In his essay, "The Magnitude, Duration, and Distribution of Evil: a Theodicy," Peter van Inwagen alleges a set of reasons that God may have for allowing evil to exist on earth. Inwagen proposes the following story – throughout which there is an implicit assumption that God is all-good (perfectly benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient) and deserving of all our love. God created humans in his own likeness and fit for His love. In order to enable humans to return this love, He had to give them the ability to freely choose. That is, Inwagen holds that the ability to love implies free will. By giving humans free will, God was taking a risk. As Inwagen argues, not even an omnipotent being can ensure that "a creature who has a free choice between x and y choose x rather than y" (197)1. (X in Inwagen’s story is ‘to turn its love to God’ and y is ‘to turn its love away from God,’ towards itself or other things.) So it happened that humans did in fact rebel and turn away from God. The first instance of this turning away is referred to as "the Fall." The ruin of the Fall was inherited by all humans to follow and is the source of evil in the world. But God did not leave humans without hope. He has a plan "whose working will one day eventuate in the Atonement (at-one-ment) of His human creatures with Himself," or at least some of His human creatures (198). This plan somehow involves humans realizing the wretchedness of a world without God and turning to God for help.
If God is powerful and loving the humankind, then why does He permit evil as well as suffering in this world? Various answers had been offered by many Christian philosophers and many victims of suffering, but there was not a lucid answer that could settle this argument permanently. God uses malicious acts of this world to rise up His own people and remind them that there is an opportunity that they can posses their eternal life. Literature, especially biblical literature has exploited this biblical nature to its fullest in various types of forms, including the play J.B. by Archibald MacLeish. In the play J.B, Archibald MacLeish reanimates and modernizes elements taken from the story of Job to come up with his own response to the ultimate question which has been asked by countless generations, “Why do the righteous suffer?” Throughout the play, Archibald MacLeish delineates the sudden corruption of J.B and his family, his calmness despite the helpless pieces of advice from the Three Comforters, and his unusual ending in order for God to test if one’s will and faith are strong enough to rebuild oneself after an irrational decadence.
8- McDermid, Douglas. "God's Existence." PHIL 1000H-B Lecture 9. Trent University, Peterborough. 21 Nov. 2013. Lecture.
The problem of evil is a deductive a priori argument who’s goal is to prove the non-existence of God. In addition to Mackie’s three main premises he also introduces some “quasi-logical” rules that give further evidence to his argument. First he presumes that a good thing will eliminate evil to the extent that it can and second, that omnipotence has no limits. From these two “additional premises,” it can be concluded that a completely good and omnipotent being will eliminate all possible evil. After establishing these added premises Mackie continues with his piece to list and negate several theistic responses to the argument.
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.
In this paper, I will use the writings of John Hick and Richard Swinburne to dispute the problem of evil argument. After I first elaborate on the P.O.E., I will give support for God’s existence with regards to the problem of evil. Then, I will address further counterarguments
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.
Whether god exists or not has been in discussion for thousands of years, and an important discussion. Whether it is rational to believe in god or not is another story, like believing in god itself, this topic has brought many discussions. It is one thing to discuss whether god is real or not and it is a complete other to discuss whether it is rational to believe in god or not. I believe that while there may not be any convincing evidence or arguments that God does exist, I do still believe that it is still rational to believe that god does exist. I think this because, believing in God is not simply just believing that he exists, but believing that it can bring good to our lives, we otherwise would not have. It teaches us to have a moral responsibility not only to others, but ourselves. It is obvious that many people do believe in god, but many of us choose to do so for reasons other than just believing in God. I do believe that just because there is no evidence, that does not mean God doesn’t exist. Like I said, God brings more to our lives than just a belief, but an ability to achieve a better one. And even if God is just an imaginary figure, he is an imaginary figure that brings hope and goodness to our lives, which we can never discount.
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. I am not saying people would not get their fair share of misfortune now and again, but they would never experience evil, pain or suffering. That being said, there would be no evil or vindictive people in this world
forgiven, so there is no need to ‘force’ yourself to believe. This argument is far from proving the existence of God, it argues more for. the purpose of believing in him rather than whether he actually exists. The.. In conclusion, all the arguments bar one that have been covered have. been strongly criticised, questioning their validity.
H.J. McCloskey claims that “proofs” are not valid and do not provide enough evidence that God exists. In the article, he claims that these “proofs” should be abandoned but he also claims that theist do not come to God or religion solely based on these “proofs”. In the article on page 62, McCloskey quotes a colleague saying, “most theist do not come to believe in God as a result of reflecting on the proofs, but come to religion based on other reasons and factors.” Theists believe in God and His Word over any “theory” that scientist can come up with. The Bible outweighs any other “theory” to theists. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Atheists may make a good argument that God does not exist but there is no documented evidence proving evolution like the documented writings in the Bible telling the story of how God created the heavens and the earth. McCloskey is correct that “proofs” do not prove God’s existence but they do help see the viewpoint of theists. It is ultimately up to each person to believe in what they want to believe in. God gave us free will to be able to choose for ourselves. McCloskey talks about free will negatively and also brings up the point that since evil exists, God cannot. This is not true by any means and we will dispute McCloskey’s points throughout this essay.
My claim that we have evil in this world because of our libertarian freedom does not fully answer the notion of “the problem of evil”. Saying we have evil in this world is just like saying we have bad decisions in this world. Bad decisions just like evil do not have a form. Every decision that God makes is a good decision therefore God cannot do evil. Human beings initiated evil. In fact, the first human beings (Adam and Eve) gave ongoing birth to evil because everyone ultimately came from them. So everyone after Adam and Eve is inherently evil. This idea is evident in our lives because every human being has committed evil. The ultimate problem is not how an all-powerful God can exist while evil exist, the ultimate dilemma is how a holy God can accept human beings that are not holy. Stephen T. Davis in “Free Will and Evil” writes, “All the moral evil that exists in the world is due to the choices of free moral agents whom God created” (Davis). Davis argues that free will is the answer to the problem of evil. This is consistent with my view that evil exists because of our libertarian freedom. Unlike Hick, Davis is consistent with my answer for evil and he is also consistent with how evil is solved in regards to heaven and hell. Davis states, “I do believe hell exists, but I do not hold that it is a place where protesting people are led against their will to be tortured vengefully. I believe that the people who will end up separated from God freely choose hell and would be unhappy in God’s presence. Having lived their lives apart from God, they will choose eternally—to go on doing so. So it is not a bad thing that they do not spend eternity in the presence of God. People who will prove to be incorrigibly evil will never come to th...
In the construction of the Large Hardon Collider, physicists seek and hope to unlock the mysteries of the universe by analyzing the attributes of the most miniscule particles known to man. In the same way, theologians have argued back and forth over the course of human history with regards to the divine attributes of God, seeking and hoping to unlock the mysteries of the metaphysical universe. Although these many attributes, for example omnipresence, could be debated and dissected ad nauseum, it is within the scope of this research paper to focus but on one of them. Of these many divine attributes of God, nothing strikes me as more intriguing than that of God’s omnipotence. It is intriguing to me because the exploration of this subject not only promises an exhilarating exercise in the human faculties of logic, it also offers an explanation into the practical, such as that of the existence of evil, which we live amidst every day. So with both of these elements in hand, I am going to take on the task of digging deeper into the divine attribute of omnipotence in hopes of revealing more of the glory of God, and simultaneously bringing greater humility to the human thinker. In order to gain a better understanding on the subject of divine omnipotence, I am going to analyze four aspects of it. First, I am going to build a working definition of what we mean when we say that God is omnipotent. Second, I am going to discuss the relationship between divine omnipotence and logic. Third, I am going to discuss the relationship between God’s omnipotence and God’s timelessness. Last, I am going to analyze God’s omnipotence in relation to the existence of evil in the world. Through the analysis of these four topics in relation to om...
This paper's purpose is to prove the existence of God. There are ten main reasons that are presented in this paper that show the actuality of God. It also shows counter-arguments to the competing positions (the presence of evil). It also gives anticipatory responses to possible objections to the thesis.
If evil cannot be accounted for, then belief in the traditional Western concept of God is absurd” (Weisberger 166). At the end of the day, everyone can come up with all these numerous counter arguments and responses to the Problem of Evil but no one can be entirely responsible or accountable for the evil and suffering in a world where there is the existence of a “omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent God.” Does the argument of the Problem of Evil or even the counter arguments help the evil and suffering of innocent human beings across this world? No. However, the Problem of Evil is most successful in recognizing the evil and suffering of the world but not presenting a God that is said to be wholly good and perfect to be blamed and as a valid excuse for the deaths and evil wrongdoings of this world.