The Problem of Evil

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The presence of evil has been a conflicting view amidst various philosophers dating back thousands of years. With the belief in God across the world, an essential question arises: Since God is claimed to be omniscient, omnipotent, and all-loving, then how can there be evil in the world? Augustine of Hippo, a preeminent philosopher who was born in Algeria, North Africa in 354, had attempted to expound this significant contradiction. In 360, Augustine followed the religion of Manichaeism, which was founded by a Persian man named Mani. They believed that humankind, being a byproduct of the devil, was inherently evil and, therefore, not culpable for evil in the world. With the belief that humans were capable of free will, Augustine ultimately broke ties with the Manichaeans. Human beings as one entity of body and soul were made good by the almighty God and with their free will were able to cause evil phenomenons to occur, which rules out the idea that God is the cause of evil. Peter Kreeft was one that agreed with the ideals of Augustine and offered an answer to why God created the possibility of evil.
According to Augustine, there is no such thing as evil. It is simply the privation of good. In Augustine’s book, On Free Choice of the Will, he talks through Evodius, who presents God as one with absolute goodness. Everything that He created is good; therefore, humanity as body and soul combined is good (Augustine). Evodius holds the position: “The existence of a good, all knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent) God is contradicted by our experience of evil in the world. It makes sense to conclude that God does not exist.” (Bwanali). As a response, Augustine asserts that the evil that we experience is just a lack of goodn...

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... good and is not the reason for evil are the ones that will live happy, faithful lives.
All in all, the problem of evil has been debated for thousands of years. Some believe that evil is caused by Satan and not humanity, such as the Manichaeanists and Bogomilists, and some believe that humans are the cause of evil, rather than God, such as Augustine, Peter Kreefe, and myself. While God is aware that a lack of goodness could occur, he is not the cause of it. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-loving and creates human beings with absolute goodness; however, with that that absolute goodness comes free will. With free will, humans have the ability to choose wrongly and therefore experience evil or a lack of goodness. God has given us that right because it is the only way to become happy. God cannot make one happy. The individual is the cause for their own happiness.

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