Would an All-good, All-powerful, All-knowing God Allow Evil to Exist?

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Introduction: This essay features the discussion of the problem of evil in relation to the existence of god. Specifically outlining two sections where the problem of evil is discussed from atheist and theistic viewpoint. Statement: The problem of evil features an argument questioning the existence of god in relation to evil, attributing both atheistic and theistic replies. First reply to problem of evil: (atheist). If god was all good, all powerful and all knowing, he would not allow the existence of evil. 3.1 First reply to the first reply: There is a lot of evil in the world, and much of it happens unexplainably. In the history of life on Earth bad things have happened and evil has caused problems. In relation to some world wide events, 6 million people died in the holocaust, 65 million people died in the war, 800 thousand died in the Rwanda genocide and 230 thousand people died in the 2004 boxing day tsunami. There is a lot of human suffering in the world, but there is also suffering of animals too. A lot of suffering in humans is due to other humans, however some of it can be caused by non-human causes, such as natural disasters etc. Under religious beliefs god was the creator of life on Earth, so if he was all good, powerful and knowing then he would be capable of at least preventing natural disasters from erupting as they cause life to undergo suffering. Likewise, capable of preventing human suffering from natural disasters, i.e. saving people from hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes etc… 3.2 Second reply to the first reply: Under all religions there are common attributes associated with god. God is known to be all good (omnibenevolent), all powerful (omnipotent) and all knowing (omniscient), which together form t... ... middle of paper ... ...t have allowed it. Conclusion: In relation to the replies about the problem of evil it is very implausible that an omnibenevolent god could exist since evil is present. However in terms of the problem of evil, there is not enough information or reasoning to suggest either god’s existence or non-existence. Christians could simply argue that god is not always omnibenevolent and that everything happens for a reason, including evil, perhaps part of a plan that current generations undergo suffering for the greater good of future generations. In contrast, atheistic people could suggest that if that were true then that is unfair and god is not suppose to be unfair. Reference list: Ian Ravenscroft Lecture notes. Tooley, Michael 2013, The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 25th April 2014,

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