The Problem of Evil

The problem of evil exists in earnest in western religions. The western religions include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The most common quote from the problem of evil, as stated on page 249 from Soccio is, “If God can prevent the destructive suffering of the innocent, yet chooses not to, He is not good. If God chooses to prevent the suffering but cannot, He is not omnipotent. If God cannot recognize the suffering of innocent, He is not wise.” This minimal metaphysical idea does make sense in its simplistic form, but it is far more complicated then it seems.

Evil exists in two categories. It can occur as moral evil or nature evil. Moral evil is what people do to other people, this can include animals sometimes, but is mainly in humans. An example of this would be if someone would punch you in the face. The other form of evil is natural evil. Natural evil is what nature does to people. For example if a flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, or any form of a natural disaster would affect you negatively. The problem with this and the existence of God is, how can an all-wise, all-good, all-powerful God let all this happen?

Most of the atheists in the World are against God solely because of the “Problem of Evil.” They feel that the Problem of Evil is a strong enough case to prove the fact that God does not exist. Augustine (354-420 A.D), a theist, did not by it. He felt that there is more to the existence of God then just the Problem of Evil. He rose two points. He said that evil is a corruption of good. The only reason evil exists is because of the idea of free-will. For example, people are faced with various decisions in their life. If someone is driving down the road to their favorite concert in subzero temperature and sees someone on the side of the road that needs help, they could either help that person out or go to the concert. This is the idea of evil is a corruption of good. Secondly he raises the point of Aesthetic view of evil. It says that we do not know what evil truly is. So what looks to be an evil could actually be a blessing (God’s Plan).

John Hick, a theist, raises he own three points against the Problem of evil. He said that as a species people do not grow unless they are tested. That to better a species bad things need to happen. For example, a long time ago, if someone burned themselves to death the rest of the species would now know not to let this happen to them and therefore would become a stronger breed. He then says that the species only advances if challenged. Finally he stated that the only reason the things we value most are there is because bad thing happen.

On the other side of the coin, the Atheists raise a few counter arguments. They say that the vast majority of suffering does not improve the human species. They also say that it is way too hard for the victims to understand. That, for example, the death of their daughter is to help the human race. This alone causes many to become Atheists. While Christians say it is a test of your faith. Lastly, Atheists say that it only affects a small percent of people.