William L. Rowes famous example of natural evil: "In some distant forest lightning strikes a dead tree resulting in a forest fire. In the fire a fawn is trapped horribly burned and lies in terrible agony for several days before death relieves its suffering." 18
St Irenaeus argued that God gave us free will but the consequence of that endowment was the possibility of evil both moral and natural.
Gods aim when he created the world was to make humans flawless in his likeness
Genuine human perfection cannot be ready-made but must develop through free choice.
Since God had to give us free choice he had to give us the potential to disobey him.
There would be no such potential if there were never any possibility of evil. If humans were made ready-perfected and if God policed his world continually there would be no free will.
Therefore the natural order had to be designed with the possibility of causing harm humans had to be imperfect and God had to stand back from his creation . Otherwise humans could not develop.
Humans used their freedom to disobey God causing suffering.
God cannot compromise our freedom by removing evil.
Eventually however evil & suffering will be overcome and everyone will develop into Gods likeness living in glory in heaven. This justifies temporary evil.
Criticisms of this Irenaean theodicy include the denial of free will; the assumption that God exists in order to prove that he exists despite the existence of evil ; and the denial of the existence of evil itself .
In On Free Choice of the Will Augustine of Hippo also argued that Epicurus had ignored the potential benefits of suffering in the world.
Some argue that God allows evil to exist so that humans can have free will. The argument runs as follows:
Free will requires the potential to do anything one chooses.
Thus free will requires the potential to do evil.
Thus removing the potential to do evil would remove free will.
Having concluded that potential for evil is a prerequisite for free will they argue that favoring the presence of free will over an absence of evil is consistent with the concept of a powerful benevolent god.
Ditheism
See also: misotheism
Ditheistic belief systems resolved the problem of evil by positing that there are two rival great gods that work in polar opposition to each other. Examples of such belief systems include Gnosticism Zoroastrianism Manichaeism and in a way those currents of Christianity and Islam comprising the Devil although the latter tend to define some kind of asymmetry between the two deities capabilities . While the concept of omnipotence is difficult to hold in ditheistic belief systems "asymmetrically ditheistic" belief systems as described above cant logically adhere to the omnipotence of one of the opposing forces as the omnipotent one then could simply rid itself of the other. Thus generally ditheistic belief systems are technically not subject to the problem of evil because its source is evident.
By religion
Hinduism
Main article: Problem of evil in Hinduism
In Hinduism the problem of evil is present but does not exist per se as souls are eternal and not directly created by God. In Dvaita philosophy jivas are eternally existent and hence not a creation of God ex nihilo . The souls are bound by beginningless avidya that cause a misidentification with products of nature and hence suffering. In effect Hinduism identifies avidya as the cause of evil and this ignorance itself is uncaused. Suffering from natural causes are explained as karmic results of previous births.
Moreover even within the realm of avidya "good" and "evil" are an individuals deeds and God dispenses the results of an individuals actions but has the power to mitigate suffering.
Buddhism
In Buddhism there is no theistic "problem of evil" as Buddhism generally rejects the notion of a benevolent omnipotent creator god identifying such a notion as attachment to a false concept. For instance in the Bhridatta Jtaka the Bodhisattva sings:
If the creator of the world entire
They call God of every being be the Lord
Why does he order such misfortune
And not create concord
If the creator of the world entire
They call God of every being be the Lord
Why prevail deceit lies and ignorance
And he such inequity and injustice create
If the creator of the world entire
They call God of every being be the Lord
Then an evil master is he
Knowing whats right did let wrong prevail 19
Islam
Mutazilite view
In Islamic theology the Mutazili school identified evil as something that stems from free will and human imperfection arguing that if mans evil acts were from the will of God then punishment would be meaningless. Mutazilis do not deny suffering from non-human sources such as natural disasters and explain this "apparent" evil through the Islamic doctrine of taklif - that life is a test for beings possessing free will.
See also
Theodicy
Apocatastasis
Book of Job
Devil
Existence of God
Just-world phenomenon
Qliphoth and Sephirah in Kabbalah
Omnipotence paradox
Post-monotheism
The Problem of Change
The Problem of Pain
Tower of Siloam
Notes
Tooley Michael. "The Problem of Evil". Stanford . The problem follows with the belief in the inconsistant triad saying that god cannot be omnipotent omnipresent and omni-benevolent whilst evil exists god either cant stop evil or he will not if he cannot then he is not omnipotent if he will not then he is not omni benevolent if he is both of these things yet evil still exist he cannot exist at all. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/.&
ab Swinburne Richard . "evil the problem of". in Ted Honderich. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. ISBN 0199264791.&
Honderich Ted . "theodicy". The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. ISBN 0199264791. " John Hick for example proposes a theodicy while Alvin Plantinga formulates a defence. The idea of human free will often appears in a both of these strategies but in different ways.".&
Jordan Jeff . "Does Skeptical Theism Lead to Moral Skepticism". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research72 : 403417. doi: 10.1111/j.1933-1592.2006.tb00567.x. "Perhaps the most common criticism of the evidential argument comes from the camp of skeptical theism whose lot includes William Alston Alvin Plantinga and Stephen Wykstra.".&
" Ancient BabyloniaWisdom Literature". Bible History Online. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
Tattersall Nicholas . " The Evidential Argument from Evil". Secular Web Library. Internet Infidels. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.&"The Argument from Evil is a reductio ad absurdum argument. It claims that there is an inconsistency with the theistic hypothesis and certain facts about the world. What atheism has to say about morality is irrelevant as to whether theism is contradicted or made improbable by the fact that pointless suffering probably exists."
Plato in his Timaeus states that the Demiurges intentions were good. Gottfried Leibniz based his philosophy of optimism on the idea that god is both omnipotent and benevolent.
Orthodox Theology Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky Part II God Manifest in the World 5. Concerning Evil and Sin Footnote on Augustine and Original Sin. Mans fall into sin Perhaps no doctrine of the Orthodox Church has caused such heated discussions and misunderstandings in our day as has this doctrine of original or ancestral sin. The misunderstandings usually occur either from the desire to define the doctrine too precisely or from overreactions to this over-definition. The expressions of the early Fathers in general do not go into the how of this matter but simply state:When Adam had transgressed his sin reached unto all men . Some Orthodox Christians have mistakenly defended the Augustinian notion of original guilt" that is that all men have inherited the guilt of Adams sin and others going to the opposite extreme have denied altogether the inheritance of sinfulness from Adam. Fr. Michael rightly points out in his balanced presentation that from Adam we have indeed inherited our tendency towards sin together with the death and corruption that are now part of our sinful nature but we have not inherited the guilt of Adams personal sin. The term original sin itself comes from Blessed Augustines treatise De Peccato Originale and a few people imagine that merely to use this term implies acceptance of Augustines exaggerations of this doctrine. This of course need not be the case. In Greek there are two terms used to express this concept usually translated original sin and ancestral sin. One Orthodox scholar in the Greek Church describes them as follows: There are two terms used in Greek for original sin. The first progoniki amartia is used frequently in the Fathers . I have always seen it translated original sin though Greek theologians are careful when they use the term to distinguish it from the term as it is applied in translating St. Augustine. The second expression one sees is to propatorikon amartima which is literally ancestral sin. John Karmiria the Greek theologian suggests in his dogmatic volumes that the latter term used in later confessions does not suggest anything as strong as Augustinian original sin but certainly suggests that everyone is conceived in sin. There are sometimes extreme reactions against and for original sin. As recent Greek theologians have pointed out original sin in Orthodoxy is so tied to the notion of divinization and the unspotted part of man that the Augustinian overstatement causes some discomfort. In the expression original sin the West often includes original guilt which so clouds the divine potential in man that the term becomes burdensome. There is of course no notion of original guilt in Orthodoxy. The Western notion compromises the spiritual goal of man his theosis and speaks all too lowly of him. Yet rejecting the concept because of this misunderstanding tends to lift man too high dangerous in so arrogant a timeas ours. The balanced Orthodox view is that man has received death and corruption through Adam though he does not share Adams guilt. Many Orthodox however have accepted an impossible translation of Romans 5:12 which does not say that we have all sinned in Adam but that like Adam we have all sinned and have found death . The King James Version rightly translates Romans 5:12 as: And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. The Latin translation of the latter clause in whom all have sinned overstates the doctrine and might be interpreted to imply that all men are guilty of Adams sin. 1
See e.g. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11604a.htm
Strobel Lee . The Case for Faith. Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan. pp.&2556.&
"Free Will Defense" in Max Black Philosophy in America. Ithaca: Cornell UP / London: Allen & Unwin 1965
Jeffery Jay Lowder. " Logical Arguments from Evil". Internet Infidels. Retrieved on 2008-08-14.
Draper Paul . " Pain and Pleasure: An Evidential Problem for Theists". Nos23 : 331350. doi: 10.2307/2215486. http://links.jstor.org/sicisici=0029-4624%28198906%2923%3A3%3C331%3APAPAEP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0.&
" Does Evil Exist". philosophyofreligion.info . Retrieved on 2008-06-16.
See Kants essay "On the miscarriage of all philosophical trials in the theodicy" . Stephen Palmquist explains why Kant refuses to solve the problem of evil in "Faith in the Face of Evil" Appendix VI of Kants Critical Religion .
Matthew 19:17 New American Standard Bible.
Rowe William L. . "The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism". American Philosophical Quarterly16: 337.&
Ja Book XXII No. 543 vv. 208-209 trans. Gunasekara V. A. . The Buddhist Attitude to God. Retrieved 22 Dec 2008 from "BuddhaNet" at http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/ebdha068.htm. For an alternate translation see E. B. Cowell The Jataka or Stories of the Buddhas Former Births p. 110 retrieved 22 Dec 2008 from "Google Books" at http://books.google.com/booksid=BADEnh5f4jkC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=%22Bh%C5%ABridattaJataka%22&source=web&ots=-0KMXfCd6o&sig=JY5_oGXrabzqmuvXwW0VKpvRlvs&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=resultPPA110M1. In this Jataka tale as in much of Buddhist literature "God" refers to the Vedic/Hindu Brahma.
References
Beebe James R. "The Logical Problem of Evil" in Fieser James; Bradley Dowden The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy&.
Farrer Austin Love Almighty and Ills Unlimited Garden City NY: Doubleday&.
Haught James A. 2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt Amherst N.Y.: Prometheus Books ISBN 1-57392-067-3&.
Wilson William McF.; Hartt Julian N. "Farrers Theodicy" in Hein David; Henderson Edward Captured by the Crucified: The Practical Theology of Austin Farrer New York: T & T Clark International pp.&100118 ISBN 0567025101&.
Hick John Evil and the God of Love London: Macmillan ISBN 978-0060639020&.
Mackie J. L. The Miracle of Theism Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0060639020&.
Murray Michael "Leibniz on the Problem of Evil" in Zalta Edward N. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy&.
Palmquist Stephen "Faith in the Face of Evil " Kants Critical Religion Aldershot England: Ashgate ISBN 0-7546-1333-X&.
Plantinga Alvin God Freedom and Evil Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans ISBN 978-0802817310&.
Plantinga Alvin The Nature of Necessity Oxford: Clarendon Press ISBN 978-0198244141&.
Swinburne Richard The Coherence of Theism Oxford: Clarendon Press ISBN 978-0198240709&.
Tooley Michael "The Problem of Evil" in Zalta Edward N. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy&.
Trakakis Nick "Evidential Problem of Evil" in Fieser James; Bradley Dowden The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy&.
External links
Philosophy portal
A Rational and Biblical Approach to the Problem of Hell
Why Does God Permit Suffering
In Defense of the Free Will Theodicy
Problem of Evil Blog
Gregory S. Neal: "The Nature of Evil and the Irenaean Theodicy" Grace Incarnate
Putting God on Trial The Biblical Book of Job A Hegelian theodicy.
A Collection and Critique of Responses
A debate between theist William Lane Craig and atheist Kai Neilsen regarding the problem of evil.
A selection of articles on good and evil in Judaism from Chabad.org
Apocatastasis article at Orthodoxwiki
The Problem of Evils & Predestination Frithjof Schuon retrieved 11 June 2007
Bediuzzaman Said Nurss Scriptural Approach to the Problem of Evil Yamine Mermer retrieved 11 June 2007
Evil The Catholic Encyclopedia A.B Sharpe 1909 retrieved 11 June2007
Beyond the Problem of Evil A Graduate Level Research Paper
thekingpin68: Secular PhD thesis to be completed 2008. Secular MPhil thesis and several related articles within blog
The Logical Problem of Evil - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The Evidential Problem of Evil - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Problem of Evil - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
