The Existence of God and Evil Essay - 2232 Words

The Existence of God and Evil The problem of evil has been around since the beginning. How could God allow such suffering of his â€Å"chosen people†? God is supposedly all loving (omni-benevolent) and all powerful (omnipotent) and yet He allows His creations to live in a world of danger and pain. Two philosophers this class has discussed pertaining to this problem is B.C. Johnson and John Hick. Johnson provides the theists’ defense of God and he argues them. These include free will, moral urgency, the laws of nature, and God’s â€Å"higher morality†. Hick examines two types of theodicies – the Augustinian position and the Irenaeus position. These positions also deal with free will, virtue (or moral urgency), and the laws of nature. Johnson†¦show more content†¦The laws of nature also attempt to defend God. A theist claims that the laws of nature creates evil, and it is irrational for God to intervene in every case of suffering and danger. If God did become involved, it would be impossible for anything to be predictable. In other words, nature and the cause and effect that people know would not be consistent or reliable. Johnson agrees that God’s involvement in every disaster would be wrong. As Johnson states, â€Å"To argue that continued miraculous intervention by God would be wrong is like insisting that one should never use salt because ingesting five pounds of it would be fatal† (Pojman 123). However, God should step in to stop or prevent the most horrific of disasters. Where is the line drawn, though? Johnson says it should be on the side of intervening more than not. Even if it is not known where to draw the line, no excuse should be made to not interfere in instances of pure evil. Thus, the laws of nature do not excuse the coexistence of God and evil. God’s â€Å"higher morality† is the last defense Johnson inspects. This morality is only followed by God and is what judges His actio ns. â€Å"Higher morality†, though, is unlike the morality on Earth. To allow evil, God’s morality would imply that what humans call good is evil, and what is evil in this world is good. Thus the two moralities are opposites. Since God’s â€Å"higher morality† is the opposite, humans can have no understanding of it, or as Johnson states,Show MoreRelatedEvil And The Existence Of God1147 Words   |  5 PagesThis essay is based on how the problem of evil attacks head on into the existence of god who is all good, all powerful and all knowing. The problem of evil is a wide area that can t be outrun easily. The concept of evil has been problematic to many philosophers. When speaking about evil, we all have the idea that is the absence of good. For some religious people, Evil has been described as a supernatural force, although for others is been described as part of the human nature. 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