The Problem of Evil

Is the existence of an good and all powerful God contradicted by the existence of evil? How does the existence of natural evil support the existence of God and human free will? These questions all address the problem of evil. If it is true that God can do anything that is logically possible, and God is good. Then it would seem that God would eliminate evil from the world. Before the removal of evil can be considered, evil itself must be defined. Moral evil, would be all of the acts that are made by humans that are unjust. Natural evil would be all the events that happen in nature that cause suffering.

If God is omnipotent he could remove all evil. If God is all good, then he would remove all evil as far as he can. However there exists evil and it’s existence must therefore disprove the existence of God, or disprove the existence of an all good God. Augustine answers this problem with three basic responses. God is a nontemporal being who creates things from nothing. God does not create things towards an end. God is unchanged, and because God is pure all that he makes is good. These answers still do not explain the existence of evil in clear terms. If God is pure, how can his creation, man, do evil? If God is pure how can he create something that is unpure, such as a world where disaster happens?

God’s creation of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve serves as a prime example of evil. If Adam and Eve were created as pure as their creator, how could their fall from perfection be explained? When Adam and Eve chose to commit evil it was because of their free will. Evil is the deprivation of good, and is an accidental property caused by free will. God gave man free will, and did not limit his ability to chose his own destiny. Because of free will humans may chose to do evil. It is because of human will that evil exists, not because God created it. Hicks argues on the same grounds as the Greek theologian Irenaues. Adam and Eve were not perfect people who fell to evil, but rather children taking the first steps towards forming a self.

The explanation of Natural evil is not as simple as human will. Would an all good God design a world in which evil things occur. Why wouldn’t an omnipotent God intervene and stop disasters from occurring? Augustine answers that God predestined some people to suffer while others receive salvation. As it is God’s will for this to happen it is not our place to view this as wrong. Hicks finds a different explanation for the existence of Natural evil. There needs to be freedom for moral goodness to exist. Natural evil is not a punishment, but by suffering pain a human is able to discover his self. Humans are born with a potential good which they must actualize. Composed of the raw materials that we must form into a person, we must experience adversity and pain to realize our potential goodness. A self cannot be discovered or invented, but rather developed, achieved. It must become. In that way natural evil is not an evil at all but rather a method for creating a self.

The existence of freewill allows for God to remain all good and all knowing while at the same time permitting the existence of evil. God created man with free will and man created evil. This argument is the easiest way to account for the existence of evil. We want to believe that God is pure, and all powerful. It is because of this belief that we have only ourselves to blame for the evil in the world. Augustine attempts to prove the some people are predestined to damnation while others are not. This would be considered unfair by most. Why should some people be made to suffer by others. How can an all good God want people to cause pain to others. Any form of predestination would disallow the idea of free will. If you remove free will than all the actions of human kind would be directly caused by their creator. But how can the creator be pure if his creations are impure. That is why I agree with Hicks and the idea of free will.

Moral goodness necessitates evil. Without evil how would we judge what is good? However blaming ourselves for evil is in a way an easy way out. We want to believe in a God that has fashioned us in his own image. If he is the unmoved mover, pure, and all powerful, then we must be the cause of evil. To escape the fact that we are able to commit evil acts we must take responsibility for our own actions. Free will then becomes the explanation for evil in the world. God remains good, we remain his creation and evil becomes an accidental product of our ability to chose. The existence of free will allows evil and God to coexist.