Evil, how did it happen and why is it still here on this earth? There is this belief that the Christian God is good and all-powerful. He has the power to create worlds and beings, yet there is still evil in the world. Both Pierre Bayle and Voltaire address these questions in their works “Paulicians” and Candide (respectively). They both believe the Manichean philosophy as a more rational thought process than the contemporaneous Christian view. This belief is that there is not one, but two gods in the world; a god of good and a god of evil. I myself believe in a world of balance and like the two authors listed above, accept this as more rational thought than a single omnipotent god. My reasoning is that without evil, there is no concept of good,…
Who would want to be principle of a predominately black gang ridden South Los Angeles High School? George McKenna did; he is a courageous, young black man who wants to change this school into a proud educational institution. McKenna was a very intelligent man, he worked very hard in pursuing what was right, and above all he wants to make a difference in the community.…
Evil comes in as the obstacle coarse in the way of the ultimate prize. After all, with such a great goal, it shouldn't be easy. Though this doesn't really answer the question of where evil came from, or why God allows it. Irenaeus believes that we chose it when humanity fell in Creation. That justifies moral evil. But what of natural evil? Why did God want this journey to take place in such a hazardous environment, with earthquakes and pestilence, and in such frail form, which is susceptible to such dangers? Hick's response is that moral and spiritual development does not take place in a static environment but comes as the result of challenge and struggle and…
In Grace Janizen’s “Whose Problem Is the ‘Problem of Evil’”, she points out the philosophers spent too much trying to answer why God created a world with evil in it and not answering more important questions. She starts off by saying that people spend too much on the matter whether good is too God to create a world with evil in it. She also explains the type of people that try to explain evil in the world, the veil of soul-making who believe that evil helps people become a better person. The other type is the free-will defense is God can only do logical things, but a world filled with evil is not very logical. Instead she feels that people should focus on other questions like if God allowed there to evil then should we really try fit those…
What were the elements of Johnson’s Great Society? Why was the “Affluent Society” actually an illusion?…
Jarvin Alcantara Professor Boyoko English 101 March 21, 2017 The Problem With Too Many Choices In the world today, there are so many choices readily available. It would make sense that many would see that abundant choice is a good thing for people since it offers more freedom. Choice is better than none but too much choice can make people unhappy.…
The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion is the official definition of free will. With free will, God gave us the choice to do whatever we want. With the devil tempting us, we are more inclined to choose evil over bad, but with God’s influence we choose good. Plus if humans were naturally evil everything we know about God is a lie. There are people who believe that the bible states that humans are born evil, however, it does not mentions the word evil. The bible states that humans are all born with original sin, the tendency to sin innate in all human beings, held to be inherited from Adam in consequence of the Fall. Because of free will and moral standards we choose what we know is right, deep in our hearts, human beings fear God ,therefore, it is in our nature to please…
This paper will discuss the Logical and Evidential Argument from Evil, Peter Wykstra's Unknown Purpose Defense, and William Rowe's rebuttals in an attempt to ....…
The vast amount of evil that exists in the world is not because God created it, but because man allowed it. Man was not was not created by God with a built in evil nature; he was created with a free will that was exercised to purposefully sin. God gave Adam a choice whether to do right or wrong and he failed. The moment Adam chose to sin in the Garden of Eden the rest of the human race would be born in sin, too. God did not force this choice on Adam but allowed him to have complete free will. God is wholly benevolent and did not create evil; man brought it into the world by his sinful actions. Adam’s…
The argument of whether God exists is an age-old debate, both sides attempting to prove their viewpoint, but neither having factual proof. Those that argue for the existence of God claim that He is wholly good, omnipotent and omniscient. However, if that were true and God did possess all three of these attributes, how is it that evil exists in the world? There is pain and suffering, crime and natural disasters that occur daily. With that being said, why does evil exist?…
Gary Gutting, the author of the article, What Makes Free Will Free? deliberates that we do not have free choice as we assumed which a researcher confirmed. By free choice, this means the conviction that our conduct is dictated by our own unrestrained choice and that we have complete power over our activities. Also, Gary Gutting examined various thoughts on determinism as the researchers suggested. Determinism refers to the conviction that all human conduct or any other occurrences have a cause. This is opposed to a person's will to accomplish an action. Gary Gutting discussed what David Hume, a philosopher, believed and the belief of David Hume is that both determinism and free choice are possible, they are compatible with each…
In a world of chaos, he who lives, lives by his own laws and values. Who is to say that the death of millions is any worse or better, for that matter, than injuring a cockroach. And in the case of an existing power in the form of God, who is presumed to be all which is good, presiding and ruling an organized universe, why then does evil exist? The prosaic response of "without evil, there is no good" no longer holds any validity in this argument as the admitted goal of good is to reach an existence without evil. So even if a God does exist, I think it is fair, at this point, to say that he is the embodiment of both good and evil. And if humoring those who would answer the previous question with the response that there can be no good without evil, then can we assume that evil is simply a subsection of a defined good? Or perhaps even a good thing? If it is essential, those who chose the side of evil are simply abiding by good values. In the case of a world ruled by Chaos, evil is a non-existent word or value, rather. The system upon which a person's actions are judged also disappears leaving nothing but an instinct for natural survival as basic and primary as the life within the forests which we tear down to build our houses.…
I am writing on John Hick’s piece entitled There Is a Reason Why God Allows Evil. In the selection Hick explains a theodicy, a justification of God’s goodness because of evil, the soul-making view of life in this defense of God’s way in the face of evil. The dilemma of the problem of evil is, if God is perfectly loving he must wish to abolish evil. If evil exists then God cannot be all perfectly loving. Hick’s theodicy, the soul-making view, states that God intentionally placed this evils on earth so that we can over come temptations. God wants humans to go through these test of our convictions so that they can choose good, and they can ultimately undergo spiritual growth. Hick believes that this is not evil but good, and most cannot see though the belief that the world is supposed to be a paradise.…
If free will did not exist then how does it explain the good in evil in the world. For instance if God knew peoples destiny’s he would have it to where we would all choose to be good and holy as opposed to bad. But, this isn't the case because there is in fact bad out there in the world and the reason is because we as humans were given the right to choose for ourselves. Not only is there free will to choose between right and wrong but there also to love. We have the free will to love anyone we want and as many people as we want. If free will didn't exist then we would only be able to love one person for our life time which again isn't the case because there are so many divorces taking place because people fall out of love with each other. Another example is a prisoner may be said to possess no freedom, however he or she still possesses limited choices. In the very least the imprisoned human has the ability to make some action not determined by the institution whether it be to end his or her life or simply to speak certain words or make a specific eye…
Many people dispute the true intentions of God, himself, since the beginning of mankind. Opposing and concurring arguments can be just as primitive. Regardless of personal perspective on any indefinite theory, it is undeniable that the controversy between good and evil will inevitably exist. Two dominant philosophers discussed in “The Problem of Evil” are Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and David Hume. Both of these authors discuss interesting motives from both sides of the issue: why and why not God should allow evil.…