Evil and Suffering Rs
Evil and Suffering
Part A) 'Evil and suffering is the result of a malevolent God' discuss the problem of evil and suffering in light of this quote. (6 marks)
There are two different types of evil. Moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is the result of human actions that are morally wrong. Examples are murder, war and cruelty. Richard Swinburn said 'Moral evil I understand as including all evil caused deliberately by humans negligently failing to do what they ought to do, and also the evil constituted by such deliberate actions or negligent failure'. Natural evil is not caused by humans, and it is the apparent malfunctioning of the natural world. Examples of this are volcanoes erupting, earthquakes, famines, and diseases. John Hick said 'Natural evil is the evil that originates independently of human actions, in disease… in earthquakes, storms, droughts, or tornadoes'.
Evil and suffering is definitely problematic. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it produces suffering which usually seems unfair. This may include animal suffering which, of course, is totally unfair because the animal usually cannot do anything in it's power to stop itself suffering. This leads to the belief that evil does exist and is a reality, and is a challenging problem. The next problem is a theological problem. This is that evil challenges the nature of God. A philosophical problem with evil is that it requires the believer to accept conflicting claims. Lastly, the problem that evil comes in many forms and which demand different explanations is a diverse problem.
These terms do suggest a malevolent God. If God is benevolent then these definitions of evil and suffering do make the problem greater, because one would wonder why God chooses to make innocent and undeserving people suffer, for which there is no real answer available to man. JL Mackie came up with the 'inconsistent triad' to explain the problem of evil and suffering with belief in God. He wrote about a triangle
Part A) 'Evil and suffering is the result of a malevolent God' discuss the problem of evil and suffering in light of this quote. (6 marks)
There are two different types of evil. Moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is the result of human actions that are morally wrong. Examples are murder, war and cruelty. Richard Swinburn said 'Moral evil I understand as including all evil caused deliberately by humans negligently failing to do what they ought to do, and also the evil constituted by such deliberate actions or negligent failure'. Natural evil is not caused by humans, and it is the apparent malfunctioning of the natural world. Examples of this are volcanoes erupting, earthquakes, famines, and diseases. John Hick said 'Natural evil is the evil that originates independently of human actions, in disease… in earthquakes, storms, droughts, or tornadoes'.
Evil and suffering is definitely problematic. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it produces suffering which usually seems unfair. This may include animal suffering which, of course, is totally unfair because the animal usually cannot do anything in it's power to stop itself suffering. This leads to the belief that evil does exist and is a reality, and is a challenging problem. The next problem is a theological problem. This is that evil challenges the nature of God. A philosophical problem with evil is that it requires the believer to accept conflicting claims. Lastly, the problem that evil comes in many forms and which demand different explanations is a diverse problem.
These terms do suggest a malevolent God. If God is benevolent then these definitions of evil and suffering do make the problem greater, because one would wonder why God chooses to make innocent and undeserving people suffer, for which there is no real answer available to man. JL Mackie came up with the 'inconsistent triad' to explain the problem of evil and suffering with belief in God. He wrote about a triangle