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Free Will Defense

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Free Will Defense
One of the most persistent challenges to God’s existence is also the root of one of the most asked, but least answerable, questions that we, as human beings, ponder—why is there evil? This dilemma of why the world is filled with evil, anything bad ranging from bullying to natural disasters, has motivated atheists, those who reject God and His existence, to bring forward an argument called “The Problem of Evil”. Due to much debate on the topic, theists, those who believe in God, have tried to resolve the problem of evil by presenting multiple theodicies—attempts to justify or defend God in the face of evil. In this paper, I will present counterarguments to two popular theodicies, the “Free Will Defense” and the “Soul-Making”, in an effort to …show more content…
However, atheists argue that this creates a contradiction—a set of beliefs that cannot all be true at the same time. Thus, atheists present the “Logical Problem of Evil”, originating with the Greek philosopher Epicurus, that …show more content…
The central theme of the “Free Will Defense” is that God is not responsible for any moral evils; humans are the ones held responsible for said evil due to their abuse of the freedom that God has granted them. Therefore, this theodicy protects God’s moral compass by distancing him from the moral evil in the world. This brings me to the following argument that I believe makes God at least indirectly responsible for the evil caused by us. If God exists, then He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. According to the Free Will Defense, God created the best possible world by making humans free, however we abuse that free will and cause moral evils. Nevertheless, since God is omniscient, then He knew during the creation of the world and humans, that we would take advantage of our free will and cause moral evils. Thus, God is indirectly responsible for the moral evils that humans have caused, because He knew that it would be abused, but He still permitted the free will. For example, God knew that one day Adolf Hitler would squander his freedom and start a devastating genocide, yet allowed him to have his own free will to do so. This debate questions God’s omnibenevolence since his omniscience would allow Him to know that giving humans free reign over the world would be a bad
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