Free Will Theodicy: The Problem Of Evil

The Problem of Evil is one of the most renowned arguments that provides the objection to the existence of God. According to this argument, if God exists and is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, then there would be no evil in the world. However, the world is full of instances of evil and suffering, consequently indicating that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God does not exist. Within the context of this argument, evil can be defined as “ a state of affairs that creates pain, suffering or harm” (Nichols et al. 132). Evil can be categorized into two types: moral evil, which refers to harm done by human beings to one another, and natural evil, which refers to harm done to humans as a result of nature’s operation. In response
Recall the two types of evil that have been mentioned: moral evil and natural evil. Having free will, human beings are able to make choices about their actions freely, although some might take advantage of such a privilege to commit wrongdoings, subsequently inflicting harm on others. Such instances of harm are instances of moral evil since they are caused by human beings; therefore, it can be said that the Free Will Theodicy has successfully explained the consistency of the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God and the existence of moral evil. However, while instances of moral evil are the products of human free will, instances of natural evil, such as natural disasters, are not caused by human beings, but they occur simply as a result of the working of nature. Therefore, since instances of natural evil are not associated with human free will, God can eliminate them without violating anyone’s free will. Yet people still suffer from instances of natural evil in everyday life, and an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God would not allow such things to occur as He only wants the best for humankind and has the ability to prevent them. Therefore, the Free Will Theodicy has failed in showing that God must be all-powerful, all-knowing, and
Now, I am going to offer the reasons why I do not think the Problem of Evil is a good argument against the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God. If the Problem of Evil argument is correct, then an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God and evil cannot coexist; however, as it can be observed, many instances of evil seem to contain underlying good that people do not realize. For example, let's compare God to a parent and human beings to this parent’s children. Occasionally, this parent makes decisions for his (or her) children that upset them, and the children cannot understand why their parent makes such decisions against them. However, the decisions this parent is making is actually in the best interest of the children. In a similar manner, God sometimes makes decisions to allow instances of evil to exist, not because He does not want to or does not have the ability to prevent them, but because He knows such instances of evil contain underlying good that outweighs the quantity of evil, even though the human race cannot understand the decisions that God makes. Peace is certainly good, but in order to achieve peace, many nations have to go through wars, and wars are obviously evil. Hence, it can be justified that the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God is consistent with the existence of