Preview

Sober's Argument For The Existence Of Evil

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
790 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sober's Argument For The Existence Of Evil
Our world is filled with corruption; this proves that there is no God if he cannot help us by preventing evil. The argument of evil basically states that God and evil cannot coincide. There are two types of evil; moral, which is carried out by humans through immoral actions that cause pain and suffering such as murder, rape and so forth. Natural evil is the second type which occurs through inevitable phenomenon’s such as natural disasters; hurricanes, tsunamis and diseases are a few (Sober, 120).
The argument from evil is a deductively valid argument and states the following premises; One, “If God were to exist, then that being would be an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good” (Sober, 119). This first premise is an obvious statement, if there was a God those would be key characteristics that a God is set with. Two, “If an all-powerful, knowing, and good being existed, then there would be no evil” (Sober, 120). The second premise is true in the case that God existed; God would prevent evil since he is all-powerful being. Three, “There is evil” (Sober, 120).The third premise is also a fact, evil occurs whether it be natural or moral .Therefore, there is no God,” (Sober, 120). The conclusion that the existence of God cannot be is credible based on the fact that God would not allow evil.
A soul-binding evil is valuable
…show more content…
Minimum being, that there is an acceptance of evil but, not all evil just the evils that are not as serious and beneficial. Again, the premises of this argument would create disputes between the believers and non-believers, since a small amount of suffering would not be justifiable to someone who believes God should be all-good, while someone who does believe in evils with moderation would accept the bad situations thinking they’ll embrace the impact for a better outcome (Sober,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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,…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I will now take a look at the problem of evil which is most frequently used in the argument against theism. In H. J. McCloskey’s essay, God and Evil, he states the problem in this way, “Evil is a problem for the theist in that a contradiction is involved in the fact of evil on the one hand, and the belief in the omnipotence and perfection of God on the other. God cannot be both all-powerful and perfectly good if evil is real.” An argument can be formulated to disprove the existence of God in the following way:…

    • 1767 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    First of we have to clarify what both of these arguments are and what there are saying. The logical problem of evil explains that the existence of evil is not consistent with the existence of a God. The evidential problem is just the opposite. For example, in Rowe’s essay, he used the example of a suffering fawn. The evidential problem states that if there is an omniscient being, how could he allow this kind of suffering and evil? If there is an omniscient being, couldn’t he stop this kind of evil? That is there argument. But the logical problem tells us that there has to be some kind of good or well-being of suffering and evil. That this evil will lead to good. That is what they use to back up that argument.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Section 5: Conclusion In conclusion, while William Rowe constructs a logically valid argument against the existence of God based on the problem of evil, there are overwhelmingly significant issues with being able to affirm the truth of his crucial first…

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary: James Rachels addresses the conflicts of evil in his book “Problems from Philosophy” by providing various forms of logical problems. The author points out the different possible explanations to why evil would exist. The first major idea Rachels makes is that perhaps pain is essential to caution people of danger. He goes on to suggest that this would not account for why some people are born with deadly diseases. Another idea he makes is that evil helps people appreciate the good in life. One would not be able to distinguish the good in life if evil did not exist. However, this does not explain why the world needs so much evil to exist, instead of letting a few bad things happen occasionally. The third idea the author makes questions why bad things happen to good people. Rachels suggests maybe those bad things that occur in life are…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Theology 202 Essay 1

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The question of evil is a common hot button topic among atheists and non-Christians who attempt to disprove Christianity. They argue that an omnipotent and omniscient God cannot exist in a world with so much evil. The argument is used by them to try to prove that Christianity is “internally self-contradictory and thereby to be rejected.” Many claim that a benevolent and caring God would certainly not create evil or allow it to flourish in the world that He created. So, the problem of evil is how to explain that there can be a perfect, all-powerful, and all-loving God that exists in a world with so much moral and natural evil.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The problem of evil is a significant and enduring philosophical and theological debate. A question is often raised and discussed: if God is both all-loving and all-powerful, then how can evils-including natural evil and moral evil---exist in our world? In response to the charge that the evils of the world are incompatible with God's omnipotence and perfect goodness, the word"theodicy" is coined to deal with the problem of evil. Usually it is an attempt to show that it is possible to affirm the omnipotence of God, the love of God, and the reality of evil without contradiction. Two of the most well-known and most frequently discussed theodicies are the Augustinian theodicy and the Irenaean theodicy.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    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?…

    • 690 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In fact McCloskey places the bar even lower by referring to the “proofs of” rather than “arguments for” God’s existence, thereby overstating the Theist’s claim. With respect to the “proofs” for God’s existence that McCloskey attempts to deal with, namely the Cosmological and Teleological Arguments, McCloskey offers trivial objections that are easily answered. With respect to arguments for God’s non-existence, McCloskey offers the logical form of the problem of evil which, while rich in rhetoric, does not contain enough logic to necessitate its title. McCloskey ends his article with a pragmatic justification of Atheist, stating that Atheism is more comforting that Theism; a point that is stark in its irrelevance.…

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Probably the most powerful reason against the existence of The Classical God of Theism (hereafter referred to as God) is evil and suffering in the world. The problem of evil is an ‘a posterori’ argument, established from experience based on empirical senses. It is also synthetic as evil and suffering can be seen around us daily. There are a number of possible reasons for the problem of evil and why it causes a problem for religious believers, making it an inductive argument also. In his book Philosophy of Religion John Hick defined evil and suffering as “physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness”…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To present the topic of “the problem with evil,” without acknowledging there is a God can be confusing. I think one of the best questions that you could ask is, why does God allow evil being a perfect and loving God (Elwell, pg 413…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The first standpoint is the evidential argument. Best introduced by Hume, it argues against the existence of God based on observations of the large amount of evil there is in the world relative to good. In Hume’s Argument from Evil, he writes, “all the goods in life united would not make a very happy man, but all the ills united would make a wretch indeed,” (pg. 234). The observations Hume makes of all the underserved suffering that occurs throughout the world paints a picture of evil so great that it appears to even over shadow the presence of good in the world. He argues that for the fact that evil is present in the world, God cannot exist or at least that God does not exist as the current omnipotent and omnibenevolent God that we generally perceive him to be. This is where the second standpoint of the problem of evil becomes clear. If evil exists, then at first impression, is God willing to prevent it but not able to? If so, then that would mean he was impotent. Alternatively, if he were able to but just wasn’t willing to, then that would make him malevolent. Finally, if he is both willing and able, then what is the purpose of all the evil we have in the universe (Epicurus, pg.…

    • 1952 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is the Problem of Evil? Is it reasonable to believe a Perfectly Good God, or even a Good God exists if there is suffering in the world?…

    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Why Does God Allow Evil?

    • 1771 Words
    • 5 Pages

    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.…

    • 1771 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The argument from evil

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages

    possible for both god and evil to exist together, making it reasonable for god to exist. I…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays