The Problem Of Evil: Theodicy

Course and Section Number:THEO 202 D07

Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) No matter the degree of sin, it has been a concern of man since the beginning. Whether moral evil or natural evil the proble of evil is evident. The phrase “the problem of evil” is actually a label for a series of such problems involving God and evil (Feingberg, pg 413-415). The problem of evil is not that God is evil, but human beings have a free will and they have to chose to be evil. God cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13, NIV). There is no such thing as “the” problem of evil as there are many problems of evil (Feinberg, pg 414). The definitions of evil consist of moral evil, which is bad evil and natural evil which is harmful evil. Moral evils are violations of the
Law of God, violations such as murder, rape incest and even theft. David having Uriah killed would be an example of bad evil (2 Sam 11:13-14) and well as the first murder in the Bible, Cain killing his brother Abel (Gen 4:8). Natural evil is the suffering caused by events that have nothing to do with humans. This harmful evil occurs in the natural process of the physical world as a result of the curse placed on creation after the fall of man. In March 2011 there was an earthquake in Japan, killing thousands of people. This could be considered natural evil. Although natural evil is distinct from moral evil, it is not separate from it. Evil is rooted in sin and sin is turning from God. Sin exist among mankind because of Adam. As a result of his fall creation was cursed. God allowed Adam the moral choice to be obedient or to rebel. According to the theory of Federal headship, Adam was appointed by God to act as the representative of the entire human race. When disobedience occurred, the penalty of their sin not only affected Adam and Eve but all of humanity (Towns, pg 540). Many will try to rationalize the existence of evil by contending that God creatd a world containing evil because it is the best possible scenario (Feinberg, pg. 1185). Some theologians say that God created the world free from evil and the evil has been introduced by human beings created by God. They have chosen to exercise their own free will and they chose rebellion (Feinberg, pg. 1186). When developing a theodicy it is important to ensure it is internally consistent.
God is an all loving God, therefore evil exist the theodicist must be able to show that there are no inconsistency with the claims. I view theodicy as God created the world sin-free, but He created man with a free will and he rebelled. This is consistent because free will is a value of the highest order (Feinberg, pg 1186). In order to show Himself a holy and merciful and gracious God, He had to give mankind a choice to make and He redeems those who choose Him. I used to constantly ask God, “Why Me”? Personal experiences could hinder or help our relationship with God. I normally found myself asking God why me during the bad, or evil, times in my life. When things were good I did not question Him. I felt as if God was putting this evil on me. Emotionally God detest evil (Lewis, pg 492) so I was charging Him with the impossible for His nature. Sin has been a concern since the beginning of dawn, both moral and natural evil. Evil cannot be broken down into just one problem because there are many. Mankind has a freewill and along with that comes disobedience leading to evil. The problem of evil will not go away anytime
soon.
Word count: 620

Bibliography
Feinberg, J.S. (2001). Evil, problem. In Walter A. Elwell (Ed.) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. (2nd ed., pp 1135-1138). Grand Rapids: Baker.

Lewis, G.R. (2001). Good, Attributes of. In Walter A. Elwell (Ed.) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. (2nd ed., pp 1135-1138). Grand Rapids: Baker.

Towns, E. (2008). Hamartiology. In Theology for today (3rd ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.