The Problem Of Evil And The Existence Of God - 1636 Words

The Problem of Evil is one of the most influential and common arguments in modern philosophy against the existence of a Greater Being, God (Trakakis, 2006). Both Theist, those who believe in the existence of God, and Atheist, those who don’t believe in the existence of God, argue that evil exists in the world. The Problem of Evil explores whether the existence of evil and suffering constitutes significance evidence for atheism. When looking at the definition of the greater being, most refer to the Omni-god in which is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnibenevolent, meaning God is all powerful, all knowing and all good. Atheist Philosophers therefore argue that no Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnibenevolent greater being would allow evil and†¦show more content†¦The theological argument receives many criticisms however the main theodicy against the theological argument of evil is the free-will defence. Many theists believe that God allows evil to occur in order for human beings to be given free will. This defence suggest by allowing free will, God enables us to choose to believe in his greater power or to reject any belief in him. Theists argue that this free will outweighs all evil actions and it is the abuse of this free will leads to evil (Jackson, 2014). Atheists often turn to the evidential argument of the problem of evil. This argument directly enhances Rowe’s first and second premise in which lead to the consolidation of the third. To discuss the evidential argument, we will first look at premise 1 of Rowe’s argument. 1. There are instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greats good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse Rowe supports this premise by presenting the List of Pointless Evils, in which look at cases of intense suffering that God have prevented without having lost a greater good or preventing a greater or worse evil occurring (Howard-Snyder, 2008). The most common example of pointless evil is of the fawn in a devastating bush fire, which badly burns however doesn’t kill the fawn instantly. The fawn therefore lies in agony for days, slowly dying. Rowe argues this is aShow MoreRelatedThe Problem Of Evil Questions God s Existence995 Words   |  4 PagesThe Problem of Evil Questions God’s Existence An argument against the existence of God is based on the presence of evil in the world. This deductively valid argument is divided into two categories; human action and natural evil (Sober, 2005, p. 120). Human action discusses how experiences makes us better people, while natural evil are tragic events that are not under the control of humans. Each category is used as evidence to refute God as an all-powerful omniscient, omnibenevolent, or omnipotentRead MoreThe Problem Of Evil : An Argument Against The Existence Of God1922 Words   |  8 PagesNotes †¢ The problem of evil (the problem of suffering) is an argument against the existence of God †¢ The argument against the existence of God is incompatible with the existence of an all-loving, all-powerful God. 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The problem is very easy to comprehend: If God is an all-perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful deity then why do we live in a world with any imperfection or negativity at all? Why do bad things happen at all? Especially to the good people in the world and the millions of innocent people who suffer on a daily basis. Gottfreid Leibniz was a philosopherRead MoreThe Existence Of Moral And Natural Evil1263 Words   |  6 Pagesto address the existence of moral and natural evil with the perception of an Omni-max god that encompasses three key properties; omnibenevolence all-good or all-loving, omnipotence all-powerful, and omniscience all-knowing. High theology accepts that God does exist in the universe as the greatest being of the Omnis, where as low theology acknowledges the existence of God without one of the key properties of the Omni-max god. The various defenses that aim to solve the problem of evil that include theRead More The Problem of Evil Disproved by the Free Will Defense Essay1059 Words   |  5 PagesThe Problem of Evil Disproved by the Free Will Defense The Problem of Evil states that because evil exists the existence of a tri-omni being, which we typically refer to as God, is impossible. This argument, if proved to be true, would refute the Cosmological Argument for God’s Existence. The Cosmological Argument states that not every being can be a dependent being without infinite regress (which is believed to be impossible), so there exists a tri-omni self dependent being knownRead More J.L. Mackies Evil and Omnipotence Essay1652 Words   |  7 PagesJ.L. Mackies Evil and Omnipotence The philosopher J.L. Mackie wrote a very convincing piece on the problem of evil called â€Å"Evil and Omnipotence,† in which he attempts to show that one of the following premises must be false in order for them to be consistent with each other. #1. God is omnipotent. #2. God is morally perfect. #3. Evil exists. The problem of evil is a deductive a priori argument who’s goal is to prove the non-existence of God. In addition to Mackie’s three main premises