The Problem Of Evil

7 Pages 1846 Words

During the Holocaust, many Jews, God’s chosen people, wondered where God was during this catastrophe. Some explained his whereabouts by saying that he was teaching the Jews a lesson, or giving them a punishment for straying from his path. Others felt that God was suffering right alongside of them, and that their suffering was caused by the free will of other humans. Still others felt that the Holocaust was proof that God did not exist. The question of why an omnibenevolent God could allow evil has mystified people for centuries. The problem of evil has led scholars on a search for adequate theodicies that defend God despite the existence of evil. This paper will use two arguments together, namely the free will defense, and the idea that the result of evil is a greater good, to refute Rowe’s atheist position, and to prove the existence of God.
To begin, I will define the different types of evil that exist. Philosophers distinguish between natural evil and moral evil. Natural evils are those evils that occur and are outside of our control, or more simply put, the evils exist in nature. These evils include natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and tornados. They also include other forms of “chance” occurrences that are out of human control. Moral evils, on the other hand, are the evils that are in the control of humans and result from human actions. They include things such as murder, rape, theft, etc. Evil, both natural and moral, creates many problems and contradictions regarding the existence of God. One such problem that has been created by the existence and abundance of evil in the world can be summed up into one logical argument: if God is omnibenevolent, then he will want what is good; if God is omniscient, then he will always know what is good, and if God is omnipotent, than he will only create what is good. So why then is there evil in the world?
Atheists frequently use this argument against the existenc...