For those interested in solutions to the problem of evil, here's a breakdown I wrote for a conflicted guy in r/christianity a while back.
Solutions within the Christian worldview are called theodicy (more spicifically, it refers to solutions that not only explain, but justify evil)
Some possibilities to consider:
Skeptical Theism, aka, "mysterious ways". God does bad things or allows bad things to happen in order to prevent worse things, or in order to provoke response that is even more good.
Augustinian Theodicy, aka, "chain-email-albert-einstein-mic-drop". God does not allow bad things to happen, because "bad" does not exist. What we experience as "evil" is actually merely the absence of the good.
Free Will. God gives agency to creation, such that it can act outside of his plans. Note that this leaves open the problem of "natural evil", so Free Will is not a complete theodicy on it's own.
Plantinga's Free Will, aka "a wizard did it". Only human beings have free will. Everything bad that happens that is not directly attributable to human agency is caused by non-God supernatural entities.
Irenaean/Hicks Theodicy, aka, "purgatory-on-Earth". Evil exists because suffering helps us to achieve moral perfection. Our troubles exist to make us stronger.
Finite-God Theodicy, aka, "your premise is wrong". God is not omnipotent, He does not have the power to stop every bad thing. Our concept of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnitemporal, omnibenevolent God comes more from Aristotle than the Bible anyway.
Pandeism, aka, "you oughta try these mushrooms". Pandeism asserts that, in the act of constructing the Universe, God became the Universe. He is still omnipresent and omniscient, but after the act of creation, he is no longer omnipotent, in the sense that he cannot create supernatural effects in the world. Flat Deism, aka, The Clockwork God works effectively the same way.
Original Sin/Luther/Calvin Theodicy. It's all Eve's fault.
Reincarnation Theodicy, aka "hey, guys Buddhism is cool!". We currently exist in a state of purgation for sins committed in past life/lives.
Contrast Theodicy. God made Evil to help us appreciate Good.
Aquinas/Afterlife Theodicy, aka, "heaven swamps everything". God made Evil to give himself something to judge us by, and it is justified by the fact that it is temporary, but the reward is eternal. Finite bad + infinite good = infinite good.
Clementine Theodicy, aka, "your other premise is wrong". This theodicy denies that evil exists in the first place. It asserts that evil is "an illusion" and everything is actually always good.
Leibnitz Theodicy, aka, "schroedinger's morality". When God created the world he had options, possibilities. For unknown cosmic reasons, none of the possible worlds is all-good. God chose the best one, the one with the least bad in it, but he could not get rid of the bad altogether.
Kantian Theodicy/Turning the Tables, aka, "checkmate, philosophers!". The question is unanswerable because each of the proposed solutions can be seen as forming a contradiction with one of the premises. All of the above solutions are starting with the assumptions "evil exists" "god exists" "god is good", and then wind up at a conclusion that directly contradicts one of the assumptions, disguised in fancy wording. Therefore the problem is not with any of the solutions, but with the question in itself. Kant asserts that you have to give up one of those three assumptions, there is no other choice.
Edit: loving the discussion below, you guys are great.
satanicpuppy on July 31st, 2017 at 12:46 UTC »
Satan doesn't really appear in the bible, and when he does, he's just doing some tempting.
Now, God, on the other hand, fucks shit up.
ivebeenhereallsummer on July 31st, 2017 at 13:09 UTC »
But even without the scripture quoted, God created Satan. How do they ignore such details? Is this cognitive dissonance or something else?
HannasAnarion on July 31st, 2017 at 13:52 UTC »
For those interested in solutions to the problem of evil, here's a breakdown I wrote for a conflicted guy in r/christianity a while back.
Solutions within the Christian worldview are called theodicy (more spicifically, it refers to solutions that not only explain, but justify evil)
Some possibilities to consider:
Skeptical Theism, aka, "mysterious ways". God does bad things or allows bad things to happen in order to prevent worse things, or in order to provoke response that is even more good.
Augustinian Theodicy, aka, "chain-email-albert-einstein-mic-drop". God does not allow bad things to happen, because "bad" does not exist. What we experience as "evil" is actually merely the absence of the good.
Free Will. God gives agency to creation, such that it can act outside of his plans. Note that this leaves open the problem of "natural evil", so Free Will is not a complete theodicy on it's own.
Plantinga's Free Will, aka "a wizard did it". Only human beings have free will. Everything bad that happens that is not directly attributable to human agency is caused by non-God supernatural entities.
Irenaean/Hicks Theodicy, aka, "purgatory-on-Earth". Evil exists because suffering helps us to achieve moral perfection. Our troubles exist to make us stronger.
Finite-God Theodicy, aka, "your premise is wrong". God is not omnipotent, He does not have the power to stop every bad thing. Our concept of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnitemporal, omnibenevolent God comes more from Aristotle than the Bible anyway.
Pandeism, aka, "you oughta try these mushrooms". Pandeism asserts that, in the act of constructing the Universe, God became the Universe. He is still omnipresent and omniscient, but after the act of creation, he is no longer omnipotent, in the sense that he cannot create supernatural effects in the world. Flat Deism, aka, The Clockwork God works effectively the same way.
Original Sin/Luther/Calvin Theodicy. It's all Eve's fault.
Reincarnation Theodicy, aka "hey, guys Buddhism is cool!". We currently exist in a state of purgation for sins committed in past life/lives.
Contrast Theodicy. God made Evil to help us appreciate Good.
Aquinas/Afterlife Theodicy, aka, "heaven swamps everything". God made Evil to give himself something to judge us by, and it is justified by the fact that it is temporary, but the reward is eternal. Finite bad + infinite good = infinite good.
Clementine Theodicy, aka, "your other premise is wrong". This theodicy denies that evil exists in the first place. It asserts that evil is "an illusion" and everything is actually always good.
Leibnitz Theodicy, aka, "schroedinger's morality". When God created the world he had options, possibilities. For unknown cosmic reasons, none of the possible worlds is all-good. God chose the best one, the one with the least bad in it, but he could not get rid of the bad altogether.
Kantian Theodicy/Turning the Tables, aka, "checkmate, philosophers!". The question is unanswerable because each of the proposed solutions can be seen as forming a contradiction with one of the premises. All of the above solutions are starting with the assumptions "evil exists" "god exists" "god is good", and then wind up at a conclusion that directly contradicts one of the assumptions, disguised in fancy wording. Therefore the problem is not with any of the solutions, but with the question in itself. Kant asserts that you have to give up one of those three assumptions, there is no other choice.
Edit: loving the discussion below, you guys are great.