the problem of evil.

was having a discussion about the problem of evil last night at blueprint. but i couldnt remember parts. i guess i really need to write stuff down to remember/learn.

 the problem of evil: if God is all powerful and all good and loving, why then is there evil in the world ?

there is a whole bunch of formulations of this argument, but this is the basis of it. ^^

the 4 step response i was trying to remember: (starting from a post-modern position)

“Would you like to see a law prohibiting a person from choosing a morally questionable action? (eg: abortion)”

no.  of course not, for who are they to tell me what is moral or how to act? it is my free choice to make. infact,  even if i agree with the law, it should still by my decision to make.

“so being able to make your own moral choices is a good thing?”

yes

“Would it be fair to say that it’s part of moral freedom to be able to choose either good or evil?”

yes

“Can raw power make it possible to have genuine moral freedom, but no possibility of doing evil?”

no

for moral freedom requires the ability to choose evil. all the power in the universe cannot make a morally free being with only one choice. thus God being all powerful and all loving, must allow the possibility of evil, via moral freedom from freewill.

(read most of this here , in fact it probably edsplains it better than i could ever do.)

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oh wow, also just found a cool defense.

Alvin Plantinga’s Free Will Defense:

1. 1. Free will is of moral value. That is, a world with free will is better than one without it.
   2. It is a contradiction to say that God brings it about that humans freely will only the good { vs J.S. Findlay who claims that this is possilbe}
   3. God must bring about the best possible world in his capacity.
   4. Therefore, God must create a world with free will.[We believe the word “must” is objectionable here, but the point still stands. Instead read “God is correct to create…” ]
   5. But then God is not responsible for evil (choices), since it is not in his power to bring it about that men freely choose only the good. [note: this assumes that God cannot, and need not, do the logically contradictory. If logic does not apply to God, then there is nothing wrong with asserting the apparent contradiction that God is good and He permits evil to exist. Where there is no logic, there are not any contradictions . . . and anything could be the case!]