Good morning Professor and Class!
The riddle posits that God is malevolent if he can stop evil but
does not. Equally, if he is incapable of solving evil though
willing to do so, then he is not omnipotent. Finally, if he can but
does not stop evil, he is wicked. In the end, God appears as the
source of evil particularly since religiously, he is omniscient,
all-knowing; omnipotent, all-powerful; and omnipresent, all present
(Cheetham 12). The paper offers counterarguments for the existence
of God and justifies why evil and suffering exist in the world. God
allows evil in the world because he gave people the will to choose
their actions as well as preparing them for his kingdom.
Plantinga’s Free Will
Plantinga asserts that God allows evil to occur to preserve
the free will of people. In this case, when God created people, he
accorded them the freedom to make choices, and ultimately face the
consequences. Eventually, if God limited one’s decision to only
good practices or directed their thoughts entirely, it would not
constitute freedom of choice for people. In effect, even the
relationship between man and God would not be voluntary as the
latter has no options (Beilby 45). Put differently; if God is to
eliminate malevolent actions, then he would have to remove free
will in people as well. Since it did not happen, then individuals
can do wrong and rights. For instance, a person ponders about
robbing a bank and does it; God should not be blamed for not
preventing the heist because he accorded beings the right to choose
what they want to do. It is likely that he (God) knew about it but
because he allowed people to make their own decisions, decides not
to act. To that end, it would be illogical to blame God for this
and other iniquities perpetrated by people. According to Beilby,
Plantinga asks four possibilities pertaining the legibility of free
will and God’s actions (47). He concluded that it would not be
logical for God to create people with free will, have little
control over their decisions and then expect there to be no evil in
the world.
Soul Factory by John Hick
According to John Hicks, evil was created by God to prepare
the faithful souls to join him in eternal life. Hicks describes
deviating from Godly acts as evil, which inasmuch as God cannot
condone, he cannot do away with entirely (Cheetham 31). Again, God
did not intend on creating a perfect universe in which people would
do good at all times. Hicks reckons that a faultless world would
not make an appropriate place for people to cleanse and prepare
their souls for God’s second coming. He uses the terms ‘soul
factory’ to describe one’s growth and formation of outstanding
character. If God made perfect beings that would not commit
atrocities, there would not exist real Christians who would inherit
his kingdom since everyone would be an automated person towards
doing good. Further, he points out that natural disasters, such as
floods, fires, and earthquakes, deemed evil, are critical for
people to demonstrate their goodwill, heroism, and sacrifice, which
are the hallmarks of dedication towards God (Cheetham 33). Hence,
evil actions are vehicles that bring people closer to God. As such,
God permits and venue engineers some of these calamities to test
how righteous people are. Again, evil is a tool that enhances
character growth. By comparing the actions of others and oneself,
it is possible to determine whether one is closer or further from
God (Cheetham 39). Without it, individuals would never aspire to
work on their nature and instead become spoiled. Notably, Hicks
does not claim that evil is a good thing. Instead, he motions that
it is critical in shaping human beings and reaffirming their
beliefs that God exists.
God allows evil in the world because he gave people the will
to choose their actions as well as preparing them for his kingdom.
Plantinga asserts that it would be unreasonable to accord beings
the right to choose and expect them not to do wrong.
Correspondingly, John Hicks purports that the existence of evil is
to prepare souls and shape the character of individuals in
readiness for God. Both these explanations validate God for
allowing suffering on earth and rebuttal Epicurus’ understanding of
God.
References
Beilby, James. Epistemology as theology: an evaluation of
Alvin Plantinga's religious epistemology. Routledge, 2017.
Cheetham, David. John Hick: a critical introduction and
reflection. Routledge, 2017.
