The presence of evil in a world said to be created by a “Being” who is not only omnipotent, omniscience and perfectly good is problematic. It is a problem that has perturbed man for ages and coupled with various natural disaster still make the concept problematic one. How can there be a loving God, all-powerful and all-knowing God and still face the problem of evil, if really he is perfectly good and created everything then where does evil originated from?
Atheist or agnostics base their case on the lack of evidence for God existence, however atheist have at least one very powerful positive argument for their position that there cannot be a living, all-loving, all-powerful God because there is so much evil and suffering in the world. Atheist raise questions like this: If you were a parent wouldn’t you do everything in your power to prevent your children from needless suffering? Many innocent children suffer from painful diseases, with this kind of problem how can we affirm for a loving and all-powerful God in the world.
In this study, we are going to look through the lenses of philosopher who talk about the problem of evil and God’s existence. Our main focus on this work is theism and the problem of evil which will be dwell on chapter four of this work. Before going to the main work, we will first look at the problem which is evil, the different types of evil and different explanation (philosophical and religious explanation) of evil.
We will talk more on chapter four that deal with the problem Theism and the problem of Evil.
According to Augustine, evil is not a being, it is a result of privation of good, so it was not and cannot be created, evil cannot exist on it’s own. John Hick on his analysis gave some point why there is evil in the world. On his Greater Good Defence: God himself could not achieve certain result without allowing us to struggle against evil and to endure suffering some evil are necessary in achieving certain good end. The good that is achieved outweighs the evil and the same or a greater amount of good could not have been attained by any means that did not involve the presence of those evils.
The idea of God and the problem of evil is one of the most controversial themes in philosophy. Various arguments have been advanced down the ages by philosophers and theologians on this very problem of Evil and God and there has been no definite answer to this problem. The theist gave reasons why evil persist in the world created by a loving God, who they also believed that he is omnipotent, omniscience and all-merciful. There seems to be conflict between the theist and atheist on this very problem of God and Evil. The atheist used this as a fertile ground to prove that there is no God as claimed by the theist.
John Hick on “Gender Good Defence” is of the view that when God initially created humanity, there was still some work to be done in making us a completed product. However, this remaining work could not be accomplished by God alone, we have to contribute to the process. Using the Greater Good Defence, Hick argues that even God himself could not achieve certain results without allowing us to struggle against evil and to endure suffering.
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