The Problem of Evil

The existence of Evil has plague mankind since the beginning of time. Evil, the privation of good; Evil the innate opposite to Love or Evil, the cause of suffering and pain in the world; all of them have caused questions and problems for philosophers all over the world. Evil has been explained by theologians, Buddhists, philosophers and atheists alike throughout the centuries, the only consensus being that is causes an individual or a group of people to suffer.

'What is evil?' is therefore defining question.

And how can anyone believe in an omnibenevolent God if it exists?

In religious terms it is referred to as an Act of Will against God and has been adressed by two key theodices by Augustine and iraneus. Augustine argues that evil is manmade, created by us, when we tried to become godlike in our knowledge and ability. The 'Fall of Man' from Eden thus depicts how we used our freewill and turned against God, therefore man is bad and needs to punished through the existence of Evil in the world. It is our fault it exists because it was our Sin. On the other hand, Iraneus argued that God created Evil to help us. Evil is an essential test which was created first when we Fell and then when the Angels Fell, both of which God knew of as an omniscient being and which he hopes will help us become more Chirstlike. Thus is aids us to become courageous, compassionate and loving towards God as God wishes for a love relationship with us. Yet in both of these the extremity of Evil becomes the point.

Guy Fawkes once said 'a desperate disease needs a dangerous remedy' but is this really the case? Does God need to punish his children through famine, drought, tsunamis, cancer, depression, earthquakes, conflict, mental problems, HIV/AIDS, dirty water and a gazillion other things simply to punish us? Was Eve's temptation really so wrong that God saw fit to punish humanity for thousands of years after the crime? If so should we really follow his example? Is he, like Dostoyevsky said, 'not worthy of worship'? The same goes for making us 'more Christlike' in Iraneus' arguement. Does suffering hours of chemotherapy, losing your hair, losing your energy, months of pain and eventually, maybe, even death, make a person more 'Christlike'? Where does help become torture or encouragement become supercilious persecution?

For many, including the philosopher Leibniz, God created the 'best bossible world in which existed free will'. Free-will defence has become Evil's redeemer for many people as it suggests that in order for the most perfect world to be created we must be able to willingly give ourselves to God. A mther who tells their child to say that they love them thereby giving them no choice is not a beloved mother. A mother who comes home to find their child waiting for them with flowers (assuming this is for altruistic reasons) is a beloved mother because their child's love came freely given. The same goes for God. Evil exists because to 'err is to be human' and our freewill allows us to do wrong and create suffering in others. yet then what is the point in a 'natural disaster' like Hurricane Katerina or the flash floods across England in 2007? Natural disasters are not caused by mankind and thus, according to the freewill defence arguement, they should not exist. An all-loving, all powerful God would not allow these disasters if it were purely down to the good choices and 'evil' choices make by our free will.

Hume believed the problem of evil completely undermined God. An omnipotent, omnibenevolent God would not let Evil exist as long as it caused them to suffer. Particularly since the God if classical theism would identify the entirety of the world's population as his flock, though sometimes misguided, and as such surely suffering should be equal. If one in three are destined to suffer from cancer why don't the other two? Why does one country suffer severe famine for years but another not? An all loving God would at least spread his punishment evenly.

There is much evidence which contests the existance of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God, especially when it comes to the Problem of Evil. evil maybe human, it maybe the privation of good, but it is also cruel and unjust and cold hearted and a God who allows that is not worthy of worship as loving being but perhaps worthy of pity, for thei misguided attempt at omnipotency.