Problem of evil
From RationalWiki
The "problem of evil" is a argument against the existence of a God, as far as God is described by Christians, Jews and Muslims. It takes the following form;
- A God that is all powerful would be able to prevent evil and suffering.
- A God that is all knowing would know that evil and suffering happen.
- A God that is all loving would want to end evil and suffering.
But evil and suffering happen.
Therefore a God that is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving does not exist.
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[edit] Examples of uses of the argument
[edit] Humorous example
Andrew Schlafly exists, and has not been smote by God.
[edit] Humorless examples
- “Why did he not answer the prayers of the imprisoned, of the helpless? And when he heard the lash upon the naked back of the slave, why did he not also hear the prayer of the slave? And when children were sold from the breasts of mothers, why was he deaf to the mother's cry?”[1]
(Robert Ingersoll writing in the 19th Century)
- “Why do earthquakes, forest fires, hurricanes, tsunamis exist? Surely an all-powerful God could have created a nice Earth for his "precious creations" without all this nonsense going on. Without God creating hurricanes, New Orleans would still be going strong. Did God have something against New Orleans?”
- If all these things can be thought of by a human mind, how did the almighty one not realize these things during creation? [2]
(Anonymous 21st Century poster on the Internet Infidels Discussion Board).
- "Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnimpotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
(Epicurus)
[edit] Humerus example
- "If someone evil break someone else's arm, why does God take so long to heal it?" - anon.
[edit] Nuts to questions of existence
A stronger formulation runs thus:
- If an omnipotent deity allows suffering to happen, then it is not worth worshipping.
- Suffering happens.
- Therefore any existent omnipotent deity is not worth worshipping.
[edit] Can't or won't
A god who can't end evil and suffering is not omnipotent. A god who won't end evil and suffering is not omnibenevolent. The question then becomes: "if god exists, which explanation, can't or won't, is there for the problem of evil?"
While the can't explanation gives us a deity that is less than omnipotent, it does not speak to the willingness of the deity to do something about the problem.
The won't explanation is far more problematic for it implies a conscious decision not to act. The deity that won't act on the problem of evil is either non-omnibenevolent, or has since stepped back from the material universe.
