What is the problem of evil? How is this problem used as an argument against God's existence?

Question

What is the problem of evil? How is this problem used as an argument against God's existence?

Answer 1

Im an atheist, and i have heard several other atheists use this as an argument, however it isnt a very good argument against the existence of god. simply because the theist in that debate could say "its to test us" or "the devil causes the evil"

Answer 2

Evil is the absence of God. God gives us free will to make our own choices. If I decide not to follow after His teachings and I decide to kill someone oppose to let Him have the revenge; then I made a choice outside of His will, I decided to do something that didn’t include Him – the absence of God.

God could right now step down and put an end to all of this, like He did in the days of Noah, but He is a God of His word and there are some promises He has made that have yet to be fulfilled and he promised the earth wouldn’t end until they were fulfilled. So ignorantly speaking (and I use the word ignorant in it’s literally since) one could say, “Why doesn’t God just stop all this?” my suggestion is read His word in Spirit and in Truth & once you find the promises He’s made for you an your family, you wouldn’t want Him to end the world just yet.

God once walked the earth, during the time of Adam & Eve; He gave Adam charge of the earth. When Adam took a bite of the forbidden fruit, he gave the world over to Satan – which means God has to be invited into the hearts of people on earth – He doesn’t go against His own rule. The world is Satan’s and all the destruction you see is because of the absence of God.

Answer 3

I don't see the argument against God's existence.  In Christianity we have free will (its a basic principal) hence evil is one man's choice.  The problem is how we look at "evil".  Most things now considered evil were at one time just a part of human nature and instinct.  They only reason these things were made evil was by mans evolution into civilization and the need to make peace now that hundreds or thousands of creatures that were at one time living solo and only thinking about self preservation are living in large groups.  Before we had neighbors stealing wasn't evil it was just survival.  Religion created evil and morality as something "God" was against as a way to rationalize the abandonment of our basic human instinct.  From murder to monogamy, none of these things mattered until we started to live together and the betterment of the group was valued higher than than the individual.  Evil is a man made idea, neccessary but man made.  The golden rule didn't exist until we started living with large groups of other humans.  Morality, as an argument against evil, only exists as a necessity to preserve the order amongst the masses.  If you lived your entire life as a hermit the entire idea would be nonsensical.

Answer 4

Doesn't god run a kingdom? So, there can be no democracy and no freedom.  Catholicism is therefore only a system of dictator and slavery, for god does not share his power with his human subjects.  That is the suffering whether we be good in heaven or be evil in h**l.

Answer 5

The problem of evil was first touched upon by Epicurus and then expounded upon by David Hume.

According to Epicurus: ""Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?"

According to David Hume: "[Gods] power we allow [is] infinite: Whatever he wills is executed: But neither man nor any other animal are happy: Therefore he does not will their happiness. His wisdom is infinite: He is never mistaken in choosing the means to any end: But the course of nature tends not to human or animal felicity: Therefore it is not established for that purpose. Through the whole compass of human knowledge, there are no inferences more certain and infallible than these. In what respect, then, do his benevolence and mercy resemble the benevolence and mercy of men?"

The essential crux of the agrument is asking why God does not abolish evil or at least take steps to abolish evil in this world? Think of an analogy of parents letting their young children bicker and fight without stepping in to stop them or resolve the argument. We would certainly not think of those parents as being attentive, so why would we give God the benefit of a doubt? This stands in stark contrast to the idea that good is omnibenevolent, especially if a mere gesture could easily resolve all conflicts and end suffering and misery.

Answer 6

I don't wan't to be redundant, so I will explain the Problem of Evil only where I think the other poster's left some tid-bits out.

The problem of evil IS a a genuine theological problem. It is, so theologians will say, that evil exists in the world. But, since God is omnibenevolent, evil ought to not exist at all. Why is this? Because either God does not prevent the evil from happening - given that he has the ability to prevent the evil from happening - or God cannot prevent the evil from happening - in which if God is omnibenevolent, that means He is, by definition, all-loving, and an all-loving being seems to contradict a being that allows evil to happen, even the being has the capacity to prevent the evil from happening.

The 'Problem of Evil' used as an argument against the existence of God, typically takes the following form:

1. If God exists, there would be no evil at all.

2. But there is evil.

Hence,

C. God does not exist.

-or-

1. Any all-loving being could not [without contradiction]allow evil.

2. God is an all-loving being.

3. There is evil in our world.

Therefore,

C. God does not exist [in our world].

There are ways around this argument that all have interesting implications:

First, we could deny that God is omnibenevolent or omnipotent.

Or, we could deny that evil exists in our world.

Or, we could argue that the existence of evil is compatible with an eternally all-powerul, all-knowing, and all-loving being.

The best - or rather most common - objection I have heard thus far is this: God being an all-loving being made it so that we did not have to choose to be with Him. For, if He made it so that we had to be with Him, we would ultimately not be choosing to love God - rather - He would have forced us into being with him. Yet, this implies that since we cannot always (or decide not to) be with God, we cannot be omnipotent, or maximally good. In turn,  by choosing not to be with God, we cause evil in some sense. God (of course) wishes that everyone would choose to do good (that is, to be with God), but this is not how things have happened.

Whether or not the previous objection - which is a rejection of premise (1) in the first version of the Problem of Evil argument, and an objection to premise (1) of the latter version as well, suceeds is a different matter. Any way, it seems the common route is to deny that God's omnibenevolence is incompatible with the existence of evil.

In any case, I think it may be an open question as to whether or not we know what the term 'evil' means. It could turn out that once we learn some propostion to the effect that 'evil is____', the '______' might very well be compatible with an all-loving being existing, yet we just are ignorant of the identity statement that would render such a being compatible with 'evil'.

Answer 7

The "problem" of evil is that, following the postulate of the Christian doctrine that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and benevolent, how could such a being allow evil to exist? Either he must be a tyrant, all-powerful and all-knowing but not benevolent; a godly idiot, all-powerful and benevolent but not all-knowing; or impotent, all-knowing and benevolent but not all-powerful.

The theory here is that God cannot be everything the Christian doctrine says he is if evil exists. Of course, all of that wonderful logic goes to pot as soon as one points out that there must be evil in order to know good, just as there must be darkness in order to know light.

I don't think there is a problem of evil, just people who haven't gotten past the "WELL, BAD THINGS HAPPEN" part of theology.

Also, before this turns into a torrent of religious debate - I'm agnostic, both sides can step off.