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Dr. Alvin Plantinga's Argument For The Existence Of God

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We can posit that God allows evil to exist because the existence of evil is a necessary condition for individuals to develop or complete their moral souls. Accordingly, the world is seen, instead, as a place of “soul making in which free beings, grappling with the tasks and challenges of their existence in a common environment, may become children of God and heirs of eternal life.” We can learn what morality is about and develop proper virtues. We cannot learn what morality is and how to develop proper virtues in a vacuum nor do we know morality a priori. The suffering of others is essential for individuals to learn lessons about morality and virtue, because without the opportunities offered by suffering and evil, individuals would not have …show more content…

Therefore, God must lack power, knowledge or goodness and the God as defined as being all powerful, all knowing and all good does not exist. Dr. Alvin Plantinga responds to the argument from evil, stating that it fails to establish an explicit logical contradiction between God and the existence of evil. He insists that the argument from evil is missing a premise, which is that God could not have a good reason for allowing evil. The argument from evil cannot succeed without this premise. He states that because we are not able to know what sorts of reasons God could or couldn’t have, we are in no position to assert that God could not have a good reason for allowing evil. Therefore, the existence of evil does not provide an argument for the impossibility of God and belief in God is …show more content…

One may argue, if we are viewed as complete beings and God is all good and all powerful, then the environment God creates for humanity to dwell is naturally as pleasant as possible. Since our world is full of turmoil, God could not have created this world. In response, however, Christian thought never states that the purpose of the creation of the world is to create a place that provides an endless amount of pleasure and avoids pain at all cost.1 The church father Saint. Irenaeus taught that humanity has been made in the image of God but has not yet been brought as a free and responsible agent into the finite likeness of God, which is revealed in Christ. The world, therefore, is a place where humans complete their soul’s by living with the freedom of choice and action. God is not guilty for allowing evil, our world is the best possible world which allows humans to fully develop morally. Our development requires meaningful free will and therefore requires the possibility of evil. If the purpose of our world is to foster the development of the moral character of humans than a good world is best suited to that purpose. A world that contains some suffering and evil which helps us draw closer to God. So, when it is said it scripture that God created a good world, this is a world that is fit for the purpose of soul making and therefore is not devoid of

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The atheist argument for the existence of God is that such a powerful being could not possibly exist with the presence of evil. The argument is that the all-powerful God would not allow evil to exist in the world and would therefore exterminate all evil. While evil still exists within the world this is proof to the atheist that God does not exist. The atheist argument claiming God cannot exist with the presence of evil uses the Judeo-Christian description of God against itself. For in the Judeo-Christian tradition God is said to be an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent being.

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Does God indeed exist, and if so, why would God allow moral or natural evil to be present? One question that can be asked is, “What is God really?” How is there to be a solid definition of God listing his attributes if human beings deduce God to being only good and morally perfect? This is part of the problem presented by Peter Van Inwagen in his argument “The problem of evil,” as he calls it a purely intellectual challenge to understand this paradox. In this essay, I will

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Why does evil exist? If God created everything, then didn’t He create evil? Why could an all-loving God allow evil to exist? The trouble of evil and suffering is one of the most common motives human beings have for not believing in God.

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For years, many have questioned G-d’s role when it comes to addressing the problem of evil. Why is it that bad things always happen to the best of people? Oftentimes, we find ourselves wondering how an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good divinity could allow for such atrocities to occur, such as the Holocaust and the enslavement of millions. G-d’s role and existence surrounding the problem of evil is most often debated by philosophers and theologians alike such as English philosopher, John Hick. Hick introduces a consoling outlook to why such atrocities exist, framing G-d’s role and reasoning for evil's existence as a way for us to learn, grow, and better our souls.

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To them, God would not allow the pain and suffering that results from evil. For example, nobody asks for or chooses to have a fatal disease like cancer, so why does God make this evil possible? Some may argue that due to the person’s past actions and choices they deserves it, but what if the person was born with a fatal disease? What could an innocent baby do to deserve such an awful illness? It’s hard to comprehend how God, who is talked so highly of, could create or permit such an evil, therefore, God simply cannot exist.

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He also refers to the cosmological argument to show that God is an all-powerful being who created the universe out of nothing. Furthermore, he claims that suffering in the world is moral in the sense that suffering inflicted on innocents is genuinely evil. Without a God, there would be no objective morals, thus, evil proves God’s existence, as things would not be considered good or evil without a God (Craig, p. 126). In conclusion, evil proves God’s existence and thus the question as to why God permits evil does not work to disprove His existence.

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God is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing. The problem of evil questions: if God is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing then how can evil exist? Secondly, the problem of evil questions God’s graciousness, if God desires good and wants humanity to flourish then why does humanity suffer and not

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The Problem of Evil - Introduction John Stott has said that "the fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith. " It is unquestionably true that there is no greater obstacle to faith than that of the reality of evil and suffering in the world. Indeed, even for the believing Christian, Judaism and Islam there is no greater test of faith than this--that the God who loves him permits him to suffer, at times in excruciating ways. And the disillusionment is intensified in our day when unrealistic expectations of health and prosperity are fed by the teachings of a multitude of Christian and Judaism teachers. Why does a good God allow his creatures, and even his children to suffer?

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The teachings demonstrate the spectrum between God, evil and human suffering between those individual who accept God’s relationship to evil and to those who refuse to agree to any positive assumptions made on suffering and further protest to state and make others believe that God is always right and does things for a reason.

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Although God’s existence and the validity of the experiences that may imply God’s existence is still not known, it is enough to say that logically, evil can exist along with God and his properties, even in today’s

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According to the Atheist’s beliefs, because there is evil in the world there is no God. The Free will defense is only half of the solution to the problem of evil. Mainly because it is the only thing directly responsible for moral evil present in the world. With free will being present in man, there is the possibility of evil being present. Yet, free will is not the only contribution to the evil in the world.

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The logical problem of evil is when evil exists, and the world is hurting from it, that it becomes more a challenge to have the beliefs of a god or a perfect god even. God is all-knowing, knows all the good and bad that happens throughout the world. If God is all-knowing or all-powerful, God should be authorized to do something or change the ways of all the evil.

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Discuss whether the existence of evil disproves the existence of God A major argument used by atheists against the existence of God is the existence of evil in the world. In philosophy evil is viewed in two different ways: moral evil, which is a result of human action, and natural evil, which caused by a fault in the natural world; the consequence of both types of evil is suffering. Due to this God’s presence is questioned by many non believers, because an omnibenevolent God wouldn’t allow suffering to his people; as a result of this Thomas Aquinas saw a frequent conclusion from philosophers that stated if God existed, there would be no evil in the world, but there is evil; therefore, God does not exist (1917). However, the existence of evil and suffering for a religious

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This argument can be set up as following: 1. If God exists and is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, there is no evil in this world. 2. Obviously,

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My goal for this paper is to prove that God cannot prevent evil and still preserve human will, that it is possible for both evil and God to exist, that it is impossible for God to intervene constantly and preserve the world and that Christianity is the only method for providing meaning in life. I will prove these points by looking to the writings of Morris, Lewis and Craig. Through this essay I hope to bring a deeper theological understanding of how both God and men operate in conjecture with each other. 1. That God Could Prevent Evil Actions and Preserve Human Freedom of Will Oftentimes, atheists will claim that God could have prevented an evil and preserve freedom of will; however, it is necessary that if the latter is to exist then the

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