If “evil” cannot be understood simply, then similarly, its opposite --“good”-- cannot be comprehended plainly either. For that reason, it can be said that the
This quarter in IGE 121- Rationalism, Revelation, and Enlightenment: The Ancient World there has been a lot of material covering death, suffering, fate, destiny, and good and evil. Three out of the many readings that cover death and suffering would be “Book of Matthew” and “Antigone” and “Book of Job”. A reading of this quarter that reveals suffering would be “Prometheus Bound” and “Book of Matthew”. An additional text that disclose one of themes is the Mayan book “Popol Vuh”. People often ask what the reasons are on why good people have to suffer.
He argues that God compensates for the evil that people suffer in this life by giving them rewards in the afterlife. Beaty's argument is based on the idea that God is just and merciful, and that he would not allow his creatures to suffer without compensating them in some way. Beaty's argument is creative and thought-provoking. He provides a new way of thinking about the problem of evil, and he offers a possible solution that is both plausible and consistent with traditional Christian beliefs. However, Beaty's argument is also controversial.
And if God is God, why is He letting us suffer?” (1) The lifelong quest for answers to these questions shaped his theology
Stump’s two constraints of suffering, argues Draper, could not be taken place automatically in human experience. There is a group of people who cannot be justified by the negative benefit of harm prevention since they are sufficiently far away from the process of sanctification, and from the treatment of permanent separation with God. There are also those who do not consent to suffer for the future benefit of deeper union with God . Moreover, it is quite difficult to know how God knows exactly the human reaction to situations of suffering before allowing
Damnation and Salvation are two actions, which define a person’s mortal soul’s standing. Both are on opposite sides of the spectrum, which involve either turning away from, or embracing God. Instances of protagonists rejecting God can be found in the short stories, The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving, The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe, and, The Storm by Kate Chopin. All three stories show examples of people following their afflictions, which lead them toward damnation rather than salvation. In, The Devil and Tom Walker, by Washington Irving, the protagonist, Tom is lead into damnation by the Devil himself.
People are often presented with making a choice of good or bad. These opportunities can define an individual's life. Someone does not turn evil with the flip of a switch. There is always a process whether it is noticed or not. The reason a person does something in the nature of evil is commonly hard for others to understand.
Heavily influenced by Max Weber, Peter Berger was interested in the meaning of social structures. Berger’s concern with the meaning societies give to the world is apparent throughout his book The Sacred Canopy (1967), in which he drew on the sociology of knowledge to explain the sociological roots of religious beliefs. His main goal is to convince readers that religion is a historical product, it is created by us and has the power to govern us. Society is a human product. Berger made it very clear from the beginning, that society is a dialectic phenomenon; it was produced by us and in return, produced us too.
In his book, The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis attempts to answer the age-old question, “If there is a God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?” This is a question which atheists have used as evidence for their contention that God does not exist. Lewis argues that pain is not a sufficient reason to discontinue believing in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God. Lewis recognizes that pain occurs when it is manifested in wicked souls who use their will to harm others. He seeks to understand the purpose behind both moral and natural evils.
Another Milestone that effects the way we define the notion of “Good and Evil” is largely based on our religion. Therefore, the way we see right from wrong, heaven and hell, light and darkness, Good vs. Evil and God and the Devil comes from the moral criterion that we attempt to apply to our worldviews. However, given the conspicuous contrasts amongst religions, ranging from Christianity to Islam to Judaism. Many people believe that due to the simple fact of religious diversity, this provides the basis to discredit any assumption of moral truths. Some religions define evil as “the result of human sin” or that “Evil is the result of a spiritual being who opposes the Lord God”
The ultimate answers to man's questions about pain, suffering of the innocent, and death are found in Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection (n. 12). The truth communicated by Christ is the absolutely valid source of the meaning of human life (n. 12). All human creatures, not just philosophers, have the right to receive the truth about their existence and destiny (n. 38). By the revelation of Jesus, God the Father has made the truth available to every man and woman. Jesus Christ is not only the revelation of God to man, he is also the revelation of man to himself.
A lot of arguments have been known to prove or disprove the existence of God, and the Problem of Evil is one of them. The Problem of Evil argues that it is impossible to have God and evil existing in the same world. Due to ideal characteristics of God, evil should not have a chance to exist and make human suffer. In this essay, I will examine the argument for the Problem of Evil, a possible theodicy against the argument, and reply to the theodicy. First of all, to be clear, the Problem of Evil is an argument that shows that God cannot be either all- powerful, all-knowing, and/or all good.
Question 1: The term “anonymous minister” means that there is an unspoken and close connection between nursing and spirituality. Among all the nurses interviewed, many of them saw their professions as a calling from a higher power. For example on page 78, Catherine who has been a nurse for 25 years states” I see nursing as a spiritual vocation. It is much more than work; I find it a way of serving”.
Throughout Harper’s book and Kheiyn’s article, I found five main points that stood out to me in relating to helping me understand why bad things happen to good people. First, God did not create pain and suffering, man has through sin and defiance. Second, although suffering is not good, God uses it to achieve good. The third point tells us that the day will come where your misery will no longer exist and God will judge evil. The fourth states that our suffering does not even compare to what God has in store for his followers.
Everyone suffers. This simple fact of life has plagued humans for centuries, perplexing the wisest thinkers down to the most common among us. It demands an explanation, and history has granted us many - often in the form of religion. Buddhism revolves around the concept of suffering, attempting to explain its origin and how to break free of it. It teaches that no matter how righteous a person acts, they will always suffer until they fully achieve enlightenment.
