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Problem Of Evil Swinburne Analysis

1054 Words5 Pages

Daniel Ertel
Professor Hunt
Phil 1010-01
October 1st, 2016

Is Gods Existence compatible with the existence of evil?

One of the most dated arguments on the topic of God’s existence is whether its’ existence is compatible with the existence of evil. In his dissertation, “The Problem of Evil,” by Richard Swinburne, he attempts to demonstrate how evil can coexist in a world created by an omnipotent (all-powerful) and benevolent being. In his first objection, he argues that there is an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God in a universe that contains coexisting forces. Swinburne says that an omnipotent and omnibenevolent being created this world, where these forces coincide. How could evil, in any form, coexist with good in this world? When God …show more content…

One of Swinburne’s main arguments is that God gave humans the freedom to choose between good and evil. If an individual has a choice between good and bad choices, and if that individual chooses to do good, it shows stronger compassion towards humanity than it would if the individual had no choice but to do good. Swinburne argues that giving people a moral responsibility to do the right thing is good: "If humans are to have the free choice of bringing about good or evil, and the free choice thereby of gradually forming their characters, then it is logically necessary that there be the possibility of the occurrence of moral evil unprevented by God." (Swinburne, 2004). Swinburne believes that the freedom to choose and develop one’s character is a paramount thing and every individual deserves to have the ability to make a choice between good and evil. However, this does not justify all the evils in the world; with those evils being both moral and natural evils. If someone, however, would choose only to commit evil acts, the suffering and pain caused to the innocent people would be considered wrong. However, there are some individuals in this world today that sometimes cannot mentally establish the difference between a good act and evil …show more content…

These people sometimes cannot choose between the good and bad acts they commit. If God truly was “all- powerful” and “all-knowing” would it not be better for those people not to have a choice when making moral decisions? Are they in the right state of mind to be carrying out these acts. From a human's perspective, they would most certainly want God to play His role as an omnipotent being and intervene here and aid the person whose judgment is impaired. Swinburne, however, believes that these people are morally better off if they have the choice of doing what is wrong and doing what is

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