Is this kind of situation really possible? None of these challenges undermines the basic point established above that Plantinga’s Free Will Defense successfully rebuts the logical problem of evil. Many theists maintain that it is a mistake to think that God’s omnipotence requires that the blank in the following sentence must never be filled in: According to orthodox theism, all of the following statements (and many more like them) are true. If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good, why does he let so many bad things happen? However, Mackie is reluctant to attribute much significance to Plantinga’s accomplishment. On the contrary, theists claim, it is an indication of his supremacy and uniqueness. The difference between the logical and evidential forms concerns the intended goal. Because of this, when they do what is right, they can properly be praised. Why does evil exist at all? That is, that person would not be able to choose any bad option even if they wanted to. The fact that (MSR2) may be implausible does not keep it from being possible. All he needs to do is give a logically consistent description of a way that God and evil can co-exist. They will also be able to guess why a different reason was chosen in this article.) Before delving into the deep and often murky waters of the problem of evil, it will be helpful to provide some philosophical background to this venerable subject. The logical problem of evil (including providence) involves mystery, requiring that Christians maintain doctrinal tensions in biblical proportion. A higher moral duty—namely, the duty of protecting the long-term health of her child—trumps the lesser duty expressed by (21). God has obviously not causally determined people in every situation to choose what is right and to avoid what is wrong because there would be no evil or suffering if he had. The survey included the question “If you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask?” The most common response, offered by 17% of those who could think of a question was “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” (Strobel 2000, p. 29). The most that can be concluded is that either God does not exist or God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil. Soaked as it is with human suffering and moral evil, how is it possiblethat our world is the work of an almighty, perfectly loving Creator? So, W1 is clearly possible. As a result, the problem of evil is often regarded as one of the greatest threats to religious belief,causing many religious writers to scramble to find a wide variety of solutions. So stated, the logical problem of evil poses a puzzle of deep complexity. Evil is a problem for a believer because it challenges the nature of God so it is, therefore, a logical problem. Theists who want to rebut the logical problem of evil need to find a way to show that (1) through (4)—perhaps despite initial appearances—are consistent after all. It seems, then, that the Free Will Defense might be adapted to rebut the logical problem of natural evil after all. The phrase “problem of evil” can be used to refer to a host of different dilemmas arising over the issue of God and evil. (Gen. 1:29-30, NIV). U. S. A. Plantinga, however, doesn’t take God’s omnipotence to include the power to do the logically impossible. The essential point of the Free Will Defense is that the creation of a world containing moral good is a cooperative venture; it requires the uncoerced concurrence of significantly free creatures. Statements (6) through (8) jointly imply that if the perfect God of theism really existed, there would not be any evil or suffering. (Therefore) There does not exist an omnipotent, omniscient, wholly good being. He seems constitutionally incapable of choosing (or even wanting) to do what is wrong. And yet we find that our world is filled with countless instances of evil and suffering. Also known as a reduction ad absurdum argument, whereby all three propositions cannot be true together. The theist understands that evil, pain, and suffering are contrary to the opposite “good” states – The “way it should be.” If God were to have a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil, would it be possible for God to be omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, and yet for there to be evil and suffering? They reason as follows: (6) If God is omnipotent, he would be able to prevent all of the evil and suffering in the world. Horrible things of all kinds happen in our world—and that has been the story since the dawn of civilization. He’d like to help, but he doesn’t have the power to do anything about evil and suffering. But then it seems that God’s actions could not carry any moral significance. Plantinga claims God and evil could co-exist if God had a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil. It’s only when people have morally good reasons that we excuse or condone their behavior. If God is going to allow people to be free, it seems plausible to claim that they need to have the capacity to commit crimes and to be immoral. This question raises what philosophers call “the problem of evil.”. If Adam and Eve had followed God’s plan, then W4 would have been the actual world. The Logical Problem Of Evil 1535 Words | 7 Pages. God uses evil for a greater good. Can he make a rock so big he can’t lift it? Something is dreadfully wrong with our world. It’s logically impossible!” As we will see in section V below, Plantinga maintains that divine omnipotence involves an ability to do anything that is logically possible, but it does not include the ability to do the logically impossible. You would also be physically incapable of stealing your neighbor’s belongings. As it stands, however, some important challenges to the Free Will Defense remain unanswered. `` Logical Problem Of Evil `` By Lee Strobel 1377 Words 6 Pages Seems like each day we turn on our televisions, open up our Internet browsers or turn on our smartphones we’re confronted with some disturbing news of people doing unimaginable acts to each other, to animals, to our planet or horrible things happening to people all across the globe. The logical problem of evil claims that God’s omnipotence, omniscience and supreme goodness would completely rule out the possibility of evil and that the existence of evil would do the same for the existence of a supreme being. It is impossible for them to do wrong. Whats the answer? (10) If God knows about all of the evil and suffering, knows how to eliminate or prevent it, wants to prevent it, and yet does not do so, he must not be all- powerful. by an ancient philosopher by the name of Epicurus.

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