The Problem of Evil

Essay by Anonymous UserUniversity, Bachelor'sA, January 1997

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Evil exists, a plain and simple fact. The argument for the problem of evil (and suffering) proves that fact. The argument for the problem of evil states that there is a all-good, all-powerfulGod. It states that God being all-good means that he only wants good to exist. But, look at all the bad and evil in the world. A total contradiction of a all-good God. God being all-powerful means that he can make whatever he wants. So, if God can make whatever he wants then why did he not make all people and things good? This all boils down too the fact that evil does exist and with evil existing there could not be an all-good, all powerful God.

I feel that the argument for the problem of evil is a good argument. The first solution to the problem of evil states that good cannot exist without evil.

Not a bad argument, but faulty. With evil existing you have something to compare it to, which is good. But, If God was really all-good the word evil would not exist because everything would just be good. If God is so good and so powerful than why does he let so much evil exist? I could understand a little bit of bad people and things to make the good stand out, but there is so much. All the time in the news you hear about someone being murdered, children being molested, a natural disaster striking a area and many people suffering and dying, etc... This also shows that God cannot be all-powerful if lets all this evil exist in the universe that he supposedly created.

The second solution to the problem of evil states that God allows evil to exist in order to bring out a greater...