Question Description
I'm working on a writing presentation and need a sample draft to help me understand better.
1. Using the argument of Augustine' The Nature of the Good (ch 7), how do we explain the nature of evil? In the Powerpoint notes, describe the two kinds of evil? Using the philosophical argument of Augustine, explain "evil is a negative being" or "evil is a side-effect of the good" or "evil is the other side of the good"?
2. Using Aquinas' The Problem of Good and Evil, explain what caused evil? Can God be the cause of evil by Aquinas? Discover the role of free will in the problem of evil?
3. In the Supplement Reading and PowerPoint notes, describe the theodicy or justification of the existence of evil by Joseph Butler and John Hick's soul searching idea of evil using Irenaeus' understanding of evil?
4. In the PowerPoint notes, describe two solutions of JL Mackie's on evil--what is his adequate or inadequate solution? What do you think is JL Machie's reasoning, it is acceptable or not?
5. From the personal reflection, for you, why is there evil in the world? Is the problem of evil an obstacle to God's existence? If there is evil in the world, does that mean God does not exist? Explain your view.
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1.
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We have evil in the world but evil is not a ‘thing’, it is a malfunctioning of
the good. This malfunctioning is not caused by God but by creatures such
as humans and angels who possess the power of free will and use it
wrongly, the misuse of free will causes evil in the world.
•
Two kinds of evil:
1. The evil that people suffer (as the fruit of sinfulness). This evil
that God allows to happen because of sins.
2. The evil that people do (as a product of free choice/freedom).
This evil comes from people’s inordinate desires of the temporal
and changeable. The voluntary act of will, God cannot be part of
it, since God would punish the evildoers at the end.
•
That God is good; He creates only the Good. All things are good. Behind
the Good, there is evil. The reason there is evil in the world, but evil is not
a “thing” or a positive being, but as negative beings, like a “malfunctioning
of the good.” Only the good is caused by God.
2.
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God does allow evil to exist in His presence so that He can create good
from this evil. In other words, God is omnipotent and represents the
highest order of goodness and because of these qualities, evil exists so
that God can bring good out of such evil. Aquinas asserts that if God is
indeed representative of infinite goodness, then evil would not exist within
our world because good would occupy all temporal and spatial points of
reality.
•
God has decided to endow us with free will,...