Midterms and Theodicy
Well, I got my prep work done for my presentation on James, which is good since I'm giving it tomorrow. If you want to know anything about James 2:1-13, now is the time to ask. :)
Anyway, now I've got a philosophy paper to write about the Problem of Evil. What's the problem of evil, you ask. Well, basically that we believe in an all-powerful, all-good God and yet there is evil in the world. Wouldn't a good, all-powerful God eliminate all evil? That's the problem.
So, there's different theistic responses to that and that's called "theodicy." There's a lot of them, but one has to do with free will, sin and the fall (Augustinian) and the other has to do with free will and the idea that our lives here are a soul-making, character-building process (Irenaen).
Our professor, Dr. Jerry Walls, made a good point (several actually) today in class.
"If you don't have a problem with evil, then you have a much bigger problem."
What he was getting at is this: If you don't have a problem with evil, then you've accepted that it is normal, it's the way things are and you don't even have hope that love will ultimately triumph over evil. If you are an atheist, that makes sense.
From a naturalist standpoint, our ideas about morals are just part of the biological, cultural processes and don't actually mean anything. Suffering is senseless and there is no absolute justice. And really, there's no reason getting upset about it because that's just how it is and there's no god to complain to anyhow.
It's for those of us who believe in an all-powerful, all-good God, who expect good and believe and hope that love will triumph over evil that evil is a problem.
So, Dr. Walls concluded, "It's a good problem to have."
Anyway, now I've got a philosophy paper to write about the Problem of Evil. What's the problem of evil, you ask. Well, basically that we believe in an all-powerful, all-good God and yet there is evil in the world. Wouldn't a good, all-powerful God eliminate all evil? That's the problem.
So, there's different theistic responses to that and that's called "theodicy." There's a lot of them, but one has to do with free will, sin and the fall (Augustinian) and the other has to do with free will and the idea that our lives here are a soul-making, character-building process (Irenaen).
Our professor, Dr. Jerry Walls, made a good point (several actually) today in class.
"If you don't have a problem with evil, then you have a much bigger problem."
What he was getting at is this: If you don't have a problem with evil, then you've accepted that it is normal, it's the way things are and you don't even have hope that love will ultimately triumph over evil. If you are an atheist, that makes sense.
From a naturalist standpoint, our ideas about morals are just part of the biological, cultural processes and don't actually mean anything. Suffering is senseless and there is no absolute justice. And really, there's no reason getting upset about it because that's just how it is and there's no god to complain to anyhow.
It's for those of us who believe in an all-powerful, all-good God, who expect good and believe and hope that love will triumph over evil that evil is a problem.
So, Dr. Walls concluded, "It's a good problem to have."
posted by Michelle | 7:04 PM
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