Benevolent God and Problem of Evil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Benevolent God and Problem of Evil - Essay Example This paper is aimed at answering the question: â€Å"Is the presence of evil in the world compatible with the existence of a benevolent God?† Problem of Evil has been one of the greatest challenges to the existence of a benevolent God. It is argued that if God is benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent, then why does evil exists in the world. In order to do this Problem of Evil and the possible responses to it are discussed. The responses are analysed to see if they are satisfactory and allow for an existence of a benevolent God and evil. Problem of Evil The fact that evil continues to occur in our world contradicts or challenges the existence of a benevolent God. If God is benevolent, along with being omnipotent and omniscient, then God must be good and kind to everybody. This means there must be no evil in the world which causes enormous suffering and pain to not just humans but all living beings. But this is not true. There is evil everywhere in the world and all beings are subjected to suffering and pain. Therefore, the existence of a benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient God and the presence of evil contradict each other. A benevolent God who is also omnipotent and omniscient must not tolerate such widespread evil and must eradicate it. If God is omnipotent and omniscient but does not eradicate the evil in the world means that God is no benevolent. On the other hand, if God is benevolent but still not eradicates evil means that God is either not omnipotent or omniscient. But there are people who believe that God is benevolent at the same time acknowledging the fact that there is evil in the world. This belief is very inconsistent and many have addressed this issue. Responses to Problem of Evil There are numerous responses from theologians and believers of benevolent God to the question raised about the problem of evil. Many have tried to solve this problem and find a solution that would put the argument of ‘Problem of Evil’. There aren’t any solutions and reasons that are perfectly logical. In fact, many proposed solutions are proven to be fallacious. But at the end it all comes down to faith. Those who do not believe in God go with the argument that questions the existence of God while those who believe in a benevolent God accept that reasoning given by theologians irrespective of logical shortcomings (Mackie, 1955). Following are some of the responses by theologians and theists to ‘Problem of Evil’: Evil is Necessary as a Counterpart to Good This is one of the most popula r responses that are used. For good to be present there needs to be evil. Evil is very essential for us to recognise the good that is around. Good is a counterpart to evil and the absence of one makes the other one irrelevant. The idea here is that if there was no evil then good would not make much sense. It is only with respect to evil that we can decide what is good and what is not. This can be best understood with the example of light and darkness. We can make the distinction between light and darkness only because we are aware of the two. If either one was absent, then there is no