Out of four characters in the play, I would choose Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He presents us with a pragmatic method rather than philosophical perspective in the discussion of human suffering. Bonhoeffer, who languished for years and died in a Nazi prison, tells us what we should do in suffering, rather than asking “why there is evil in this world.” He does not try to defend or justify powerless God in the Godless world. Based on the Scripture and Luther’s theology, he summons us to share in God’s suffering, who himself suffered and died on the cross. His inspiration found a paradox that the divine suffering brought ‘the tree of life’ back to man. His death as “a man for others” alone can reverse human dilemma of evil, because it was caused by their …show more content…
It begins with assumptions that God is all good, powerful, and interacting with the world. Then a question follows as to why evil exists in the world. Theodicy attempts to resolve the problem of evil in the social and historical contexts by reconciling the traditional divine characteristics of omnibenevolence.
Jon Sobrino, a Jesuit Catholic priest, declares traditional theodicy has failed. As a liberation theologian, he stresses the importance of our obedience to Christ’s mandate to “love one another as I have loved you.” (John15-12) In the so-called praxic theodicy, he calls on us to empty our self-interest and construct a community based on a Christian fellowship in the face of suffering. He says God has the power to nurture human hope, and Christians have to allow God’s hope to work through us by taking responsibility in helping our suffering
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Two ideas have revolved around our perennial dilemma: why a good and powerful God does not eliminate evil. The bible justifies evil in the presence of God. Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” However, when God does not seem to intervene in ever increasing human suffering, anthropodicy comes as its alternative. Anthropodicy involves more of political activism to fight evil in the world without God. In harsh realities, in my view, theodicy and anthropodicy seem to supplement each
Kreeft, Peter. (1988).“The Problem of Evil.” Chapter 7 in Fundamentals of the Faith. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
In Martin Luther’s Freedom of a Christian Man, Luther describes what he believes should be the relationship between faith and good works in the life of Christian people. His beliefs became integral to the Protestant and Lutheran ideologies. The basis of Luther’s pamphlet was “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” (31) This central thought provides readers dialogue on what is truly a selfless, act and if these acts do in fact have an effect on one’s
Benton reminds his readers that the work that is done here on earth is only a brief period of training for the life that is to come. The only difference is the work that is performed on earth can prepare you for eternal joy or everlasting torment. Luther takes on a vow to God that he will be obedient, with the call from Heaven that he had received from God to obey his will in Luther’s life. Bainton also reminds his readers of the sacrifices that Luther made to be the man of God that he was. Bainton questions his readers on what have they done to maintain along with increasing their spiritual lives before God. Bainton also brings his readers into the struggles that Luther went through in his life along with the issues that he had maintaining his faith in God. Bainton skillfully guides his readers through the story of Luther’s life, above all Bainton brings his readers into the mindset that Luther is a man of prayer and strict obedience to the will and way of God. He instructs followers to pray by acknowledging God as their father, so that it is understood by the readers that they are in a personal relationship with God. Bainton strongly emphasizes Luther’s transformation of the Holy Spirit guiding him into the reformation of the church. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses placed the church on notice of their spiritual and natural misrepresentation of the people of
First, before exploring Luther’s rejection of the peasant revolt, one must examine his explanation of Christian freedom. Written in 1520, The Freedom of a Christian proclaimed the new freedom to be found in salvation by faith alone. His doctrine liberated people from works but also from the laws of the Old Testament. Salvation was found in the promise of Go...
The problem of evil is inescapable in this fallen world. From worldwide terror like the Holocaust to individual evils like abuse, evil touches every life. However, evil is not a creation of God, nor was it in His perfect will. As Aleksandr
In this essay Martin Luther comments upon the role of good works in a Christian's life and the overall goal of a Christian in his or her walk. He writes seventeen different sections answering the critics of his teachings. I will summarize and address each one of these sections in the following essay.
In, “The Problem of Evil,” Eleonore Stump holds the belief that the existence of evil in our world does not automatically disprove God’s existence. The belief that God cannot live alongside evil is considered to be the Evidential Problem of evil and this is what Stump is arguing against in her paper. Stump argues, the ability to fix our defective free will makes Union with God possible, which overwrites all the un-absorbable evils in the world, showing both God and un-absorbable evils can coexist. In this paper I hope to show that God can exist, but also show that human free will is limited.
Prior to his writing of this hymn, Luther was struggling through what he called ”the dark night of the soul,” referring to his experience of serious periods of depression and physical ailments that baffled him in the middle of 1527, almost a decade after the publication of his 95 theses. These intensified all the more in August that year when a plague hit Wittenberg. The only professor left in the town, th...
Ethical issues present many philosophical view. These views include utilitarianism, where people act out of the majority, the romanticism where there’s an equal outcome, and the biblical view, where decisions are made out of a purely religious view. One such ethical issue was created by the Lutheran pastor called Dietrich Bonhoeffer during the World Wars. His ethical issue was his assistance in the assassination of Adolf Hitler , the leader of the Nazi movement.
During Luther’s early life he faced a severe inner crisis. When he sinned he looked for comfort in confession and followed the penance, the fasting, prayer and observances that the church directed him. But, he found no peace of mind and worried about his salvation. But reading St. Paul’s letters he came to believe that salvation came though faith in Christ. Faith is a free gift, he discovered, it cannot be earned. His studies led him to a conclusion that, “Christ was the only mediator between God and a man and that forgiveness of sin and salvation are given by god’s grace alone” (Martin Luther, 01). Historians agree that, “this approach to theology led to a clash between Luther and the Church officials, precipitating the dramatic events of Reformation”.
There are strong arguments from a multitude of viewpoints on this issue which has played an integral role in both the justification for religious faith and the understanding of human character. Although often presented as a downfall of religious belief his essay has shown that a rational belief in God, a being who is omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent, is sustainable, despite the evil that exists in the world. This conclusion is possible through three distinct theodicies including the free will defence and soul-making defence and the inconsistencies in the Mackie and Rowe’s arguments. The problem of evil will likely never be able to finally conclude whether an atheist or theist interpretation of the role of evil in the existence of God is more logically sounds, but it is important that all view-points are considered to form an informed opinion for
The problem of reconciling an omnipotent, perfectly just, perfectly benevolent god with a world full of evil and suffering has plagued believers since the beginning of religious thought. Atheists often site this paradox in order to demonstrate that such a god cannot exist and, therefore, that theism is an invalid position. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to defend religion by reconciling the supposed existence of an omnipotent, perfectly just God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. In fact, the word “theodicy” consists of the Greek words “theos,” or God, and “dike,” or justice (Knox 1981, 1). Thus, theodicy seeks to find a sense of divine justice in a world filled with suffering.
If evil cannot be accounted for, then belief in the traditional Western concept of God is absurd” (Weisberger 166). At the end of the day, everyone can come up with all these numerous counter arguments and responses to the Problem of Evil but no one can be entirely responsible or accountable for the evil and suffering in a world where there is the existence of a “omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent God.” Does the argument of the Problem of Evil or even the counter arguments help the evil and suffering of innocent human beings across this world? No. However, the Problem of Evil is most successful in recognizing the evil and suffering of the world but not presenting a God that is said to be wholly good and perfect to be blamed and as a valid excuse for the deaths and evil wrongdoings of this world.
Luther preaches grace and in so free choice is abolished, suggesting that divine grace and human freedom are contradictory concepts. Because reconciliation between God and humans is made possible through the death of Jesus, God’s gift, it is foolish to assume that the exercise of freedom could have any relevance to salvation. Human freedom in Luther’s eyes is derived from the notion that individual’s are already saved through God’s righteousness and confirmed with the works of Christ, you are saved because of your possession of faith. "We reach the conclusion that faith alone justifies us and fulfils the laws; and this because faith brings us the spirit gained by the merits of Christ. The spirit, in turn, gives us the happiness and freedom at which the law aims.
The problem of evil has been a huge debate between atheists and theists. The problem of evil is how can evil occur in the world if God, a perfect being, created the world, and why do bad things happen to good people if God is in charge. Used to critique theism, the problem of evil questions God’s perfection and his existence. It questions God’s perfection by saying, “Whoever does not chose the best is lacking in power, or in knowledge, or in goodness” (Leibniz 89). This means that people do not think that God can be all powerful or perfect because they do not think that this world was the best possible choice. The problem of evil also critiques the question of God’s existence by saying, “If there is more evil than