Leibniz: The Problem Of Evil

Evil and God have been topics that people put together and discuss about. Many think that evil cannot exist if God exists, but others think that God still exists even with evil in the world. The problem of evil has been debated by many people, and one of these people is Gottfried Leibniz, with whom I agree with. 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

A theodicy is a response to the problem of evil by proving that God exists, that he is perfect, and that he lets evil exist. Leibniz does this by saying that “the best plan is not always that which seeks to avoid evil, since it may happen that the evil is accompanied by a greater good” (Leibniz 89). He is saying that sometimes evil existing is for the better; it is followed by something better. The world is perfect because of its imperfections. Leibniz later goes on to say that without Adam’s sin, Jesus would not have come down to earth to die for our sins, and then resurrect three days later to forgive us of our sins. Leibniz then concludes that “this universe must be in reality better than every possible universe” (Leibniz 90). His response to the problem of evil shows readers that God is perfect because he has our best interests in mind, even when it does not seem that