Rowe's Argument Analysis

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‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’.
Irenaeus explains that this means that humans were created physically in the image of God, but the ‘likeness’ is accumulated throughout life through the experience of evil and suffering. This theodicy was later added to by Hick who described the process of ‘soul-making’ involving the loving relationship between humans and God, created due to choice (Jackson, 2014)
In addressing the evidential problem of evil, arguments against the presence of the Judeo-Christian God are based on the idea that the presence of evil in the world makes it unlikely that this god exists. This is the argument put forth by William Rowe, in his evidential argument from evil which focusses on intense human and animal suffering. (Trakakis, n.d.). Rowe’s argument is made up of two premises and a conclusion.
a) ‘There are instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some …show more content…

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

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