His ambition is driven by the destruction of humankind and faith. In Paradise Lost he is the mesmerizing force that surges the act of sin. His character in Scripture is manipulative and disguising while his actions in The Screwtape Letters are organized and shrewd. Satan seeks to be praised and is defiant towards religion and God. His actions and attitude are the obstacles in the relationship between man and God.
God punishes evil. This interpretation of evil is problematic, however. Because God administers punishment, evil becomes anything that questions the omnipotence of God. The hint that God himself may have an evil side is a truth that may not be discovered without first questioning, an action that endangers the questioner. "Evil" is acknowledged as a force separate and opposite from "good".
According to Moreland and Craig, “The greatest intellectual obstacle to belief in God is the so-called problem of evil (Moreland and Craig 536).” This paper will look at the logical argument for evil and the Christian’s response to the argument. The logical problem of evil was formed as a way to question certain characteristics of God. The argument puts to test God’s omnipotence and omnibenevolence. H.J. McCloskey wrote, “Evil is a problem, for the theist, in that a contradiction is involved in the fact of evil on the one hand and belief in the omnipotence and omniscience of God on the other (Beebe).”
The problem of evil is a difficult objection to contend with for theists. Indeed, major crises of faith can occur after observing or experiencing the wide variety and depths of suffering in the world. It also stands that these “evils” of suffering call into question the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The “greater good defense” tries to account for some of the issues presented, but still has flaws of its own. In the excerpt from Philosophy of Religion, John Hicks outlines the problem of evil as such: (a) If God were truly omnibenevolent, he would then wish to eliminate all evil; (b) If God is were truly omnipotent, he would then be capable of eliminating evil; (c) Evil exists in the world.
Dante exemplifies this by Pope Nicholas being scared that Pope Boniface VIII, who actuall... ... middle of paper ... ...onjointly, Dante’s strategically used imagery shows the horrors are merely the hidden sins committed on Earth and that caused them to be punished in Hell to their sins’ equal severity. The crowning jewel of Dante’s illustrative text was the pilgrim’s development from a pure human being to one filled with evil and hatred after seeing Hell’s truths and how he changed negatively from his exposure. These clues left by Dante display show the reader the precise reason why the Church is debauched and how it affected its misguided people. Works Cited Alighieri, Dante. “The Divine Comedy: Inferno”.
When Augustine joined the Manicheans he was faced with questions about evil and its origin which allowed the group to teach Augustine the Manichean ideas of evils source. The Manichean belief is not explicitly explained by Augustine (maybe because the people of Augustine’s time already knew about the Manicheans). The texts glossary explains the allusion by explaining that the Manicheans attributed evil to an evil force (Satan) that is in combat with God (Confessions 330). This evil is thought to have elements which are also evil and in one of these, the human body was included, meaning humans are inherently evil (Confessions Glossary. 330).
I found comparing our views very interesting. The problem of evil proves contradiction in religious philosophy, that a perfect God may or may not exist (Pecornio, 1). If a perfect God exists, why would he put evil into our world and promote suffering? Some philosophers have argued that this suffering is consequence for our own sins. If you willingly choose a path of evil, then evil will present itself onto you.
The greatest danger of the Ouija is that an individual begins to place his trust and future hope in the message the board brings. Christians can offer several reasons as to why one should not be involved in the use of the Ouija Board. One is simply that the bible condemns it as being involvement in the occult. And then theirs the fact that the message received is often false and misleading. According to scripture (Matt 4:9, Rev, 12:19) "Satan's goal is to deceive man by blinding him to the truth of the gospel and to receive worship for himself.
In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan is an ambiguous character that puts a twist on this retelling of the Biblical villain. Milton forces the reader to look at evil and the antagonistic Satan in a more complex light in contrast to the unsympathetic figure referenced in other texts. As the fallen archangel, Satan is a struggling hero fighting against an oppressor, the devil that tempts man to their downfall, and the rebel that involuntarily does God’s bidding. Many of Satan’s attributes are complex and contain contradictory dualities. Satan is determined and believes in his own righteousness when he sees God as a dictator that uses his creations as amusement.
Up for debate is the question of whether or not God is guiding history toward a certain end and how God is to be understood in relation to suffering and evil. The providentialist character of God is most often challenged by the harsh reality of evil. There are many theodicy arguments that attempt to answer this question of evil. In this paper, I will argue liberation