The Christian's Response To The Problem Of Evil

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Suffering and pain are all around us. The world is filled with famines, wars and diseases. Evil is a part of everyday life. Some of these evils are due to man’s own inhumanity (moral evils), while others seem to have no reasons for occurring (natural evils). At times it seems as if it is too much to bear and people begin to question the evil in the world. The problem of evil leads people to question the existence of God. Surely if there was a loving and all powerful God, there would be no evil. Why would a God who loves His people allow so much pain and suffering to occur? 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).” …show more content…

(LPE5) Therefore, Christian theism is false (Merchant, 78).” The standard logical problem of evil brings God’s omnipotence into question, yet atheists have modified the logical problem of evil so that it also brings into question God’s omnibenevolence and even His omniscience. The modified logical problem of evil is as followed:
“(LPE1) According to Christian theism, God is perfectly good and, thus, wills to prevent evil.
(LPE6) According to Christian theism, God is all-knowing and, thus, foreknew that evil would exist.
(LPE7) Therefore, according to Christian theism, God wouldn’t freely create this world.
(LPE8) But, according to Christian theism, God freely created this world.
(LPE5) Therefore, Christian theism is false (Merchant,

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