Problem of Evil

A collection of 122 posts

Coronavirus

Well Done God: Counting the Hits and Ignoring the Misses

There is a definite tendency to count the hits and ignore the misses when considering the actions of God. God is love and God is great and isn't God wonderful? Look at the mountains and look at the forests, look at the beautiful animals, the lambs and the

Coronavirus

God and Coronavirus Revisited

“As a former presidential speechwriter, my careful rhetorical analysis is that he’s gonna get us all killed.” -David Litt, speech writer for Obama I am trying hard not to continually post about Trump, I really am. But he doesn't help himself. So, just quickly, before I get

Problem of Evil

God and Coronavirus

So it's about time I got back to talking about God, right? Let's mix up topical news with the age-old problem of evil and rationalising belief in God. I probably don't need to re-establish the problem of evil with regard to coronavirus, other than

Coronavirus

On Coronavirus

We have a pandemic here. Thanks, God, for allowing yet another deadly virus/disease/natural disaster to claim the lives of, I assume, a good many. Of course, God not only omissively wills such a thing to come about, but has designed and created it (either explicitly and directly, or

God's characteristics

Should Atheists Bring Children into the World? Should Christians Murder Their Babies?

These are the sorts of questions you should be discussing around the dinner table with your children of a Sunday afternoon… Jayman, a Christian commenter here on occasion, pushed back on a recent article I posted concerning William Lane Craig's position on apostates. * Craig on Terminating Would-Be Apostates

consequentialism

God Is a Consequentialist. The Theist's Defence: God Is Not Moral (I)

I have written an essay that can be found variously on this site called "God Is a Consequentialist" in which I set out that God is a moral consequentialist. Some of which I will now set out or paraphrase before looking at the defence William Lane Craig and

evolution

Storks, Evolution and the Problem of Evil

This tweet came from The Non-Alchemist and is worth dwelling on: If the all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good God of Xtianity exists, she seems to have either guided/allowed evolution to go down this path *or* this suffering is the result of two humans eating a fruit. Forgive us for

Counter Apologist

Counter Apologist: Love, Hiddenness, and Why I'm Nearly Done

This is a guest post from Counter Apologist, who kindly contributed a chapter to my book Did God Create the Universe from Nothing? We have had a few YouTube discussions, linked below. This is his most recent post on his own blog, and he kindly allowed a crosspost. There are

consequentialism

The Problem of Evil, Skeptical Theism and "Good Reasons"

I have been discussing the Problem of Evil (POE) a bit recently, particularly the Logical Problem of Evil (LPOE), and without wanting to defend theism and belief in God, I have been defending the logical possibility of OmniGod in light of the existence of suffering. The basis of the POE,

Epistemology

Discussing the Logical Problem of Evil & Skeptical Theism

An interesting thread has developed on the thread to the post concerning the Logical Problem of Evil (LPOE) - thanks to those involved. I thought I would post some specific ones here for further discussion: [Slograman] @Jonathan Improbable as it may be, does LPOE also cover the morality of creating

Evidential Problem of evil

The Logical Problem of Evil

I have recently brought up the good ole problem of evil in a post concerning both religion and politics. Skl, a regular theistic commenter, was surprised by my remarks: [JP - There is no logical inconsistency with OmniGod and the existence of suffering, given his properties. … I don’t deny

Problem of Evil

The Problem of Evil & Politics: Defending the Indefensible

The Problem of Evil argument is ubiquitous in the world of theology and philosophy of religion. The debaters using this argument attempt to solve or accentuate the problem that exists in trying to understand the amount of suffering that takes place in the world, given that God is all-loving, all-powerful

Not Seeing God

Not Seeing OmniGod through Philosophy and Logic: Photosynthesis and Suffering

Introductory spiel: One of my more recent books, Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century (UK), has a plethora of gems in it for the reader and a smorgasbord of variety. It was a labour of love and was particularly rewarding due to the fact that so many great

creation

God's Divine Foreknowledge, His Culpability and the Problem of Evil

God’s divine foreknowledge has recently raised its interesting head over the last few comment threads and I thought it would be interesting to return to the subject again. I’ll start with a quote from a commenter here, found on their Miscellanea Agnostica blog: The [reconciliation of "the

God's characteristics

The Many Christian Responses to the Shootings

I talked about the different categories of explaining the shootings in the context of the Problem of Evil in a previous post. The Christian Post, for example, preferred to advise people on how to react to the tragedies, rather than who or what was to blame and how they should

gun control

The Recent Shootings and God

If you read this at any point forward in American time, there will have been a recent shooting, sadly enough, so the title will be perpetually relevant. The recent mass shooting atrocities, like any evil or suffering, need to be understood by religious people in the context of their god.

Problem of Evil

Sanders: God Wanted Trump To Be President? What a Dolt.

You've already heard it, I know, but for those living under a stone, Sarah Huckabee Sanders (not good ole Bernie, as I first thought from the headline!) is an eejit. And, if she can be believed, so is God: In an interview on Wednesday, White House press secretary

Philosophy of Religion

The Theodicy of an Orderly Universe

When I recently announced my diagnosis of having MS, the Problem of Evil was an obvious subject to bring up. So I did. One of the comments came from Anthrotheist who stated: I had an online conversation with an apologist not long ago that touched on the problem of evil,

classical theism

My MS Diagnosis, God and the Problem of Evil

As many of you know, I've recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As is my wont, I would like to see how this works within the light of some theology and philosophy of religion, especially in the context of the problem of evil. The problem of evil it

Philosophy of Religion

It's as if God Isn't There!

The other day, I posted a piece about the Problem of Evil. There was an interesting comment on the piece as follows: Here's my question: How would it had been different if God weren't there? He claims that "if he wasn't there [she]

omnibenevolence

OmniGod and Abuse

Let me start off with an internet meme: Today's subject of choice is the Problem of Evil. I will be using the notion of classical theism to represent God here; that being OmniGod, who is omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent. In the above image, the girl is questioning (quite

free will

Maths Homework, Heaven, and the Problem of Evil

Here is a comment on a recent thread on the problem of evil: >>>>The idea that math homework must cause suffering to be effective - per this concept, finding a way for all children to enjoy math homework would render it ineffective. Um, that would be

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve, and Failing the First Free Will Test

I have posted a number of times on the Genesis account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. One commenter on one of the posts reminded me of my favourite meme: And this is nowhere more apparent than with the eating the fruit of the Tree of the

Biblical Exegesis

The Incoherence of Knowingly Eating from the Tree of Knowledge for the First Time

To most sensible people, the story of Adam and Eve is symbolic at most. But to a lot of other people, it records a real event. However, even taken symbolically, there are some glaring logical hole. I was recently on the Naked Diner podcast and mentioned this one, which I&

death

'God should decide' when baby dies

Should the baby be made to live or allowed to die? Let me set the context with something from the BBC: A woman fighting to stop doctors ending life support treatment for her sick 11-month-old son has told a judge that God should decide when he dies. Specialists at King&