Asses the View that Natural and Moral Evil Show Bad Design (15 Marks)

The problem of evil is a philosophical argument that is aimed to show that a designer poorly designed the world. In most cases the Christian God is referred to as the designer. We do, however need to make some definitions. Firstly, moral evil is evil caused by a judgement made by an individual, for example murder is a moral evil. Physical evil however is evil that occurs naturally e.g. an earthquake. Both however cause harm and/or suffering. The triangle of inconsistency is a common example, for this motion. In one corner we have evil (referring to both moral and physical), in another we have the statement that God is all-powerful, and in the final corner, we have the statement that God is all-loving. Thus it is impossible for all of the ideas to be true at the same time. We cannot deny that in our world, at the moment there is so much evil, and so many people think that it is a product of bad design. Why would God allow the Holocaust? Resulting in the death of 9million Jews. Why would God permit hurricane Katrina? Leaving 1833 people dead. Therefore many people conclude that this evil is a result of bad design. Although I am not Christian myself, were there to be a God, I would disagree with this theory. Firstly, I believe that evil is not an idea on its own. Like darkness being a lack of light, I believe that evil is simply a lack of good. Therefore, it is our fault that we have not created enough good, and ‘evil’ is the result. This would not in anyway point to bad design. Secondly, I accept that were there to be a God, he would be far superior to us in intelligence. Thus I can infer that we do not have the capability to fairly judge his work, and this Problem of Evil may just be part of the bigger picture, which only God can understand. As a child myself, I know that some parents believe in this idea of ‘Tough Love’. Were everything to be perfect, we could not shape