Andrew R.
11/21/12
Phil 300

The Problem of Evil One of the most interesting questions in the world is, “If a God exists, why is there evil in the world?” Most people respond with, “If God created the universe and us, then there should not be evil in the world,” when asked about God or any other powerful being. The problem of evil is also believed to be the cause of Atheism, and I do believe that there is a solution for this. The problem of evil is not a correct argument. The arguments from evil state that if there is a God who is omniscient, omnipotent and perfectly good, then there would be no evil or suffering in the world. Evil does exist, therefore, god does not exist. If God existed, he would not allow evil into the world
It is not logical to assume that his power is limited. Religious studies Professor Bart D. Ehrman stated, “Another argument is that suffering ultimately achieves a greater good, possibly for persons other than the sufferer, that would not have been possible otherwise” (Ehrman). Christianity consists of a few types of religions that talk about suffering and the problem of evil. A popular form of Christianity is Jehovah's Witnesses. According to WikiPedia, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Satan is the reason for evil, and that he was once an angel but challenged God and was sent away to another place. They believe that God allowed evil into the world because of free will. The solution to the problem of evil is that sometime the future, the good people who are faithful to God will be saved and evil will be destroyed altogether (WikiPedia).
In my opinion, this is not the solution for the problem of evil. Believing that evil will just go away eventually with no reason how this will happen is a little off to me. The most logical argument and the one that I agree with is the second century theodicy created by Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons. This theodicy says that evil is necessary for human morale and is part of Gods purpose (Stofka). A Christian writer, Beth Davies Stofka, stated, “God created humans in a morally and spiritually imperfect state so that they can strive in response to suffering, in order to grow into full fellowship with God.