Benedicto A. Pintor Jr.

Philosophy of Religion

Suffering and Evil

In my report in philosophy in religion, my topic is suffering and evil which
is very important because first of all suffering and evil is tackled in all religion.
And it is one of the questions that rise in every religion. In Christianity, the
existence of evil puts the existence of God in question because if there is an
omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God, there must be no evil in the
world, but we as philosophers know that the world is full of evil we put this
question that is very hard to answer. Why is there evil? And why is God allowing
evil in the world.

The discussion in my report, speaks of two distinction of evil. First is the

logical problem of evil which says that the existence of evil and the existence of
God is a contradiction. And the second distinction is that it is hard to believe in
God because of the existence of evil. Many atheists use these holes in our
philosophy to counter our beliefs and faithfulness. The atheists describe us in three
categories which are rational theism, arational theism and the irrational theism. But
when a person keeps strong in his faith and rejects the claims of the atheists, they
are already presenting theodicy or the attempt to show that the existence of evil
does not rule out the possibility of the existence of God.

Even when in our own scriptures the atheists find evidence that God is not
all Knowing, Good, or powerful. Because in the Old Testament we can read that
there is a God who is jealous and has anger management problems, but if we allow
ourselves to believe in these statements we already doubt our faith and beliefs
which will lead to a skeptical idea that maybe God does not have all the divine
attributes which is just absurd.

Also, in my report it is said that God only allows suffering when he knows
that there is a good can come out of it. Like the example of parents restricting their
children to use their phones when eating in order to have a proper conversation.
This can be applied to God’s way of allowing suffering and evil unto the world.
And in the conclusion of my report is that there is evil and there is no evil, unless
God has a reason to allow it.
 To help in the definition of terms this will help:

Rational Theism:

The belief that there are evidential reasons to believe that God exists

Arational Theism:

The belief in God without evidence

Irrational Theism:

The belief in God in spite of evidential reasons supporting atheism

Theodicy

An attempt to show that the existence of evil doesn’t rule out the possibility of
god’s existence.

CONTRADICTION

A SET OF BELIEFS THAT CAN’T BE ALL TRUE AT THE SAME TIME.

IF ONE IS TRUE, ANOTHER MUST BE FALSE.