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As I mentioned before, the logical or deductive form of the argument from evil attempts to demonstrate a contradiction in the theist's beliefs that an omnibenevolent, omnipotent God and evil exist at the same time. The logical challenge can and has been answered decisively, starting with Alvin Plantinga in his famous book, God, Freedom, and Evil.
Keep in mind atheist J.L. Mackie's argument from my earlier post, which can be outlined this way:
- God exists and is omnipotent and perfectly good.
- A perfectly good being always eliminates evil as far as it can.
- There are no limits to what an omnipotent being can do.
- Evil exists.
- Therefore, God does not exist.
(1) First, the atheist has the burden of proof to show that the theist should accept premise 2 and 3 above.
(2) Second, the theist can reply in the following way to premise 2: It is logically possible that God has morally sufficient reasons for permitting all the evils there are. Greg Koukl expands on this HERE.
(3) Third, the theist can reply in the following way to premise 3: It is logically possible that God could not create free creatures who never sin (known as the Free Will Defense). Greg expands on this HERE.
- Remember, in answering the logical problem all the theist has to do is show the logical possibility of the propositions in question. We have done that (see Plantinga's account for a full treatment) and thus, the logical problem of evil is defeated. According to prominent atheist William Rowe,
"Some philosophers have contended that the existence of evil is logically inconsistent with the existence of the theistic God. No one, I think, has suceeded in establishing such an extravagant claim. Indeed...there is a fairly compelling argument for the view that the existence of evil is logically consistent with the existence of the theistic God."
The overwhelming majority of philosophers, both theistic and atheistic, agree with Rowe's assessment concerning the logical argument and that is why the evidential argument from evil is where the real action is at.
Comments
Hi Brett,
I like your focus on the POE. I find that most people that object to the faith come at it from "a good god would not allow this to happen." I have written a paper for my grad class on the POE which I could send to you? I found Swinburne's book Providence and the PRoblem of Evil to be an incredible resource.
I also agree with your respons to Mark on apologists. I was the "guest" on the thread.
Dan
I guess Plantinga would answer the objection by saying, "A good God would not allow this to happen UNLESS he had a morally sufficient reason to do so." Of course then the other person will want to know what that reason is, and Plantinga responds by saying it isn't necessary to know what the reason is as long as it's possible that there is a reason. The Free Will Defense is just one possibility.
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