Introduction
What is the problem of evil?
In the viewpoint of religion and theology, the issue of evil is the trouble of reconciliation the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of a god. The matter is most often argued in the context of the personal God of the Abrahamic religions, but is also relevant to polytheistic traditions involving many gods. A proposed solution to this dilemma is called a theodicy. First, it’s significant to differentiate between two kinds of evil: moral and natural one. Moral evil results from the actions of free creatures. Murder, rape and theft are examples. Natural evil outlines from normal processes such as earthquakes and floods. Of course, from time to time the two are interacted, such as when flooding outlines in loss of human life due to poor arrangement or shoddy construction of houses.
Atheism
For some people the existence of god is un-deniable, but there are people who do not only deny the presence of something holy, but also try to prove, that there is no God at all. First of all atheists underline the fact, that people just need to open their eyes, and stop denying the existing reality. Practical atheism can take different forms:
- Nonexistence of religious inspiration — belief in gods does not inspire moral exploit, religious action, or any other outline of act;
- Vigorous elimination of the difficulty of gods and religion from intellectual chase and handy action;
- Apathy — the absence of any interest in the issues of gods and religion; or
- Ignorance — lacking any idea of gods.
Atheism disputes that people can not know God or define the existence of God. The basis of atheism is agnosticism, which is represented in various ranges of forms. In the viewpoint of immanence, theology is indivisible from the world itself, comprising a person’s mind, and each person’s realization is locked in the subject. According to this form of skepticism, this restriction in perspective avoids any objective deduction from belief in a god to declarations of its continuation. The rationalistic agnosticism of Kant and the enlightenment only believes associate assumed with human shrewdness; this form of atheism embraces that gods are not apparent as a matter of attitude, and consequently can not be identified to exist. Skepticism, based on the ideas of Hume, declares that confidence about anything is impossible, so one can never know the being of God. The allotment of incredulity to atheism is argued; it can also be viewed as a free, essential world-view.
Post Modern Ideas of God
Postmodern notion on the issues of the existence of God are mainly represented in the notions of Post Modern Christianity, which is an accepting of Christianity. It is also closely linked with the set of works known as postmodern philosophy. The post modern notion of God is represented in several Christian concepts:
- Liberal Christianity — sometimes named liberal theology—has some similarity with certain recent forms of postmodern Christianity, although postmodern consideration was firstly a response against mainstream Protestant liberalism. The word “liberal” in liberal Christianity does not submit to a leftist political schedule but rather to approaches developed during the Enlightenment. Largely, Enlightenment-era liberalism held that human is a political creature and that freedom of thinking and expression should be one’s main worth.
- Christian existentialism is a form of liberal Christianity that sketches lengthily from the works of Soren Kierkegaard. He commenced the school of thinking when he responded against Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s asserts of universal knowledge and what he believed to be the empty formalities of the 19th century confession. Christian existentialism puts an importance on the undecidability of trust, individual zeal, and the subjectivity of knowledge.
- Process theology (it is also recognized as neoclassical theology) is a school of thought impacted by the metaphysical procedure philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Whereas there are procedure theologies that are parallel, but unconnected to the work of Whitehead (such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) the term is usually linked to the Whiteheadian school. Process theology is not linked to the Process Church.
The main objectives of process theology are the following:
- God is not omnipotent in the sense of being coercive.
- Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time.
- The universe is featured by process and change carried out by the agents of free will.
- God contains the universe but is not identical with it.
God and evil existence
First of all it is necessary to highlight, that the existence of good and bad is the basis of the life philosophy. As the haiku goes:
Happiness without sorrow
Heat without cold
Is a one hand clip.
It means that good and evil are inseparable and interdependent. The brightest example of it is that one may cut down all the trees and destroy all the buildings in order to eliminate the shadow and darkness, but the sun would burn away the life on the planet. The struggle for peace is equal to the gluttony for slenderness, and is absurd in its basis. The evil should not be struggled against, but people just need to make the right choice in the life.
Position
As for the position to choose, the most suitable for me is the position of the existence of the God. Partially it has been described above, and it would be necessary to highlight, that the belief itself in no way means the refuse of some part of the previous life. If God lives in the heart, one stops doing something criminal, or something that contradicts the moral, or ethics. One just should open his/ her heart, as kindness usually means the presence of God’s love, and love lives only in the heart.
The Brightest example of proving the existence of God’s love and kindness in the world, is probably the story of a lecturer, and the student. Lecturer cam to the conclusion, that everything evil was created by God, as it said in the Holy Bible, that everything in the world was created by God. Student disagreed with the lecturer, and asked him several questions. The first was “If there is cold in the world”, everybody, including the lecturer was confused, and started grinning. The student explained that physical definition of cold is the absence of warmth. The next question was about the darkness, and student explained, that darkness is just the absence of any light. “So, if there is evil in the world?” asked the student. Lecturer did not find what to reply, and sat down. Evil is not something created. Evil is the absence of God’s love in the heart. It is told in the Holy Bible, that God loves everyone, and his love is eternal, and as I have already mentioned, one just needs to open his/ her heart for that love.
The other three positions are not rejected. Just this one is the most suitable for my worldview. The existence of evil in our world can not be rejected. Some argue that the world itself is rude, and to survive, people need to be rude, cynic and cruel. But those who tried to be kind, now definitely know, that kind people live longer, and their live is brighter and much more interesting.
Speaking on the matters of criticism, it is necessary to add, that everyone has one’s own integral right to have independent opinion. I never respond the critics, as I’m always sure in my rightfulness on this issue. If somebody asks, it is pleasure for me to explain my point of view, and I always respect the opponent’s opinion.
References
Philip A. Pecorino. An Introduction to Philosophy. An Online Textbook.
Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. The Problem of Evil.