Christian thought has understood evil as the absence or corruption of good.
1 – There are two types of evil:
Moral evil – drunk driving, lying and murder, for example.
Natural evil – tsunamis, and cancer, for example.
2 – There are two ways people wrestle with evil:
The Emotional Problem of Evil – are you there, God? If you are, do you care?
The Intellectual Problem of Evil – does it make sense to believe in God given human suffering?
3 – The Logical Problem of Evil
Is it logically impossible for God to exist in the face of suffering?
No, because:
· God can’t make a world without suffering, because he made humans with free will.
· God can use human suffering for our good, e.g. 1 Peter 3:18
So – God can have good reasons to allow suffering to exist in the world.
4 – The Evidential Problem of Evil
Is God improbable given evil and suffering?
No, because:
· Humans are limited – why should we expect to know specifically why God allows instances of suffering?
· God’s not improbable given all the natural evidence for God’s existence PLUS the evidence for suffering.
· Christianity teaches the likelihood of suffering increases for Christian believers to grow our characters.
5 – The Natural Problem of Evil
Humanity’s rebellion against God has led to a breakdown in man’s relationship with God, and a breakage of the natural world. Opening the opportunity for storms, cancer, and human death.
This points to the serious consequence of man’s rejection of God.
