Philosophical Issues Of Evil

1
Philosophical Issues Of Evil Suffering

• Im a physicist, not a philosopher.
• This will be brief.

2
Is there a God?

• Question for believer and skeptic alike
• We all ask this question sooner or later
• Job to Jesus to Nietzsche
• God, where are you?
• All say There is no God in our hearts
• just look at how we act
• whats more foolish
• to acknowledge unbelief, and act accordingly
• to believe, but act in unbelief

3
Philosophical Problem of Evil

• If a Creator exists, must be all powerful
• If Biblical God is the Creator, must be all
  loving
• An all powerful, loving creator wouldnt have
  created a world full of evil
• Evil exists
• Therefore, an all powerful, loving creator
  doesnt exist

4
Response

• What is basis for defining Evil ?
• If accept reality of evil
• must also accept the reality of not evil
  i.e., good
• If accept good and evil then there is a moral law
• There must then be some moral lawgiver
• If a moral lawgiver exist, the question is
  self-invalidating
• But the moral lawgiver is man, not God.
• If so then morality becomes wholly subjective and
  without a moral imperitive i.e. no real
  difference in good and evil
• If no difference in good and evil, the question
  is invalid
• The only way the question can make sense is if
  that which it denies actually exists
• showing that the dilemma is a false dilemma

5
Love Creates Possibility of Evil

• A Creators Options
• 1 create nothing
• 2 create an amoral world no evil, no good
• 3 create only automatons, no free choice
• 4 create free will to choose right or wrong, to
  love or not to love
• Love must not be coerced to be true love
• no love possible in options 1-3, only possible in
  4
• love requires loving enough to give the freedom
  to reject the love
• love without pain is superficial love
• Evil is mans choice, not Gods
• take responsibility for own actions
• dont blame God for mans evil
• natural pain is not evil but Gods Megaphone
  (C.S. Lewis)

6

• Having sex with a woman
• Good not intrinsically evil
• However
• If Carol and myself commit to love each other,
• Fact of the existence of love creates the
  possibility of evil
• Via unfaithfulness with Another Woman (just ask
  Carol if that is evil)
• i.e., Sex (intrinsically good) becomes Evil
• A possibility that exists only if the love exists
• Love creates the possibility of evil as a
  corollary to loves existence
• Allowing the possibility of evil is intrinsically
  Good
• Justice allows the choice of love, the inherently
  Divine Nature Just Love
• Possibility of Evil provides a feedback loop
  reinforcing good behavior
• Possibility of Evil enhances the likelihood of
  Good
• But her loving me did not create evil in
  actuality
• I must do that by my choice
• If I do not love her by choice, it is not love in
  the first place

7
Philosophical Doom

• How do we know which creation option is best?
• Requires ultimate knowledge ourselves
• Any choice but 4 annihilates ourselves
• Assume we exist (self-evident, Descarte)
• 1 create nothing poof -- were gone
• 2 create amoral poof -- were gone
• 3 create automatons poof -- were gone
• Self-annihilation to limit pain is only logical
  recourse
• Atheists may not be willing to pursue this logic
• But many have!

8
Meaninglessness of Existence

• We are because one group of fishes had a
  peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into
  legs for terrestrial creatures because the earth
  never froze entirely during an ice age because a
  small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a
  quarter of million years ago, had managed, so
  far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may
  yearn for a higher answer -- but none exists.
• S. J. Gould

9
The Darwinian Dilemma

• Atheism religion is a negative burden that
  limits self achievement and survival fitness
• However
• the atheistic worldview naturally leads to self
  annihilation in despair
• the religious worldview naturally leads to
  preservation of self and others in hope
• The atheists dilemma The best survival
  strategy is to believe that which is believed
  false

10
Religious Evils Nullify Religion

• Copernicus, Galileo, Crusades, Inquisition,
  Slavery, Bosnia, Rwanda, Ireland
• None of these injustices supported by Christs
  teachings
• Christs teachings clearly stand against such
• After all -- that is the critics point the
  hypocrisy
• What about the greater injustices of Atheism?
• Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Pol-Pot, Idi Amin
• All such actions consistent with tenets of
  atheism
• Self-destruction is not hypocritical to an
  atheist

11
Where is God when it hurts?

• Atheism has no moral basis to even ask this
  question
• Hurting is merely physics and chemistry in an
  atheistic worldview
• Certainly not an evil that anyone must be
  compelled to fix
• God does address hurting and evil
• in His way
• in His time
• effectively
• Response Where is Atheism when it hurts?
• This pain isnt really bad because its only
  amoral chemistry and physics.
• This injustice is okay because there is no
  injustice.

12
There is no absolute Truth

• Then that truism also cannot be true.
• That we may not know Truth, does not deny its
  existence.
• We live presuming reality of Truth.
• and presuming that we can know truth
• otherwise we could not know there is no truth
• we would have no basis to challenge any view that
  claims to be truth -- couldnt know otherwise
• atheists must logically remain silent

13
Solution to Problem of Pain/Evil

• Jesus Christ
• Pain and Evil
• Exposed Gods Love to Man Cross
• Love requires self-sacrifice to another trust
• Love and Justice married through Mercy and
  Grace
• a world without love is no world we would have
• a world without justice against evil is likewise
  intolerable
• Demonstrates His Power over Evil Resurrection
• Requires ability to create Life from Death
  Demonstrated
• Cross shows mans inhumanity IS Evil
• Cross shows Gods humanity IS Good
• Without Jesus Christ, nothing makes sense
• Requires a great deal of trust on our part as
  well as Gods

14
Show me an atheistic ...

• Joan of Arc
• Florence Nightingale
• Mother Teresa
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Martin Luther King
• Jesus of Nazareth
• Why were they what they were?
• They knew truth of Gods reality

15
I Just Cant Know God Exists

• God hasnt proven Himself sufficiently
• the agnostic position
• weaker unwilling to affirm absolute negative
• but beliefs reflect atheism, not uncertainty
• If one is uncertain about a matter
• wisdom dictates not making choices reflecting
  certainty (Pascals wager)
• Agnostics LIVE as if they accept Atheism
• All of us have some unbelief Mark 910
• Romans 120 Gods Three Great Proofs

16
Gods Three Great Proofs

• 1 The origin of the universe
• created, Gen 11

• These are the three greatest hurdles for a
  naturalistic worldview to surmount
• It IS enough -- they are without excuse