...Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) – Your neighbor Sam greets you outside as you return home from church one Sunday. After the usual chitchat, he confides in you that he has been troubled with the news, recent reports of natural catastrophes, wars, disease, and so on. He asks if you could help him make sense of the presence of evil in the world - if indeed God exists. Keeping this scenario in mind, answer the following questions in your essay: • What is the problem of evil? • Define moral evil and natural evil, and illustrate them with examples. • Seek to explain why there is sin among mankind (the philosophical problem of moral evil) and why bad things happen in nature (the philosophical problem of natural evil). Consider the various theodicies presented in the reading, and address the merits and faults of each one. • Briefly explain why a theodicy must be internally consistent, and defend the internal consistency of your explanation of evil’s existence. • Consider how personal experience of evil may affect one’s relationship with God (the religious problem of evil). Do you believe someone can dispute a certain belief about God without actually attacking God Himself? Sam, evil in the world is a problem that exists. Even someone, like yourself, who is unsure of the existence of God recognizes a problem with a blemish in what seems to be an otherwise perfect world. I think you could agree that if evil was removed from the world, it would be near perfect...
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...Pcantan2 Turabian Writing Style THEO 202-B17 Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) You would have to ask yourself, why does a God who is all-loving and all-powerful, allow evil to exist in a world that was divinely created by Him? Because when you ponder the problem of evil, it is the most obvious and serious challenge to belief (Faith) in God and His existence, which is why religious scholars have dedicated so much effort towards resolving it. Elwell states, “The phrase ‘the problem of evil’ is a label for a series of such problems involving good and evil.”[1] But the problem with evil is if an omnipotent and omniscient God exists, then there should be no reason God would tolerate such pain and suffering. Evil acts, thoughts, and words will always separate us from God, which was established from the beginning with Adam and Eve. Isaiah 59:2 says “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”[2] This is the only thing that separates us from God and causes Him to turn His face away from men. However, evil would have never existed had Adam and Eve not sinned and opened the door for it to enter the world upon all men (Romans 5:12).[3] The resolution then is to be united back to God, who is the source of eternal life, through His Son Jesus, (1 Jn.5:20; Jn.17:2-3). The biggest problem today, among believers and non-believers, is that they are blinded to what evil is and what...
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...Short Essay #1 Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) The problem with evil is that it is hard to believe that in a world created by a God that is supposed to be an all loving all power full God then why would he allow evil to be in the world. Why would he allow for killings and cancer and natural disasters? Evil is a byproduct of free will, because we are free to choose between doing the right thing, that equates to good, and doing the wrong thing, equating to evil. If God didn't give us our own free will to choose right and wrong we would be like robots being controlled and told what to do. God then did give a gift that was good we as humans misused it and therefore have to suffer the consciences of the evil in this world. Now there are two types of evil in this world moral and natural. These two evils are distinct but not separate.[1] Natural sin the result of moral sin. For example, we are told to obey our mother and father and not pay in the road, but if we disobey and play in the road we are committing moral sin. Now by playing in the road you get hit by a car and become paralyzed that is natural evil. The reason you are paralyzed is because of your moral sin of disobeying. There are a couple of ways you can look at why there is evil in the world, one being the theodicy of Gottfried Leibniz. Leibniz believes that God is obligated to create the best.[2] I believe this to be a true statement for God did create the best when he created humans in his image which...
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...Name: Lauren Abbe Writing Style Used: MLA Course and Section Number: THEO 202: B16 Essay on Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) Evil is something that has existed since the beginning of time and is hard to understand its depths because we are so immune to it. God gave us free will and the power to choose, but we continue to choose sin. This paper will seek to explain why there is sin and what the real root of it is. It will help explain why bad things happen and how it might affect one’s relationship with God. The problem of evil happened when Eve believed Satan and ate the fruit from the tree. God does not cause evil and never will. This problem has caused many people to think that our God would want us to suffer and go through pain, but that in fact is not the case. God hates to see us in these types of states, but there is nothing He can do when we choose it for ourselves. We are a selfish and independent world that thinks we can survive and live a blessed life without God or the help of someone greater than ourselves. Without God and without listening to the Holy Spirit, there is no way the problem of evil will get any better; yet it will continue to decline. There are two different types of evil: moral and natural. Natural evil is the consequence of moral evil. Moral evil would be something deliberate such as stealing or murder. Because of these deliberate acts of evil, natural evil occurs. A form of natural evil would be something...
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...Everyone believes that God allows evil to happen. Believers and unbelievers struggle with this concept. The problem with evil is that it’s deeply rooted in us because God gave us free will. Without free will, we would be forced into loving God. He, however, wants us to love him because we choose to. Many unbelievers argue that “the existence of such evil cannot be reconciled with, and so disproves, the existence of such a God. (The Philosophy of Religion, 2008).” The theology of Hamartiology explains that evil comes in moral and natural ways. The most common that is rooted in us is the moral way. Moral evil is the willful bad acts or decisions of humans against God, others and even themselves. Every day we experience this as a way of life. An example is what we see in our current news. Isis, a terrorist group, choose to murder people for their faith. Natural evil is the “result of any event perceived to be morally negative and that is not caused by the action or inaction of an agent, such as a person. (Chief of Sinners)” An example of this would be if a person chooses to smoke cigarettes, then it is inevitably going to cause them to get lung cancer along with many other harmful diseases which are forms of natural evil. The question as to why sin exist and bad things happen is often asked, especially by lost souls. If you think about it, if God created a perfect world then none of us would have free will. We would essentially be loving God with no reason other than because...
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...Sophie Baker APA Theo 201 B01 Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) The source of evil comes from the devil. God is not reasonable for evil. We choose to go down the path of evil rather than the path of righteous. A moral evil would be when you intentionally set out to hurt someone or something and a natural evil would be things like floods or tornados I think there is sin amongst mankind because people simply get tired of trying and not getting results. We live in a culture of people who seek instant gratification and when we don't get it we misbehave to get some type of attention Humans didn't start out evil, like we are now, the first humans, Adam and Eve, were perfect, they were born without sin. Satan, in the form of a snake, tempted Eve to eat a piece of fruit from the tree that God told them not to eat off of. When they disobeyed God, sin came into their heart and from them on, people were born with a sinful nature. I think it is definitely part of God's judgment on humans and their sin, like in the bible times, he sent this massive flood, which killed a ton of people. I think its a way to get our attention. I also think its partly because our earth is just aging, getting old and falling apart. (Genesis Chapters 1, 2 , and 3) NIV I think that if the belief is biblical. its okay for people to defend that people and stand up for God and His word, but if the belief is not biblical than it wouldn't be right to stand up for something that God doesn't stand...
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...Short Essay on the Hamartiology: Problem of Evil The question of evil is a common hot button topic among atheists and non-Christians who attempt to disprove Christianity. They argue that an omnipotent and omniscient God cannot exist in a world with so much evil. The argument is used by them to prove that Christianity is “internally self-contradictory and thereby to be rejected” (Feinberg, 413). So, the problem of evil is explaining that a perfect, all-powerful, and all-loving God can exist in a world with so evil. First, natural and moral evil need to be distinguished. Natural evil is defined as “evil which occurs in the process of the functioning of the natural order” (Feinberg, 414). People are not responsible for these happenings; they are simply victims and no one is to blame. The devastation that resulted from Hurricane Sandy is a perfect example of such evil, along with afflictions such as cancer and earthquakes. Moral evil, on the other hand, is defined as “evil produced by activities of moral agents” (Feinberg, 414). This evil stems from intentional action, such as murder, stealing, and adultery. Natural evil is part of the consequences of moral evil that resulted from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. The vast amount of evil that exists in the world is not because God created it, but because man allowed it. Man was not created with a built-in evil nature; he was created with a free will that was exercised to purposefully sin. God gave Adam a choice to do...
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...Essay on Topic [e.g., Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy)] [Write your essay here, which must contain 600–800 words for the first 3 Short Essays.] Word count: [Post the word count of just your actual essay, not including title.] The problem of evil is perceived to be portrayed by the following propositions: 1, God is omnipotent; 2, God is wholly benevolent; 3, evil consequences that result from the actions and events befall mankind; 4, the omnipotent being of 1 and 2 eliminates all the evil that he can; 5, there are no nonlogical limits to what an omnipotent being can do; 6, so God will therefore eliminate every evil that is logically possible for him to remove (Elwell, pg. 413). The prepositions 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 would mean that 3 is negated making the six points self-contradictory. In the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, we find two types of evil; the bad (or moral evil) and the harmful (natural evil). These two evils are distinct from eachother but, you cannot seperate them. Natural evil is the consequence of moral evil. Moral evil is when man breaks God's law and natural evil is a result of mankind's sinful nature. Adam brought on God's curse on mankind and the world when he willfuly disobeyed God. With this disobedience, man invited sin and corruption into God's perfect creation. A theodicy is a defensive position on the goodness and omnipotence of God in view of the existence of evil. Many such theodicies exist with scientists, philosophers, and...
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...Luke Baumgarten THEO202_D04_LUO Short Essay 1 Short Essay Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil The problem of evil says that there is a God and if he created all things then he had to have created evil. There is also a thought that God created evil and does not do enough good to over power all evil (Elwell, 413). So if God is all powerful, knowing, loving and has no limits how can evil exist? There are multiple problems with evil, not just one. There are two kinds of evil; first there is moral evil that is “evil produced by activities of moral agents” (Elwell, 414). An example of this would be the devil sending his agents (demons) to infiltrate and do his work in this world. Natural evil is “evil that occurs in the process of the functioning of the natural order” (Elwell, 414). An example of being robbed is natural because as people we are evil at heart and will do things to have our way. There is no lesser degree of evil; evil is evil there is no distinction of what is worse in evil because it is all the same. When God first created the world, there was no evil, everything was good (Genesis 1:31). Until the fall of Adam and Eve, there was no evil. Since we are born into sin at birth we need Jesus to wipe away and cleanse us from our sins. The reason bad things happen in this world is because we make the choice to do right and wrong. We have no right in us without Jesus, and so we make wrong decisions without Him. When bad things happen in nature is because God has ordained...
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...Short Essay on Topic Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil Evil and its’ affects our obvious in our world and lives. Everyone, regardless of beliefs, must at some point deal with the reality of pain, disease, and disasters that seem to flow from evil. Just being a Christian does not erase these realities or a need to find resolve. All of us must deal with these questions in a honest way, or be content to deny the understanding our minds wish for. This understanding must unify the basic beliefs we have in God: If God is all powerful and good then why would He allow evil to exist? Logic would take us to remove one of these characteristics of God. Either He is not really all powerful or good. This is where some might deny God’s sovereign power. How can He allow something bad if He is good and able to stop it? This leads us to see that it is not just one issue, but a host of questions pop up in this arena. We find ourselves faced with moral evil and natural evil, just to pick two of the issues. Moral evil is defined as “evil produced by the activity of moral agents” and natural evil as “evil that occurs...int the natural order” (Elwell). These are seen daily in our world. Moral evil shows up in murder, greed and in the hearts of us all. Natural evil are those catastrophic events that are outside a moral agents’ influence. Therefore moral agents consistently choose that which is contrary to God, and sin. This is because the first man and woman fell at the original temptation (Gen....
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY Theology of Missions Submitted to Edward L. Smither, PhD In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of GLST 500-D09 Global Studies Survey By Shaun Podunavac April 10, 2016 Table of Contents Chapter 1-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Chapter 2-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 Chapter 3-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6 Chapter 4-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7 Chapter 5-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8 Bibliography--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 Chapter 1. Scripture and Missions Throughout the Holy Bible, there have been a plethora of references to the mission of the church. The role of missions throughout the evolution of the Christian faith has been an integral aspect of its spread throughout the nations. Before the Messiah came to Earth so save us from our sins, God anointed several of his people to spread His word to the masses. Those that may not know of the wonders of God could be reached through the continued role of missions for God. The call of Abram is a fundamental...
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...Name: Leah Drumheller_____________ Writing Style Used: ____________MLA________________ Course and Section Number: ______THEO 202 B22 LUO________ Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) An age-old question that has been and is being asked from various religions, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds is how can a loving and good God allow evil to come into the world? It is a problem that has come up several times by mostly atheists and non-believers, but few Christians are asking it as well. This paper is going to address the problem of evil, why bad things happen to good people, and state the theodicies that explain and answer the problem. The problem of evil has been brought up and used as an argument by non-believers for a long time. How can a loving and good God allow evil to come into the world? They claim that these two Christian beliefs are self-contradictory and that nothing can make sense of it. They state that Christians believe that God is all-powerful, that God is good and loves His people, and that an all-powerful God is capable of doing anything and everything. They say that This question has been used to unjustifiably contradict the Christian worldview in its attempt to prove that it is flawed. They are biased and desire to convince other people and themselves that their worldview is correct by discrediting the Christian religion and/or the Bible. (Feinberg, 414). The deductive reasoning that atheists have are that...
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...Short Essay #1 Short Essay on Hamartiology Harmartiology is the study of sin. Many people have confusion on the reason why it existent’s when God created the world. Recently, a neighbor questions the very thing. He’s having trouble with his faith and doesn’t understand why natural catastrophes, disease’s and other things that plagued humans. Before this question can be answered it’s important to know the truth of evil in a Biblical view. The problem with evil is the perception of what it is. In today’s society evil acts are not considered evil; most are justified for the purpose. Evil is an act of that is not “not in the keeping with the nature or will of God.”[1] If a person decides to commit adultery repeatedly, the excuse could be because he/she does not feel loved; therefore the act is justified and excusable. Conversely, that is not the case. The act is a sin, period. Humans are called to live according to Gods laws and when people commit sin it’s important to repent and turn from sin, which is seen in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”. In today’s society people do not look at sin as evil acts that hurt people, when people are hurt then the question becomes “If there was a God, why is their pain; a good God wouldn’t hurt the ones He loves.” There are two types of evil, moral...
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...thing.” Furthermore we use the word Christian “anthropology” to the study of man in reference to the Scripture. Therefore it involves studies and creation of man who was created in the “image of God. Consequently this includes the established nature of man before and after the fall. As a result of the fall human life has never been the same; anthropology is also concerned with human dignity, freedom, depravity, culture, and society. Since the creation of the world God had a plan to redeem mankind from sin through the cross of Christ Jesus by the shedding of His blood. Accordingly man freedom is the heart of the cross of Jesus. When we study man, his fall and redemption we have to understand our sins hence we have the word Hamartiogy. “Hamartiology,” is a word made up by two Greek terms hamartia meaning “sin” and logos. Furthermore it includes the biblical doctrine of sin including its origin, nature, transmission, effects, and judgment. In this essay the writer will briefly examine texts from the Bible Genesis to Revelation to demonstrate that the cross is at the heart of Christian Anthropology. The writer will also explain that the cross was God’s divine plan; therefore Jesus (God-man), the cross, His blood and resurrection should not be separated. Furthermore the writer will also demonstrate that the death of Jesus Christ was a sacrifice of our sins. The Cross The cross...
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