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Search - Where Was God: Evil, Theodicy, and Modern Science

Where Was God Evil Theodicy and Modern Science
Author: Gary A Stilwell PhD

Why is there evil in a good God's world? Why do bad things happen to good people? Does the fact of evil in the world prove that God does not exist? Can modern science help us answer those questions? These are the subjects of my manuscript, provisionally titled: Where was God: Evil, Theodicy, and Modern Science. — John Milton in his epic poem,... more » Paradise Lost, includes the line: "to justify the ways of God to men." Although Milton wrote this several centuries ago, the idea that God's ways needed justifying goes back thousands of years. Justification of Evil is an ancient conundrum.

Whenever religions evolve to posit a Supreme Being, the Problem of Evil arises. There is something very disconcerting with belief in such a Being, who is supposed to reward you for righteousness, verses the fact that He does not appear to do so. This causes the psychological disconnects of cognitive dissonance and logic-tight compartmental thinking. We seem to be able to hold two inconsistent ideas in our minds at the same time, but when the compartmentalizing fails, we are driven to explain the resulting dissonance. With the Problem of Evil, this means developing theodicies.

Theodicy is the term for addressing the philosophical and theological Problem of Evil by attempting to justify the actions of God to man. This book examines the historical theodicies of the mono/heno-theistic religions of ancient Persia, Israel, and Greece. It then explores the historical development of theodicies from the earliest Christian sects, continuing through Christian orthodoxy to the present day.

All statements of the Problem involve inconsistencies, where we have a logical trilemma: God is all-powerful; God is all-good; Evil exists. The Problem of Evil hangs on the idea that these three statements are logically inconsistent and one or more of them must be false. In fact, if Evil exists, then God does not. Natural and moral evils would seem to prove the atheist's claim that God does not exist.

To counter that claim, theists either have to show how the existence of evil is compatible with a belief in the existence of a perfectly good God, using well-reasoned justifications for evil (theodicies), or accept the atheist's conclusion.

Some theodicies are ancient while some are modern and several of these are still accepted in spite of excellent counter arguments. However, a non-dogmatic student of religion cannot accept a validly defeated argument and must continue to look elsewhere for reasonably acceptable solutions.

With the advent of modern science (primarily quantum physics, relativity, and chaos theory), we may have a new place to look in order to develop new justifications for the Problem of Evil. In this work, I examine and refute many historical attempts to justify evil in a good God's world and, using insights provided by some of the modern sciences, propose a solution to this theological conundrum with a rational, albeit unorthodox, theodicy that might withstand objective critical scrutiny.

ISBN-13: 9781432735296
ISBN-10: 1432735292
Publication Date: 3/30/2009
Pages: 288
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Outskirts Press
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

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