Theodicy, Free Will , and the Response if the Believer

Theodicy, Free Will, and the Response of the Believer

Kelly M. Tague

Introduction to Philosophy of Religion

Ivy Tech Community College

Abstract

This paper will take a look at the problem of evil , as discussed within the philosophical realm. This paper will begin by looking first at the claim that a good , all powerful God cannot exist, if there is evil present in our current world, because, a good , all powerful God couldn’t just allow evil to exist, let alone flourish. In the next section this paper will address Theodicy, or the defense of the existence of God, regardless of the presence of evil in the world. This section will look at how both the love of God and the free will of man make Gods existence likely in spite of of the presence of evil. In my third section this paper will look at how religion both confirms and interprets the divine love and free will the God gives by examining some of the scriptures and teachings of several world religions. Last the paper will tie it all together to demonstrate that evil doesn’t make Gods existence impossible and that it only demonstrates by free will Gods love of humanity.

Keywords: God,Free Will, Theodicy, Love, Religion, Golden Rule

Theodicy, Free Will, and the Response of the Believer

         Evil is an ever present force in our world. We see the terrible things that evil and suffering bring upon our world on a daily basis. Whether it’s on the news , reporting the latest mass shooting or terrorist attack, we see it in the cries of hungry children and war torn peoples fleeing their homes. In another degree we see it in hurriedness and tornadoes and in earthquakes and tsunamis. Evil is real and to the majority of us do is the concept of a God or gods. There are those who say that the two are mutually exclusive, you cannot have a good God and evil because they would say that a good God wouldn’t tolerate evil of any kind. In the paper I will attempt to look at this topic. I will answer some questions, such as How can a good God allow evil? And What role does the believer play in this discussion? It is my hope that at the end of this paper we may have a more fuller understanding of Theodicy and free will

       So what’s the problem? The problem is evil and it’s mere existence in our world. The major focus being that how can a good, benevolent, omnipotent God allow evil to persist in our world, a world that the theist claims this God made. So the claim goes that in our world that has a persistent problem of evil there cannot also be this benevolent, omnipotent God. Because if such a God existed that God could never tolerate such a thing. Therefore God doesn’t exist. Now of course the one who makes this claim would also happily describe the world that they believe that the God that eschews evil would have created. This world would repel evil in a way, or you and I would be incapable of committing any of these evil acts by God and live in a deterministically

good world. Essentially we would be a sort of automaton, doing only what is right in the eyes of God and never suffering any pain or evil at the hands of another. This would be a drab existence and most peculiar to say the least. So there is our problem, a good God can’t allow evil and evil negates the existence of a good God.  Now it’s time to look at some solutions.

         The term Theodicy refers to the solution to the problem of evil or at least an explanation of this problem. So if God fits all the attributes listed previously how does evil persist?  There are two theories that are usually postulated. The first I want to talk about is “ The Best-of all possible Worlds” theory as taught by Gottfrieb Liebniz. Leibniz contends “That God permitted evil to exist in order to bring about greater goods”. Basically that some of that evil can lead to good and also without that evil we wouldn’t truly understand good. Now while I understand Leibniz’ premise it never really answers to Gods Omniscience and Omnipotence. Does God create evil that good may come? If you take this argument all the way you have a God who is creating evil. Now the other idea isn’t a Theodicy as much as a defense that might help us understand how these two seemingly contradictory things can coexist. The Free Will Defense is postulated by Alvin Plantinga and his defense states in so many words that “God is omnipotent, but it doesn’t mean he can bring about just every possible state of affairs, Thus he can’t cause that I would freely do something”. Plantinga basically asserts that because of free will Gods omnipotence takes a back seat to our freedom of choice. As such we being free, will likely choose to do evil. Now some may ask, why can’t God create a world where we only choose to do good? For that Plantinga proposes the idea of Transworld Depravity, which says that for all the possible worlds

that God may create, given free will that we will do at least one evil thing in our lives. Now this theory doesn’t work well in a more determinist worldview, but the majority of us can agree that we all possess free will. So what does all this mean for all of us, and how does religion fit into this framework? I will attempt to explore this in the next section.

          As I thought about the problem of evil and Theodicy and free will, the thing that eventually popped into my mind was that in order to truly respond to this problem you have to come up with a definition for God. Because religions as a whole don’t describe God in necessarily the same terms. Now of course I’m looking at this from the eyes of a person who is religious, at least in my theology. So when I contemplated this definition there was one word that I kept coming back to as an ultimate way of defining God and that was “Love”.  In my Christian worldview, everything that God does is from love, and as such free will makes sense. At this time I was reading a book about petitionary prayer and the author said something that really caught my attention and that was “ Devine love limits Devine omnipotence “. That is the heart of what I’m trying to say, God loves us enough to let us make bad decisions, but that is not done without some direction, in every major world religion there is a moral law or a way that we are called to behave. Though they might differ on religious practice and on theology they all agree on how we are to treat one another. We are all called to of sort “ love our neighbor as ourselves”. Author  M.J. Joseph in his article “The Golden Rule in Asian Religions “ demonstrates this through various religious writings

“ Chrstianity: St. Luke 6:31 - "Do to others as you would have them do to you."
Hinduism: Mahabaratha ch.5 - 'This is the sum of duty; do not do unto others what would cause pain, if done to you."
Islam: Muhammad's Hadith: "Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself the prophet."
Judaism: Hillel,Talmud,Shabbat 31a - "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary.
Buddhism: The Buddha-Udarra-Varga-5:18 - 'Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful."
Confucianism: Confucius Analects 15:23 - "One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct... Loving-kindness. Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself."
Taoism: Lao Tzu,T'ai Shang Kan Ying,P'len, 213-218. - "Regard your neighbour's gain as your own gain and your neighbor's loss as your own loss."
Baha'i Faith: bahaullah. Gleanings - "Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself."
Unitarianism: Unitarian Principle - "We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."

See no matter what the religious tradition we are called to do good to others by God. It is in our hands to do good in the world and to utilize the free will given to us for the purpose of making

things better. I’m of the opinion that God isn’t interested in controlling us and making us do good, but in teaching us that we are to be responsible for the good in this world.

        The world will always have evil, it isn’t going away anytime soon. I am of the belief that evil doesn’t negate the existence of God. I don’t subscribe to the best of all possible worlds theodicy. I do however agree with the free will defense and not necessarily because of trans world depravity either. No I’m of the mind that it’s live that is the driver behind our free will. I am also of the opinion that religions as a whole bears out Gods desire not to control our behavior, but to teach us to do good to one another. In the end I think the existence of God is irrelevant to evil and far more relevant to how we as humans treat each other.

References

Does Evil Disprove God ( Part 1-2) Alvin Plantinga. (2013). [YouTube] Intelligent Faith 315.

Joseph, M. (2012). The Golden Rule of Asian Religions. Asia Journal of Theology, [online] 26(1), pp.131-139. Available at: http://muncie.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.co.
Karris, M. (2018). Divine Echos:. Orange, California: Quoir, p.113.
Pojman, L. and Rea, M. (n.d.). Philosophy of religion.

My Wellness Journal

Wellness Journal

For my wellness journal, I have chosen to write about the area of the Social wellbeing. On the surface, it could look as though I’m potentially thriving in this area with many things that I find myself involved in, but that isn’t necessarily the case. I certainly am involved with my community everything from working on community and social issues with the R.A.C.E. group, which has afforded many opportunities to be a part of wonderful things that happen in Muncie, like having the opportunity to drive the Freedom Bus and again meet many of the most amazing people in this community. I also have a job that I love and enjoy being around most of the people that I work with, often having good conversations some laughs. I also belong to a great church body that is open and excepting and never treats me or my family poorly, in fact about 3 years ago when we were going through a rough financial patch the church basically provided Christmas for our family this was both a blessing and humbling. Of course, there is my family and them pretty much mean everything to me and I know I would be miserable without them. However, with all these thing that I get to be a part of and the people I’ve met and come in contact with, I have very few dare I say no truly close friends and this is why I put down on the evaluation the I’m surviving. This has been a struggle for me since we moved here in 2010, back in California, I had a large friend group and several very close friends. I am someone that appreciates the time I get to be alone, but I miss those bonds and times spent drinking coffee or watching a TV show together, or just shooting the breeze together. I have yet to truly find this in Indiana, I at one time and maybe slightly still blame the place, since one of my best friends in California who had spent a couple years here warned me that people in Indiana are not friendly. However, I can’t say that the people I’ve met for the most part aren’t friendly. I have wondered if there is more that I can do to find close friends and I’ve tried, but nothing yet. Now all this being said I do have friends, some that I do have coffee or lunch with and we have great conversations and some laughs, but the biggest thing is that it’s usually me that has to force the issue of going to lunch or coffee. I know that I have the tools to change this area of my life and to thrive socially and to get more fulfillment in my life socially speaking. My wife and I don’t plan on staying in this area forever and that is partly because of the social area, which she struggles with as well, even though the main reason is to be near our children when they move.  Every place that we have moved from involved tears to leave the people we loved both family and friends, my fear is that when we leave Muncie we won’t miss anybody that much, I’d like to change that.

My Study Plan

Study Plan Journal

As I journey through college and this learning adventure, I am sure I will learn a lot about myself and my skills and habits. In this journal, I will layout a study plan to hopefully direct me down a successful path. My goal as a student is to do well and I have learned by experience as well as from the video series we watched that in order to do well at something you have to work at it and do it regularly. One of the first things I will strive to do is to be there, it’s as simple as that, being in class and paying attention is primary for my success. In class I have the opportunity not only to learn from my professor but to learn from my fellow students as well. I know myself and I learn by reading, but I also learn a lot through conversation and the conversations that I have regarding a subject not just with my professor, but with my fellow students will only help me to learn.

I also will seek to be the type of student that will not “give away points” by either not doing something late or small. Every point that I can get toward doing well in a class is a small step toward reaching my first goal of getting my Associates degree and eventually transferring. Even though something might be late, if a professor is willing to give you points you should take it and when it comes to small things, for me it’s always good to remember that all those small points can add up quickly.

The third way that I will be a student who…, is that I will attempt to stay ahead, instead of falling behind and trying to play catch up. This I believe is huge, it is when we fall behind that we become overwhelmed and start to panic and possibly give up. I have so far in my first three months of college stayed ahead of the game in my classes, seeking to not only work on assignments right after they are assigned, but at times and if it is possible trying to get ahead so that I have a cushion to give me extra time if need be.

Even before we watched these videos I was learning some of the things that Dr. Chew discusses. For example, at first I tried to do homework while having the TV on and quickly discovered this was not a good thing. I have seen not only my focus improve, but my productivity as well, since I chose to turn off the TV and focus. I also have tried to constantly improve my work, for example, the other night in English class our teacher offered one on one review of our current paper, I was one of only two people who stayed out of 12 students for this opportunity to improve.

The biggest thing I learned from Dr. Chew is the idea of deep processing, this concept really makes me desire to utilize it and help my ability to learn different subjects. I have waited 20 years for this opportunity to go to school and get a degree in something I desire to do. I appreciate anything that can help me to be successful in achieving my goals and I look forward to the road ahead.  

Diversity

Diversity Journal

           I grew up in Southern California and it is truly a melting pot and extremely diverse, however that that doesn't always breed unity or even acceptance.  I grew up immersed in this culture and I would not have said I was prejudiced but I was. I had a certain amount of resentment for other races and religions because while I grew up with a very immersive multi cultural experience, I never really got to know people from these diverse cultures.

                         The experiences that I had in my youth in California exposed me to most every race, religion, culture, and lifestyle imaginable. I remember going to festivals and fairs that were centered around music and food of multiple cultures and loving the experience. However, when I went home and to my everyday life it was overwhelmingly full of people who looked, talked and lived just like me. There was a disconnect for me, I could love and enjoy multiple cultural experiences and even enjoy the people I met, however they were always kept at arm’s length.

            

                      I wouldn’t experience true diversity until I moved here to Muncie. It started with a friend I met at church, this friendship would stretch me and send me down a wonderful path to diversity. This friend was a part of a mixed marriage and they shared a family with both mixed and black children. This was a new experience to bring into my normal life I had not really gotten close to people whose experiences were so much different than mine. These experiences opened my eyes to perspectives I had not ever even thought about, namely the many prejudices and biases that people of color experience daily. I saw these first hand when I went to the convenience store with their son who was 15 at the time and noticed how the cashier watched him like a hawk as opposed to the way he all but ignored my son. These experiences began to broaden my understanding of diversity

            

                   These experiences have culminated in a group my friend started called Reconciliation Achieved Through Community Engagement or R.A.C.E for short. This group which was started in response to the shootings by police of young black men. However, the work of this group has grown from this original purpose to encompass work with the local Muslim community as well as the local LGBTQ community. These events have afforded me as well as my family the opportunity to get to know many diverse people and has stretched my personal experience, by being with these people, I have met many wonderful people whose experiences have taught me so much.

            

                     My diversity experiences have helped shape me into the man I am today and led me down paths that I could at one time in my life would have seemed unreal or scary. For me diversity is more than simply experiencing different cultures or being around people different than me. Diversity is about a shared life, an opportunity to know people whose lives might look very little like mine. I desire to continue down this path and to continue to be challenged and stretch in my journey of diversity.