Moral Evil Occurs example essay topic

Everyday it is possible to read a newspaper, or turn on TV or radio news and learn about evil going on in our world. Banks are robbed, cars are stolen, violent murders and rapes are committed. Somewhere in the world the aftershock of an earthquake is being felt. Cancer is killing millions of people each year, while other debilitating conditions continue to affect many with no cure to end their suffering. President Bush said that our country is fighting a war against evil.

We all agree that evil is real and cannot be ignored; the problem comes when we try and rationalize the concept of God and evil coexisting. Two types of evil exist in our world today. Natural evil occurs when earthquakes, hurricanes, and storms occur causing devastation in the world. Moral evil occurs when a person makes a choice as to how he will act in a certain situation.

Everyday moral decisions are made. People decide whether to steal, give in to anger and harm another, falsify information, and behave in a way unacceptable to society. The problem of evil is this; If God is loving, then he would want to end evil; and if he is all-powerful he would be able to do just that. Since evil exists, how can God be both omnipotent and loving? The Christian Science answer to this question is that evil is an illusion of the human mind.

The Judaic / Christian faiths do not hold to this theory. The Bible is full of descriptions of good and evil in human life. Evil is pictured as dark and ugly. The ultimate example of evil for the Christian is the crucifixion of Jesus, a violent rejection of God's Messiah. St. Augustine's view is that the universe is good, (a creation of a good God and meant for a good purpose). He does not hold to the belief that matter is evil.

He believes that there are higher, and lower, greater, and lesser goods in abundance and variety. "Everything is good in its own way, except that it may have become spoiled or corrupted". Whether the evil is an instance of pain, or some disorder in nature, it is the distortion of something intrinsically valuable. Since evil is negative, logic would reason that it was not willed or created by God. Why does an all-powerful God allow suffering and pain? What about moral evil?

Why was a world created in which such things exist? One defense for evil is the free-will defense. This says that people are relatively free, self-directing agents, and responsible for their own decisions. We have the choice to decide to act in an acceptable manner, or in a wrong manner. There is no guarantee that a free moral agent will never choose wrongly.

For a person to say that God should not have created people with the ability to choose sin, is saying he should not have created people at all. J.L. Mackie contends that God could have indeed created beings that would act freely (but always right). If this had happened we would not be free, but more like robots. If God had created creatures of superior moral character but lacking the ability to choose, these creatures would not be what we call human beings. How we view the presence of God and evil depends on why we believe the world was created. If man is a fully created creature then the world was created for him to live in, a comfortable, pleasant place. Our world is obviously filled with suffering, danger, hardship of all kinds, so an all-powerful God could not have created it.

To Christians the world is not a paradise where one can experience the maximum of pleasure and a minimum of pain. The world is a place of "soul making" or person making. As we try and understand the challenges of our lives, and our environment we may become "Children Of God". How different our lives would be if we lived in a world with no pain and no suffering. No one could ever again injure another person. The person with a gun filled with anger intent on killing another would find his bullets harmless.

The drunk driver would no longer kill innocent children because he chose to drink and drive. The child riding his bike would not be injured when he had an accident. The repair person who must climb up poles to diagnose electrical problems would no longer be in danger. No one would have to work, because there would be no harmful effects of not having a job.

No concern would ever need to be expressed for neighbors or those in foreign lands because there would be no needs. Nature's laws would become flexible; sometimes gravity would work, sometimes not. No enduring structure or past history would mean the end of science as we now it. This kind of life would pass by, with individuals living in a sort of dream state.

If the world in which we lived had no pain, it would not need ethics. There would be no wrong or right actions. There would be no love or compassion, for there would be no need to show these desirable character qualities. Courage would no longer be a valuable character trait because there would be no danger. This seemingly perfect might end up being the worst possible place in which to live. The world in which we presently live offers the greatest opportunities for the growth of character traits such as generosity, compassion, courage, and unselfishness.

Our world with all its problems, sorrow, danger, and suffering is indeed a great place for "soul making". The response of Christians to tragedy is to turn it from a negative in to a positive. The crucifixion the supreme evil was turned in to a positive, the redemption of an. Since good could come from this the greatest of all evils, so good could come from lesser evils as well. The acceptance of the pain that come along with living helps to turn those experiences that at first seem negative into a positive spiritual experience. One can believe in an all-powerful God and in a world, that has evil.

The way in which a person views the existence of evil depends on his definition of God and the word good. Most people think good means the best possible outcome, the absence of pain or problem, pleasure and happiness. Loosing is not good to us, even if loosing might help to develop good sportsmanship or a good work ethic. We do not consider being in need good, though it may help us to appreciate the times when we had plenty. A debilitating disease or handicap is not good, though any life has positive moments, and joy can be found if it is looked for. Our negative responses to all these things helps to create their outcome.

How sad it would be if God has simply created a world devoid of any problems with people who never need struggle with making the right decision. Whether it is called "soul making" or character development the world is enriched by qualities such as love, compassion, generosity, and mercy. No definite answer can be reached as to why evil exists, but philosophy helps us to examine our own beliefs and consider why it is we think as we do. Sources: Augustine, St. Augustine's Confessions VII. Hick, John. Philosophy of Religion 2nd Edition.

Mackie, J.L. "Evil and Omnipotence" Mind. April 1955.