Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil

Joseph A. Castellaneta Jr.

[THEO202_C06_201340]

Short Essay # 1

Short Essay on Topic [Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy)]

Sam, evil does exist in our world today and that is always a difficult thing for us as humans to understand. We see it on the news, read about it the paper, and are affected by it every day. I know you may not be a believe in God Sam but the truth is that it seems to me the world has continually lost respect and love for God and the more we take Him out of our existence, the more immoral the world seems to get. The lesser we have of God; the more evil seems to flourish. It all started with Adam and Eve and their fall in Genesis. God gifted us with free will and Eve, in the garden made the choice to eat the fruit and defy God. The problem with free will is that it brings in sin because not everyone is going to choose what's right. God allows evil so He can achieve a greater good. There are many types of evil in the world but there are two main evils. One is moral evil which I like to call a "free will evil" because it is an act of mankind. Some good examples of moral evil is something as simple as lying or stealing but can also be more harsh like murder or acts of cruelty. These are things we choose to do. The other is natural evil which we have no control over; our choices do not influence it. It can be something as simple as a deer running out in front of your car or a stray bullet hitting an innocent person to the most devastating tsunami or earthquake. It is important that you understand Sam that I personally do not believe that God makes bad things happen or that He allows evil into the world. He may allow certain things to emerge that we don't understand but it is always for a purpose. Sometimes these incidents may help our personal growth or maybe it's so that we can help others overcome their difficulties. I also believe that natural evil exists in the world today because of Adam and Eve's decision to go against Gods laws and the fall of mankind I talked about a minute ago. Natural evil is a consequence of mankind's decision and a reflection of what we as humans do to ourselves through our own free will.

Have you ever heard of the word theodicy Sam? Well, theodicy is a term used to refer to attempts to justify the ways of God to man. There are many different theodicies, let me explain a few real quick: Augustinian theodicy which basically argues that God created a perfect world, with no sin or evil in at all. It goes on to say that it was the free will of the angels and humans that caused all the evil in the world to surface. A popular one is Leibniz's theodicy which basically states that God chose to create how He did because He is God and He can do that but it goes on to say that God willed