evil and sufferings that are predominant in the world
evil and sufferings that are predominant in the world today make one reevaluate the certainty in the existence of a supremely perfect being. There are those that argue that if God were all-knowing, then evil would not happen. However, Plantinga’s free will defense argues that there is a reason why God allows evil to happen (Choo, and Goh 32). One of the reasons was that God created man with morally sufficient free will, which is something of tremendous value. Secondly, Plantinga argued that there is no right way God could eliminate evil and suffering without eliminating the greater good of having created a person with free will (Choo, and Goh 35). In other words, this means that if God were to eliminate evil, then he would have to remove the humans as they are the authors of evil. Scholars who agree with this argument understand that it solves the logical problem of evil in that it proves that God and evil are logically compatible.
The problem of free will is a matter that triggers a lot of concern in this modern era. There are those that believe that without belief in free will, then there would be little reason for people to act morally. Belief, in this case, is an afterlife where God rewards good behaviors and punishes the wrong actions. Another generally held belief is that it seems impossible to reconcile free will with what we know about the universe. Although most early philosophers share this presumption, it varies from philosopher to philosopher what precisely it is about the world, and this seems to clash with liberty (Choo, and Goh 43). Theodicy vindicates God in response to the evil, which is consistent in the world; it answers that question regarding God’s silence in the presence of evil. Biblical theodicy would agree with the first problem, which states free will would be useless without the concept of belief. For instance, the book of Hebrew is mostly quoted as an authoritative source of discussion when it comes to suffering. Also, there are numerous instances where the bible states that good behaviors will be rewarded with eternal life while bad behavior with eternal condemnation.
Free will is an essential aspect of human life as it determines how different people act in given situations. Importantly, free will and moral responsibility have been a longstanding debate among various philosophers. Some believed that unsupervised life is dangerous and not worth living. Others did not believe in the entire concept altogether. Free will defense views evil as a consequence of human action that arises from having independent choices. In other words, humans are naturally evil, and free will advances immoral decisions. Free will would be useless in the absence of belief, and this is a notion that is significantly reinforced by biblical theodicy.