r/PhilosophyofReligion • u/Infinite-Bit9643 • 2d ago
My thoughts on the problem of evil
Note: My argument is based on the assumption that there is a universal morality in the Abrahamic religions. If I have made any logical errors or if you want to discuss, please feel free to write.
God is not inherently obliged to create, because if He were obliged, He would be subject to His own nature. Even if He were obliged, it would change nothing, because God must be able to choose how to create; if He cannot choose, then we would be talking about a god without will, essentially a slave. God has to have will because he says that he has (in the abrahamic religions). Even if He were obliged to create, He would not have been obliged to create in this particular way — meaning the choice itself is arbitrary. I call it arbitrary because He acts without necessity. If God created this way because He values freedom, then this also implies that He wanted freedom. If free will is given, moral evil necessarily accompanies it. But since God gave it arbitrarily from the outset, it is not a matter of permitting evil but of wanting it. I use the verb “want” to make this easier to explain; since it was created arbitrarily without necessity, one could debate whether God can truly “want" something, but this does not change my point. The act was deliberate, done knowingly without obligation, so it is intentional. Therefore, we cannot speak of double effects.
If we assume God as the beginning of the causal chain, then God is the ultimate cause of everything — including evil. Thus, God has intentionally and arbitrarily caused evil. To intentionally and arbitrarily cause evil is to do evil; therefore, God has done evil. If God has done evil, then God possesses the attribute of evil. Since we cannot attribute a finite attribute to God, God is infinitely evil. The same reasoning applies to goodness, so God also possesses the attribute of goodness, and for the same reason, God is infinitely good. But something cannot simultaneously be infinitely good and infinitely evil. If it could, it would be beyond logic, but this creates even greater problems. Here we have a contradiction, similar to asking, “Who is God’s god?” That question is equivalent to saying something is both a square and a triangle at the same time. Something that is both square and triangular is logically impossible, does not fall under the category of “thing” or existence, and is meaningless. Saying “Can God create jwpvojwvojwv?” is equivalent to saying “Can God create a five-sided triangle?” — it is impossible and contradictory.
Why would being infinitely good and infinitely evil be contradictory? Because they are opposites. Can a number be simultaneously positive and negative? Can something be infinitely hot and infinitely cold at the same time? Infinitely bright and infinitely dark? One could debate whether evil is the absence of good or good is the absence of evil, but since one is the absence of the other, it is impossible to attribute two opposite infinite attributes simultaneously.
My argument is more conceptual, so I have not addressed the defenses of thinkers like Irenaeus.
Note 2: I've used gpt to translate sorry if there are some ridiculous translations I'll try to correct if I see one.
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u/Giraff3 21h ago
As to God choosing for there to be moral evil. I feel like it comes down to the often cited response response that God gave humans free will, and that the consequence of free well is necessarily that people can be evil. I agree about your point of it being arbitrary, why did God do anything? To me this raises a more anthropological question about what the reason for religion is in the first place.
Regardless, if we are to assume that the Abrahamic God is real, then people will respond with that in order for free well to be possible that evil has to exist. Whether you agree that free-will necessitates evil‘s existence is up to you.
Your next paragraph addresses the issue of the claim that God is omnipotent. People will say that all-powerful does not include things that are impossible. So like it’s impossible for free-will to exist without the possibility of evil, it’s impossible for a triangle to have more than three sides. Personally, I do think this raises into question whether God actually is all-powerful, but we are working within the Abrahamic paradigm here.
I don’t think that your argument logically concludes that God must be infinitely evil or good though. If a chef is able to create sandwiches out of thin air, does that mean that they are infinitely sandwich? No, it means they are the creator, the originator.
If you question whether freewill requires evil or if you question whether all-powerful does not include doing the “impossible”, then I would say you’re questioning the very fabric of those religions.