The Logic and Evidental Problem of Evil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Logic and Evidental Problem of Evil - Essay Example All materials presented in this paper will come from class notes and a secondary source. Logical Problem of Evil Atheist J.L Mackie presented this argument where he argued that there is a contradiction between the existence of God and the existence of evil (Kelly 218). Mackie formulated his argument that there seems to be an evident contradiction between four main premises. One of them is that God is an omnipotent (Kelly 219). This premise translates that God is all-powerful, meaning that he is supposed to have the power of eliminating all evil that exists in this world (Meister 132). The second premise is that God is an omniscient. This second premise translates that God is all-knowing, meaning that he could have the ability to detect the occurrence and existence of evil in order to prevent or eliminate it. The third premise according to Mackie is that God is Omni-benevolent (Meister 132). This argument translates that God is all-good, meaning he would have the will to prevent all t he evils from happening in this world (Meister 132). The fourth premise indicates that evil and suffering exists in this world (Meister 132). This premise translates that there is evidence of moral and natural evil existence in this world. Reflecting on all of the above four premises Mackie concluded that God does not exist. The above four premises leads to a contradiction between the existence if evil and God. This derives to a point that God does not exist. For example, it is easy to reject the premise that God is omnipotent. This is because if God is not able to stop evil and most importantly know before it occurs in order to do something to stop it, then probably there is no God. There is also a possibility to reject the second premise; God is omniscient, by stating that if God is really all knowing, he could have the ability to stop evil. The above information indicates that no one is able to know what individuals can do even God himself. Moreover, this means that if God does e xist, evil occurs and surprises even him. It is also possible to reject the third premise indicating that God is Omni-benevolent. This is because if God is perfect good, he ought to have the ability of knowing when evil might occur and then have the power to stop it. However, it seems that God does not care about evil and possible he does not have the ability to stop it. Rejecting the first three premises translates into the fourth one, evil and suffering exists, and therefore giving a possible conclusion that there is no God. The Evidential Argument One of the well-known individuals who have firmly supported the evidential argument is William Rowe (Kelly 220). Through the evidential argument, Rowe and many other philosophers argue that much of the evils that people experiences in this world seem to be pointless. Rowe presented his arguments on four main statements. One of the statements indicated â€Å"E†, is an evil that no one established its justifier. However, many peopl e especially philosophers have been trying to find the justifier without any success. The second statement according to Rowe shows there is a high probability â€Å"E† has no justifier. The third statement indicates that if there are some evil that depict to have no justifier, then all the facts presented on theism about God depicts to be false (Meister 135). The fourth statement as presented by Rowe then concludes there is a high probability that theism is false. According the above statements