UNIT FOUR: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

This unit explores what evil is, why it exists in our world and focuses on the existence of God alongside evil in the world. God is: Omnipotent all powerful Omniscient all knowing Omnibenevolent all loving What do each of these terms means when looking at the problem of evil? There are 2 forms of evil: natural evil and moral (man-made) evil. In the table below you need to write down examples for each type of evil. You must explain your answers. Natural Evil Earthquake this is a natural occurrence in the World, no human can do anything about this. Moral Evil Holocaust Hitler chose to end the lives of millions of people because of what they believed in.

Where has evil originated from? Christian: Adam and Eve God told Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from the forbidden tree. A serpent came and tempted them to eat the fruit. As soon as they ate the fruit they realised they were naked so they hid behind some trees. When God saw this He knew they had gone against him and made

them leave the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve now knew what good and evil were. Islam: Iblis - Allah created angels (malaikah) from divine light (nur). From fire he made other spirits called Jinn. He then made the first human, Adam, from clay. Allah ordered all the angels and Jinn to bow down to Adam. Iblis, one of the Jinn, refused. 'O Iblis! What is your reason for not being among those who prostrated themselves? (Iblis) said: 'I am not one to prostrate myself to man, whom Thou didst create from sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape.' (Allah) said, 'Then get thee out from here; for thou are rejected, accursed. And the curse shall be on thee till the Day of Judgement.' Iblis, who is sometimes called Shaytan, said that forever he would try to tempt humans to chose wrong rather than right. Although Iblis is allowed to test a Muslims faith he is not equal to Allah and he cannot hurt people unless Allah allows him to: Shaytan cannot harm them in the least, except as Allah permits; and on Allah let the believers put their trust. What are your interpretations of these stories? Where has evil come from? Who is responsible? Top tip You will not be asked specifically about one story of the origin of evil in the question but you must be able to refer to at least one of the stories in your answer. Why might someone argue that it is important to have evil in the world? According to most creation stories everything that God created was Good. God would not have made anything bad because that is not part of Gods nature. However, God did give humans free will, and as shown in the story of Adam and Eve, they use this free will to do what they want.

A possible exam question could be: People do not need the amount of suffering there is in the world to have an understanding of what good is. Do you agree? 6 marks Think about: Is evil necessary to understand good? People should be able to have the option of choosing good It allows people to appreciate both the bad and good things in life List 5 things you have learnt to do by experiencing them 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) People learn from mistakes they make themselves or by seeing mistakes others make. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It helps people to develop mentally and emotionally. We need the possibility of evil to enable us to grow as mature people. This is sometimes called soul making this means that peoples characters are able to develop and become stronger as they react to different types of experience. For Christians, their life is preparation for the afterlife in Heaven. Christians have to accept the happiness of Heaven to be able to appreciate what God offers in the afterlife.

The Free will defence Humans have the ability to make choices for themselves. Christians believe God gave this ability to humans. Even though evil exists in the world, God is still able to exist because evil is due to human choice.

If God wants people to respond to his love then they must be free to make their own choices. God cannot interfere with peoples choices even if they cause people harm and distress.

What would life be like if God took away humans free will?

Explain how the existence of evil can make it difficult for people to understand the nature of God. 6 marks

What is karma? Below draw your own image that shows Karma and then, over the page, a short explanation.

 People who believe in Karma argue that evil occurs because of actions in a previous life. For something bad to happen in their current life, they must have done something bad in a previous life. Many believers believe that current suffering is all part of the whole experience, that throughout all of their reincarnations they would have experienced the good and bad things that life has to offer. Believers responses to evil and suffering Care for those who are in need Try to get rid of oppressive rules in certain cultures Remove social inequalities, like Gandhi did in India Help victims of disasters/famines Help those who are addicted to drugs/alcohol

This reflects the attitude that people feel they have a duty to help others. Complete the below table. How many arguments can you think of?

Arguments for the need for evil and suffering

Buddhists see suffering as a part of life deal with it, dont ignore it. Christians believe that Jesus went through pain and suffering for the greater good and that they should do the same. Muslims stress the need to give to charities to help others this is one of the five Pillars of Islam.