123 School Work

Problem of Evil An Expanation and Examination

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  J.L. Mackie tackles the idea that God cannot exist given the problem of evil. First and foremost, Mackie states that the existence of God is possible, but only if a person is willing to believe that God is either not omnipotent or that God is not wholly good. He states the problem ultimately as: God is omnipotent, God is wholly good, yet evil exists. To fully understand this, a reader and theist must understand the connections between good, evil, and omnipotence. To start, theists must understand that good is always opposed to evil, and that good things always eliminate evil as far as they can, and that there are no limits to what an omnipotent thing can do. Continuing on, Mackie finally follows by stating "from these it follows that a good omnipotent thing eliminates evil completely, and then the propositions that a good omnipotent thing exists, and that evil exists, are incompatible."(160)
  After stating the problem, Mackie states that there is in fact a possible resolution to the problem, but for God to theoretically exist, a believer must give up at least one of the aforementioned propositions. Some of the possible explanations include the idea that omnipotence has restrictions, that evil is really an illusion, or that evil is really a privation of good...