Is God Responsible for Evil in the World? Essay

For thousands of years already the adepts of the three world’s most widespread monotheistic religions, which are Christianity, Islam and Judaism, have been arguing for whether their deity is responsible for all the evil that happens in our world. Numerous books were written on this issue, and lots of disputes took place worldwide, but the answer hadn’t been found that would satisfy both the followers of those religions and their opponents. The believers deny the assumption that their omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God is also the creator of evil, while atheists use it as the main argument in proving the ridiculousness of religious beliefs. Lots of philosophers, politicians and theologians have devoted their works to the research of this issue. Moojan Moman in his book The Phenomenon of Religion writes: â€Å"the presence of evil and suffering in the world has even been argued by some philosophers from Epicurus (341-270bce) to David Hume (1711-76ce) to cast doubt on the existence of God. Other more modern writers such as Freud and Marx sought to show that religion’s explanations of the presence of evil and suffering were based on delusion†[1]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The adepts of monotheistic religions reject this hypothesis because it conflicts with their statement that the God loves all of his creations. In the notion of most people it’s impossible to love someone deeply, and, in the same time, to make him or her suffer. Thus, the explanation of the existence of evil in the world for the common believers is that the deity granted free will and a right to choose to all of his creations, and if people choose to commit wrong and evil deeds, it’s not his fault. But here a question arises which’s why the omnipotent deity does nothing to stop the doings that hurt the creatures he loves so much.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Other religious leaders explain that all the evil in the world happens because God wants to temp his adepts, or to give them a chance to become stronger through the trials he sends them. But if we look at this question from that viewpoint, therefore the kind nature of the deity would again be questioned, as a â€Å"loving father†, as the believers sometimes call their worshipped deity, wouldn’t have made his beloved children suffer to prove their faithfulness and devotion to him, or to help them develop some of the positive moral qualities and values. It’s obvious that a loving and caring ‘parent’ would’ve given his children careful guidance to make them better. The Christians and Jewish also prefer to omit the fact that the superior creature, their God presumably is, wouldn’t have behaved himself as a capricious child, demanding Abraham’s son Isaac to be sacrificed to him in order to prove Abraham’s devotion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Christians disagree with the statement that God, who’s a creator of all life in the Earth, is also the one who’s ultimately responsible for the evil that takes place in the world, even though numerous verses from the Bible, their sacred text give the evidence to support this claim, like the ones given below: Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? (Amos 3:6)[2] I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live. And I polluted them in their own gifts†¦( Ezekiel 20:25,26)[3] Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. (Jeremiah 18:11)[4], and, finally: I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. ( Isaiah 45:7)[5] Thus it’s obvious that it’s the deity the Christians worship who created the evil that exists in the world, and it’s clearly written in their sacred text. Unfortunately, this fact doesn’t fit into the concept of kind and forgiving God the Christian theologians and church leaders have been creating throughout the ages, that’s why the theologians try to interpret this verses as the mistakes done by the numerous translators of the Bible, arguing over the meanings of the initial world that is translated as ‘evil’ in most of the existing copies of Bible worldwide. The Muslim’s have a viewpoint on the purpose of the human’s existence on this earth different from the one the Christians and Jewish hold, which dictates the differences in their understandings of God. For Muslims this world is a kind of a test center, the place where all the actions and thoughts of every man are evaluated by the superior creature, and the humans are rewarded or punished depending of their balance of their things and right doings. For them the God is not a merciful and loving father, but a strict and demanding judge who knows about every their action and thought. Regardless of the differences in interpreting the sense of life by the Muslims, Christians and Jewish, Muslims also prove that their deity isn’t the one responsible for the wrongdoings in the world. They prove that the God had granted his creations with the right to choose between the evil and good, and, moreover, it’s the sole purpose of their life on the earth. He is capable of stopping all the wrongdoings, but he doesn’t do it, as he needs them to later judge the people who committed them. Nadir Aqeel, the author of the Frequently asked questions regarding Determinism and Free Will, the article found on the Understanding Islam Website, draws the analogy with the examination hall, where the God is the supervisor. Passing near the student, the supervisor sees the student writes down an incorrect question. It’s obvious that the supervisor shouldn’t correct the mistake, as this will defeat the very purpose of the examination.[6]   But, in the same time the Quoran says that nothing happens without the Allah’s permission in this world, thus he permits all the evil to exist in the world. In the law system of most countries the non-acting while knowing that a crime takes place is punished, and the person who didn’t do anything to prevent the wrongdoing is considered to be guilty partially for the crime that took place. The adepts of Islam may, of course, say, that we shouldn’t judge the superior creature with our laws, but it’s obvious that the human laws are the only ones we have, it’s our only instrument we can use to evaluate the rightness or wrongness of any deed. The basic difference between the Christianity and Judaism is that Christians believe that the human being is born in a state of sin, while the Jews believe the child is born pure, and it’s a matter of choice for whether to dirty yourself with the wrong actions and doings or to stay pure and in harmony with the surrounding world. Different branches of Judaism, the same as of Christianity or Islam, have different views on God and his role in the existence of evil and sin on our planet. For example, Reconstructionist Jews, as Emanuel S. Goldsmith states in his article Kaplan’s Contemporary Religious Relevance: A Review of Reconstructionist Philosophy and Theology, that: â€Å"God is the Energy enabling us to conquer fear and despair, alienation and loneliness. God is what infuses our lives with confidence, courage and meaningfulness. God is life with a capital â€Å"L† and goodness with a capital â€Å"G.†[7] The other Jews personalize God, but they also believe he is not the one responsible for the wrongdoings and evil that exists in the world. They state God had given his creations free will, and it’s the matter of their choice whether to dirty themselves with the wrongdoings, or to stay clean in the eyes of God, be in harmony with the surrounding world, and make the Messianic Era closer, as the Jews believe Messiah will come to the world when it’ll become perfect. The Holocaust has provoked and still arouses numerous discussions about the origins of sin and evil, and about the reasons of their appearance. Some Jews believe, that Holocaust was provoked by the sins of the Jewish nation, thus admitting that, in their opinion, god had chosen to punish his chosen nation by murdering from six to seven millions of them by the arms of Nazi. Of course, most Jewish do not share this viewpoint, as they do not want to see claim their God is a mass murderer. As we’ve seen, neither of the researched monotheistic religion supports the viewpoint that God is responsible for the evil in the world. The Jewish, Christians and Muslims hold the belief that evil and wrongdoings is the result of the right to choose, the God had granted to his creations. They also prove that God sends people sufferings and hardships to help them become stronger and better. Most of the believers also choose to ignore the fact that if the God created everything, our world, the whole universe, it’s logical that evil is also a product of his creation. Some adepts may contradict to it saying, that this is Lucifer who created evil, but most religious leaders claim that   God is the only one who’s got power to create anything as formidable. But, using elementary logic we can see, that if the God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, he: Knows when and where an evil deed will take or takes place Doesn’t do anything to prevent it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, according to the law system used by the most countries in the world, he’s guilty of non-acting, of allowing the crime to take place, regardless of the fact that it often hearts the innocent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The researched monotheistic religions choose to ignore this fact, or try to invent numerous explanations for it, because it contradicts to their conception of the righteous and kind deity, that holds the humanity as his beloved children. Works Cited Mooman, M. The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach. Oneworld Publications, 1999 The Bible. New International Version. International Bible Society, 1984 Aqeel, N. t Frequently asked questions regarding Determinism and Free Will. Understanding Islam Website, 2004. Retrieved from URL Goldsmith, E. Kaplan’s Contemporary Religious Relevance: A Review of Reconstructionist Philosophy and Theology. Reconstructionism Today, 2001 P.S: If you have any questions or corrections please contact me immediately Luck      [1] Mooman, M. The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach. Oneworld Publications, 1999 [2] The Bible. New International Version. International Bible Society, 1984 [3] Same [4] Same [5] Same [6] Aqeel, N. t Frequently asked questions regarding Determinism and Free Will. Understanding Islam Website, 2004 [7] Goldsmith, E. Kaplan’s Contemporary Religious Relevance: A Review of Reconstructionist Philosophy and Theology. Reconstructionism Today, 2001