Alvin Plantinga - Does Evil Disprove God?

How could God be both all-powerful and all-good? Philosophers of religion offer 'defenses' (no logical contradiction between evil and God's existence) and 'theodicies' (complete systems explaining why God allows evil). But do they work?

[mrnessss]

Alvin Plantinga is a breath of fresh air when it comes to Christian thinking. I'm so tired of over excited, know-it-all Christian apologists, completely lacking in humility. I don't trust those people for one second. There's too much ego invested which throws off their judgment. Alvin calmly acknowledges that he doesn't know what he doesn't know. I really am enjoying his perspectives lately.

[dalboro]

I wish that all these wonderful philosophers like John searle, plantinga, Swinburne, and others weren't retired or about to retired. It would have been an honor to be taught by them. It doesn't matter that some of them believe or dont believe in god, they're still great academics.

[SeanMauer]

I seem to agree with Plantinga in that the problem of evil does not disprove God's existence but rather it leads one to imagine that God's circumstances are far removed from ours. In the same way that much of adult behavior is not understood by children.

[DANGJOS]

The free will defense is interesting, but by his own admission, heaven would be conceptually impossible, yes? He says God cannot create a world of free beings without evil. Well then if people go to heaven after the second coming, how then can people live in heaven with zero evil whilst being free beings?

[stevenhunter]

This will always be a source of pain for me as a believer, this problem of evil and suffering. It caused me to leave the faith for many years, and even now I can't pretend to have resolved it for myself. It's a pain and consternation I expect I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.

[Saith]

Seems like nothing more than a variation of the flawed God-Works-In-Mysterious-Ways argument. Not saying there isn't a God, just saying that this argument doesn't really work.

[bdave]

The free will argument is limited and it only works to the extent that it explains suffering caused as a result of bad human choices and misuse of free will. It does not explain the pain, and suffering caused by natural events and things outside of human will and control, . To invoke the 'free will argument' is to ignore the pain, suffering and senseless death caused by natural events outside of human control, , such as earthquakes, diseases, tsunamis, weather events and so on. I wish people would would stop using this argument.

[gersonfreiredeamorimfilho]

In case the man goes to the heaven, presumbly that place would be a world with no Evil and with free Will creatures?

[hilbert]

Nice to hear him admit to the bearing this has on possibilities. I've never heard him address natural disasters though, like 200, 000 people being washed away by a tsunami and I don't see how he could. Surely he couldn't go with an original sin defence.

[GodsPerfectWord]

Who created the TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD & Before he created

[MrTornadillo]

I think there is no answer for all that evil. God must to give the reason when we encounter him.

[HarryNicNicholas]

how can souls burn? hell is a stupid punishment, only a god could think "I'll burn something immaterial"

[clementsingh]

To find a reason to justify evil, such justification is in itself evil!

[bishoythegreat]

man created god then god created man 😂

[paulhaggisman]

It's all complete and utter nonsense. God is omnipotent, but there are things he cannot do. What garbage. Here's where yall went wrong... Believing there's a supreme all powerful creator. There's not. He's a fiction of human mind.

[LapinDebogues]

How much free will do people actually have. Consider Phineas Gage who suffered severe brain trauma and became a social miscreant as a result. Or the mass murdered in the Austin Tower shootings who had a brain tumour. Extreme examples for sure but who can actually say that their actions are completely independent of their circumstances, upbringing and brain chemistry? Also the free will defence only works if people have full knowledge of the consequences of their actions. Some of the worlds worst evils were the result of human actions not in the conscious will to commit evil but in the will to do good which had the unintended consequence of resulting in evil. Consider Fritz Haber who invented a way to capture atmospheric nitrogen and make fertilizer from helping to alleviate world hunger but also making it possible to make explosives and bombs resulting in the death of millions. Great evil the result of the free will desire to do good.

[BennyOcean]

So presumably, you have no free will in heaven, since free will causes evil. 

[amirhesamnoroozi]

I hate to admit this but to be honest his logic in this particular subject is legit. But think about it for a moment and I put this from emotional perspective to the issue not logical, doesn't this vastness and severity of world's evil make the notion of a benevolent God ludicrous? Just think about a natural evil like a child been born with severe disability and some kind of lymphoma. What is that damn reason that God knows but we should not or cannot know? In a universe that there is no difference between praying to God and not doin so what is the importance of god to be existed or not?
Plus according to his argument I can imagine a omniscient omnipotent and omni malevolent deity who probably has much worse evil reasons to allow these evil occurances. Now I wonder how he will disprove my deity..

[deepakkapurvirtualclass]

God has free will and He 'always' loves and 'never' does wrong. So, why He does not give the same free will to human beings also. 


Then, we will also 'always' love and will 'never' do anything wrong. 


What is the problem in giving such kind of free will to us so that we never commit evil acts and retain our free will also (just like God has free will but he 'never' does anything wrong)?

[ajr-xe]

No. But it does prove God is flawed, potentially evil, and not worthy of worship. In my opinion, nothing should be worshipped. When you worship something, you place it on a pedestal that it inevitably does not deserve to sit atop.