Augustine's Problem of Evil | Philosophy of Religion

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- B. Clack & B.R. Clack, The Philosophy of Religion: A Critical Introduction (Polity, 2019).
- W.J. Wainwright (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion (Oxford University Press, 2007).

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[peachy_talisman]

I love these lessons, thank you for the videos !

I personally believe that evil is an unfortunately side effect of Freewill. For this reason, one who is truely righteous, altruism being a key component of righteous, knows evil but denies it in pursuit of higher knowledge or in Augustine’s case spiritual perfection, which is an oxymoron because only GOD is perfect.

Furthermore, I hate to break it to you Augustine but ‘Matter’ is imperfect compared to spirit, thus God did create a imperfect (physical) world

[henrybenjaminstoneking]

Evil is merely the "ABSENCE of GOOD", according to Plato, and then Augustine and Aquinas adopted this illogical belief as their own, which is totally contrary to the Word of GOD

1) this argument was made to accomplish something and we need to figure out what this motive is, especially for two men who claimed to be Catholic (Augustine and Aquinas)
It would seem that this comes from the world of double speak, witchcraft, rhetoric, and was made as a trick to help people think GOD is evil, and therefore we can be evil as well

Why do I say this?

Because this argument is completely illogical; and I believe all of these men are intelligent enough to understand the deficient structure of this argument

What they are trying to do is use the appearance of logic to create a false dichotomy (Illogical argument where only two options are shown as possible),
then a double bind where people feel trapped by it,
and therefore lead souls astray by making them give up on the SPIRTUAL journey they are on,
and then into Hell for eternity (where Augustine and Aquinas probably are now)

This argument is taught to young people who are not very strong in their Faith, when they are alone at college, and many lose the Faith from this

This is because they want people to not think there is such a thing as MALICE, so therefore there would also not be such a thing as GOOD or VIRTUE either, or punishment, or JUSTICE and on and on

If we make it a mathematical equation instead of using only words, it would be:

EVIL = GOOD (good could be a positive number 1 to infinity) -MINUS (1 to infinity) or,
Evil= 1-1 or
EVIL= 0 in other words, EVIL DOES NOT EXIST

Is LOVE merely the absence of HATRED? No.
Love needs to be added to the man by GOD, and taking away Hatred does nothing to prove LOVE is there. Otherwise people could claim to love everybody whom they do not hate.

Hatred can be in a man while love is there too, theoretically, as hatred is at the opposite end of the spectrum, but this does not make them mutually exclusive

Hatred involves MALICE, and this teaching about the "absence of good" being evil, completely removes all thought of malice

Is Sin merely the absence of Virtue? No.
One can be virtuous and sin at the same time. Virtue comes from GOD, so SIN would come from MALICE in the man, not from GOD

Is ugliness merely the absence of beauty? No.
Ugly people are farther on the spectrum than merely lacking beauty. Ugliness of the demons is a result of their sins and they are so hideous that upon seeing them one would never say, "This creature really lacks beauty!' No. They are hideous and at the end of the spectrum, to where few people in the world would qualify with them as ugly.

Is BEAUTY THE ABSENCE OF UGLINESS? No. Otherwise most people would be beautiful merely because they are not ugly. Beautiful people are at the end of the spectrum and more rare than this. Most people are not ugly, yet most people are not beautiful per se.

Just because Augustine and Aquinas were called a "bishop" and are currently called "saints" or "fathers of the Church" proves nothing, and this is not an ad hominem attack by the way, because their words/teachings indicate serious problems with their Spirits
(The Appeal to Authority Fallacy)

But lets look at some of the disgusting fruits of this strange illogical teaching of "ABSENCE OF GOOD" (again taken from Plato)

1)It would mean that there would be no such thing as SIN, as there is no evil
2) it would mean that you would not be punished in Hell but merely lose the Beatific vision, no fires of Hell to worry about anymore
3) There would be no Heaven because there is no evil, and therefore no merit for anything good
4) it would also imply that there is no good at all, as good and evil are both on the same continuum, so nothing I do really matters at all (NIHILISM)
5 there would be no consequences from sin (bad fruit), except this loss of good, in other words, there would be nothing bad in the world as a direct result from sins, (we know this is not true)
6) It defies the Words of JESUS, who used "evil" many times to describe our Fallen nature, and shows how disloyal Augustine/Aquinas were to the WORD of GOD, choosing pagan philosophy instead
7) there would be no such thing as demons or Satan; Satan always loves people thinking he does not exist; How do you fight against an enemy who does not exist?
8) there would probably be no Hell either as there would be no place of eternal evil and punishment if evil does not exist at all

So if you assume that the great philosopher Plato is smarter than you, which is common, and then you assume his logic is sound, then you will be led into this false dichotomy of GOD either being EVIL or UNCARING, and this thought will make you sick

As Eipcurus said,
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?


GOD is omnipotent in the sense that HE could do anything, yet there are many things HE chooses to not do
Discernment must come with omnipotence, otherwise GOD would also have no free will
Would an omnipotent GOD lack free will and discernment? No..

"omnipotence" is not defined as always doing everything one can do at all times anyway
but rather it is only "the quality of having unlimited or very great power"

Therefore, GOD is not mandated to stop all things that are evil, just because HE could do this theoretically
(The Hasty Generalization Fallacy/The Personal Incredulity Fallacy/strawman fallacy/correlation is causation fallacy/incorrect definitions of terms)

HE never forces HIMSELF on anybody in any way, or uses Force to cause people to love HIM
yet HE will always help those who turn to HIM, and this fact proves HIS LOVE

Free will is what allows for evil in the world and has nothing to do with GOD being evil
GOD cannot sin, or be evil, because it is beneath HIS DIGNITY

So there needs to be a contrast in the world, GOOD vs EVIL, light vs. dark, as a result of the Fall of man, the Fall of the Angels

This world is GOD's Footstool
It is a warzone where we fight for our salvation, and of those around us
This Earth is not some version of Heaven
it could be like Heaven in some ways, but most people choose to be evil with the free will GOD gave them