The Compatibility of the Problem of Evil and the Existence of God
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
If God exists, why does he allow little children to die of starvation? Why does he permit the earth quake? Why does he permit the rape? Why does he let babies to be born addicted to drugs? Why does God allow millions to die at the hands of wicked dictators? Why so many suffer from arthritis, cancer, or birth defects while others are healthy? Why does God permit any suffering at all? Elie Wiesel in his book entitled ―Night‖ tells us what he observed in a German concentration camp. The Nazis hanged two adults and a child. The two adults died quickly. The child, on the other hand, took longer:
For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying slowly in agony under our eyes. And we had to look at him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him .His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ―Where is God now‖?
Why does God permit suffering? This question is undeniable that, as novelist Peter De Vries puts it, ―the question mark turns like a fishhook in the human heart‖143The problem of evil has been a serious question among different Scholars, theologians and philosophers. Our feelings and perception of God will be different when we pass through suffering
Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, if you turn to Him then with praise, you will be welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away
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Philosophy