What is Evil, What is Love?

By Ben Burchett 1st period The problem of evil 1,619 words

IB Philosophy stimulus from the movie The Watchmen 3/27/09 Ben Burchett

Rorsach (roar-shack) has just been captured and is talking with the prison psychiatric expert. The psychiatrist asks a few questions and Rorsach starts to tell a story about a little girls kidnapping. He finds the kidnappers house in the rundown part of town. The kidnapper isnt home Rorsach breaks in through the front door because of the two large dogs fighting for a rather large bone in the back yard. Rorsach walks into a kitchen with a potbellied stove in the corner. He kneels down to open it. He rummages through the ashes; he finds little girls clothes and undergarments. He stands up and looks at the wooden counter top in the kitchen; it has been stained blood red with deep gashes in its surface. Above the counter there is a peg board with a collection of large sharp instruments hung from it. Outside the dogs fight more vigorously, Rorsach notices the bone they have been fighting over has a little girls shoe on it. The kidnapper comes home to find Rorsach holding one of his cleavers. The kidnapper scoffs and tells Rorsach that he doesnt have any evidence, Rorsach takes a step forward. The kidnapper understands that Rorsach is not a member of the police and begins pleading that he is insane. Rorsach takes another step forward. The kidnapper starts begging for mercy. Rorsach then finishes him off. The psychiatrist is sweating and very nervous. Rorsach says You see Doc, it wasnt God who butchered the child, nor fate that fed her to the dogs. Its us, only us.

The above story describes a disgusting act of evil; I dont believe that any one can disagree. We live in a world that has evil everywhere in it. Evil has always been a problem for the human race but it is especially a problem for those who believe in a monotheistic religion. In monotheistic religions God is the creator of the universe, He is omni benevolent (all good, without evil), omni potent (all powerful), and omniscient (all knowing). The problem is, how can evil exist with an all good, all powerful, and all knowing God. This dilemma has been called the problem of evil. Many philosophers and theologians have discussed and debated the problem of evil. There are only really two theories to the problem of evil; either God does not exist or rather exist as monotheistic religions believe He does i.e. omni benevolent, omni potent etc., or God and evil both exist and here is how this how is called a theodicy. There are many different theodicies but for the sake of this analysis only one will be examined, the Augustinian theodicy. The Augustinian theodicy was written by Christian philosopher and theologian St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.). Augustine looked at evil differently from most people in both his day and modern times. He starts his argument by stating some assumptions, first is that God does exist, and the second is that he created the universe. Augustine says The whole of Gods creation is good (reason and religious belief pg 144). This statement stays true to monotheistic religions because God is all good, and evil (which is viewed by the vast majority as the opposite of good) cannot come from good. The Bible (the Christians religious document) states For everything God created is good (1 Timothy 4:4a NIV).

In the previous paragraph a popular opinion of what evil is was stated. That evil is the opposite of good. There are many other ideas about what evil is. Some say evil is a person, like the kidnapper in The Watchmen or Saddam Hussein. Others believe that evil is a particular action such as the brutal killing of a little girl or the mass genocide in Hitlers Germany. And even more say that evil is an entity all by itself such as the devil. Augustine has a different idea about what evil is, one that does not null and void the previous three ideas but gives all of them a common ground to stand on in one statement. He writes that Metaphysically speaking evil is the lack of good, the privation of good (reason and religious beliefs pg 144). Augustine has just pointed out a major category error that society has made about evil. As we have established that many people believe that evil is the opposite of good. This is the same error that is made when one says that light and darkness are opposites, when darkness is simply the absence of light, or that hot and cold are opposites when coldness is simply a lack of heat. We cannot measure how dark or cold something is, but we can measure how hot and bright something is. By Augustines statement that evil is simply the absence of good, one can infer that evil is the absence of God (God cannot create anything from his absence). In the Bible evil is called sin. The term sin in Greek is amartia which means to miss the mark (biblefacts.org). The term was used in archery when an archer would miss the target. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (NIV). This is further evidence that Augustines idea remains true to monotheistic tradition. This idea of sin being the absence of God answers what evil is but it doesnt come close to solving the problem of evil on its own. Some philosophers might ask this of

Augustine, How can God be absent if He is omni present (everywhere) or How can God allow something that is not for Him exist if He is omnipotent? These questions are imperative obstacles to the problem of evil, and they need to be addressed, but first we need to look at the creation of the universe The origins of the world by monotheistic religions are that God created it out of nothing. This is sometimes referred to as Ex Nihilo which means in Latin out of nothing. Augustine wrote the universe was created out of nothing (reason and religious belief pg 144) and the Bible says in Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (NIV) also in John 1:1 and 3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word (the word has been called Jesus another member of the trinity) was God. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing has been made that has been made (NIV). This is the creation of the universe through monotheism. Later in the book of Genesis the Bible explains the formation of the earth, oceans and various animals in it. After that the creation of man, So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27 NIV). Later The Lord God took the man (woman was yet to be created) and put him in the Garden of Eden to take care of it. 16 And the Lord commanded the man You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die (Genesis 2:15-17 NIV). This is the first commandment to man. It is important to understand that God did not force Adam (man) to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, instead He gave man a choice. By monotheistic tradition God gave man free will, God gave man the option to choose to obey or not to obey.

Augustine says that It is particularly the misuse of free will that allows sin or evil into the human experience (reason and religious belief pg 144). Since man has free will he can choose to obey God or go against Him. Man decided to disobey God and eat the fruit, and as soon as they ate it their eyes were opened and they realized that they were both naked and they were ashamed. (Genesis 3:7a NIV) Many philosophers and theologians believe that prior of the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil Adam and Eve were ignorant to evil. This is true because they realized they were naked and then became ashamed of their nakedness (Genesis 3:7). But I feel that the tree itself did not give them the knowledge of evil, I believe that the act of eating the fruit, disobeying God, was what opened their eyes to evil because disobeying God is evil. Consider it like a child who has never disobeyed her parents and one day she decides to disobey them just to know what it feels like to disobey her parents. It doesnt matter what her parents told her not to do, she would get the same experience regardless of what she did; if it was stealing a cookie or not eating her vegetables she would still understand what it feels like to disobey. Adam and Eves disobedience is what separates them from God; God cannot be a part of something that disobeys Him, this is a logical contradiction. The question has been answered regarding how sin can exist in a world that was created perfectly good. But the hardest question is why would God create any tree or commandment that would lead to death of man and allow evil into His perfect world? And for this question Augustine does not have an answer, and nor does the Bible have any direct answer to this question. I personally believe that it was for the sake of love. Love doesnt mean as much to someone if the person giving it is forced to do so.

Therefore there had to be a choice for man to make, either to love God or not to. It is like if someone were to say that you can go anywhere in the world but you could not leave the room that you are currently in. God had to let his creation have the ability to leave the room that they were in. God does not require love to exist (He existed when there was only Him and nothingness), but He does make it clear in the book of Matthew 22:34-40, when the Pharisees asked him what the greatest commandment is. Jesus replies Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your sole, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 and the second is like it Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV). It is clear that the Bible wants us to love both God and everyone and that is why I believe that God created free will. What the problem of evil is is simply a misuse of free will (reason and religious belief pg 144) and creation(s) rebel(ing) against God (reason and religious belief pg 144). We are the origins of evil, we are the ones that went against an omni benevolent God, and we are the reason for evil and suffering in this world. Like Rorsach said It was not God who butchered the child, nor fate that fed her to the dogs. Its us, only us.

Works cited

biblefacts.org/lang/greek_sin.html. October 1998 Peterson, Martin et. al. Reason and Religious Belief: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

The Holy Bible, New International Version. USA: 1996