1. General revelation is what can be known of God by all men everywhere at all times. Special revelation is what is can be known of God by transmission alone e.g. scriptures. Scriptures as redemptive revelation assume the existence moral evil in the denial of clear general revelation.
2. 'God' in theism is a spirit infinite, eternal and unchangeable in being ,wisdom, power, justice, goodness, holiness and truth. Man as the image of God has these attributes in a finite, temporal and changeable way. What distinguishes the divine and the human nature are the three incommunicable attributes. Consider some implications of this definition.
3. In theism only God is eternal. The universe is temporal, brought into being by God. This is creation ex nihilo. The universe is not made from pre-existing substance or a part of God; it came into being. The universe did not appear from nowhere as an uncaused event; it came into being by act of God.
4. The analogy for creation of matter is in the experience of a mental event causing a physical event as in the intention to move one's arm and the movement of one's arm. The analogy for the creation of spirit is in the experience of procreation: life flows from parents and become other than parents without the parents being decreased.
5. Creation is not an event in time but that by which time comes to be. Time is not a thing in itself but a relation of physical things in motion or of succession of ideas in finite minds. If there is no motion or no physical things or no finite minds there is no time. There is no time before creation. God is eternal in the sense of being timeless (outside time).
6. In creating there is no need in God that is being fulfilled. Creation is an expression of the being of God. God creates because He is. In creating the nature of God is being expressed. There is no knowledge of God apart from creation and its history (providence).
7. In Hume's Dialogue Concerning Natural Religion the three speakers represent the three possible ways of speaking of God. Demea the orthodox believer speaks analogously; God is like man in having wisdom but unlike in that His wisdom is infinite. Philo the skeptic - mystic speaks equivocally; God is totally unlike man. Cleanthes the rational empiricist speaks univocally; God's wisdom is totally like man's, greater but still finite.
8. Demea and Philo agree that religion arises from a sense of misery. This view is not uncommon (Marx, Freud, popular etc.). To critique this view consider if this is true of all religion or some, the best (Job) or what is not genuine, what religion itself means - whether all or only some are religious, and what is misery? If meaning of experience (including misery) arises from one's religious belief then religion cannot arise.
9. Demea and Philo also agree that the world is full of misery (natural evil) and wicked-ness (moral evil). Consider the many attempts to deny this. But to acknowledge the full reality of natural evil is to see its connection with moral evil and so to find hope.
10. Philo ironically states the problem of evil: if God is all good and all powerful why is there evil? These three (G.P.E.) are either contradictory or the answer is unknown. Philo's first solution is to say God's goodness is perfect but incomprehensible.
11. Cleanthes' objection: if God's goodness is unknown all religion (prayer, praise) ends.
12. Demea appeals to full knowledge in the afterlife in which all difficulties are answered. This assumes that to know anything one must know everything, which is impossible.
13. Cleanthes solution is first to deny there is as much evil as good. But the amounts in comparison are uncertain, the intensity of pain is incomparable and why should there be any pain at all? Since evil cannot be denied Cleanthes denies the infinitude of God. But even with a finite deity one would expect a better world.
14. Philo argues that no natural evil is necessary. 1) animal pain is not necessary, not for death , accident, learning or appreciation 2) evil could be greatly reduced by secret divine intervention 3) greater natural diligence would vastly improve life 4) the excesses of nature are not necessary. Philo thinks the source of beings is amoral.
15. The free will solution to the problem of evil is that 1) natural evil is due to moral evil 2) moral evil is due to free will 3) free will is necessary for human dignity.
16. Objection to the free will solution: 1) free will makes moral evil possible not actual 2) if moral evil becomes actual that does not make it necessary 3) free will does not have to make moral evil possible (God is free without the possibility of evil; in heaven man is said to be free without the possibility of evil) 4) one can pass from innocence to virtue through temptation without moral evil
18. The problem of evil is not the problem of pain. The presence of pain does not raise the problem as in animals and in willingness to suffer when it makes sense; its mere removal is not enough. The concern is to know why, how can it make sense if God exists? If there is a solution it requires a deeper and more consistent analysis of good and evil.
19. Good for man as a rational being is the use of his reason to the fullest. Reason is used to understand the nature (meaning) of the world. The meaning of the world in theism is what it reveals of God's nature. Therefore good (life) for man is the knowledge of God.
20. Evil for man as a rational being is failure to use his reason to the fullest. It is the failure to find the meaning that is in the world. It is the failure to see God (unbelief).
21. This definition of good and evil assumes that there is a clear general revelation that only some is eternal (see arguments against various forma of all is eternal). 'Clear' means that one has to stop using reason (close one's eyes) to avoid seeing only some is eternal.
22. In the parable of the prodigal son evil (unbelief) serves 1) to obscure the revelation of the divine nature and 2) to deepen the revelation of the divine nature.
23. If evil is removed abruptly the revelation will not be deepened and if evil is not removed the revelation will not be seen.The solution is to remove evil gradually. Evil (unbelief) in every possible form and degree of admixture and conflict with the good is allowed to work itself out in world history. In that process good is eventually and fully realized.
24. Natural evil (every form of human misery) serves to remove moral evil by restraining, recalling and by restoring mankind. It calls a person to stop and think about the root cause of misery.
25. The assumptions of this alternative solution to the problem of evil are 1) there is a clear general revelation 2) there is no other way to deepen the revelation 3) knowledge of God is the good.
© Surrendra Gangadean