God Will Always Be Relevant in the World

A Tale of two Theodicies

Shannon: Hey St. Augustine and St. Irenaeus, I have an issue I am currently dealing with and it is starting to make me question the existence of god. If there is an Omnipotent, Omnipresent being, then why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? If god was all loving then he would wish to abolish evil, wouldn’t he? If god is all powerful then he is able to abolish evil, then why doesn’t he? Therefore, if god wished and is able to abolish evil, then evil wouldn’t exist, but evil does indeed exists made me come to a temporary conclusion, that god is not both loving nor all powerful.

Can you two help me clarify my thoughts?

St. Augustine: Well Shannon, I have a theodicy that will surely stray your opinion. It stems straight from the idea that god gave us free will. God created the perfect world with perfect beings, there is no evil, only Higher goods and lesser goods, which is essentially the privation of good.

Lesser goods are not the God’s fault, lesser goods are created by the poor decisions of humans. God gave humans free will because he is an All-loving, All-Knowing, and Omnipotent being and by granting us free will he wants us to display our obedience genuinely, he does not want us to obey him mindlessly. Humans are at fault for lesser goods because we abuse our free will. For example, in the Bible, Adam and Eve were granted free will in this perfect world God created but succumbed to temptation causing anarchy and the upheaval of all things wicked.

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God is a Just being, therefore, he allows natural evils, such as diseases and natural disasters like hurricanes to occur, as punishment for human’s moral evil.

Shannon: I find this argument rather compelling but I do have my objections. How Could a perfect creation malfunction? If god created the perfect world with perfect beings then what is the justification for there being glitches? Also, if humans were perfect beings then why would they choose to adopt evil behaviors? I just don’t know whether to believe your theodicy Augustine. Irenaeus, do you have another theodicy that you can present to me.

St. Irenaeus: Well I have an opposing view of the world, this is my theodicy. I believe God created an imperfect world with imperfect humans and we must go through soul making because as humans we must learn through consequences and become worthy of communion with the divine. God wants humans to grow individually so that we can reflect his likeness and we grow morally through testing and challenges. God gave us free will so that we have the choice to do evil and withstand it. Facing adversity and overcoming it will satisfy God. God gave evil a purpose, which is to serve as a challenge and teacher for humans to overcome, which would cause moral development. God still retains his characteristics of benevolence, omnipotent and omnipresent as well.

Shannon: I find your theodicy a little more realistic but it also has its flaws. If god made evil serve a purpose, how would tragedies like the holocaust make the world a better place? I understand challenges are supposed to serve as an obstacle for growth but would all suffering result in moral growth? People do not always learn from suffering but rather degenerate causing no moral growth. I want to thank both of you for your insight but I am still uncertain of what to believe.

In conclusion, I believe they offer very compelling theodicies but no matter what there will always be an objection for each theodicy. No theodicy is perfect but they offer pretty intriguing claims. God will always be relevant in the world because people will always try to find a justification for evil things. This debate will go on till the end of time but as far as I’m concerned there will be no perfect theodicy until we see this God. Seeing is believing.