PHIL 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Omnibenevolence, Theodicy, Omnipotence
Document Summary
John hick"s solution to the problem of evil is that god can be omnibenevolent and omnipotent and evil can exist. Hick"s response to rowe"s statement, if god exists, there wouldn"t be instances of gratuitous evil would be that evil is a part of god"s plan. Hick would say that god created an imperfect world on purpose. Where natural evils and moral evils do exist. God gave humans freewill and he knew that humans would choose to do evil, which is necessary for human development. Similar to the example used in lecture, a child cannot develop fully if they are stuck in a room isolated from the world. Hick believes that moral perfection is achieved with free choice. If humans choose to do good, it is much more valuable than humans being forced to do good by god. Evil exists to be overcome by goodness that humans choose to do over evil.
