Free Will and the Problem of Evil
Among all the questions that people would have asked God if they could, the most popular one is “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” (Strobel 29). Therefore, this is the main issue that bothers not only philosophers, but also ordinary people. It is something that no one can actually explain in terms of logic – if God is almighty and perfectly good, how does it happen that so many unfair, unpleasant, and even horrible things are happening in this world. One of the most popular issues discussed by philosophers on this matter in the role of free will in the existence of evil in this world.
Various philosophers have argued on this issue for quite a while. There are some strong logical arguments that try to explain the place of evil in the world created and governed by God. Mackie states that there are four logical statements that cannot be true at the same time, although some of them might:
(1) God is omnipotent (that is, all-powerful).
(2) God is omniscient (that is, all-knowing).
(3) God is perfectly good.
(4) Evil exists.
Taking into consideration this argument, it is clear that all four statements cannot be true at the same time, with the predominant contradiction between the first three altogether and the last one. Although these three statements initially do not contradict each other, if put together they cannot co-exist. These four statements are in the background of the whole philosophical concept of God’s reasoning to allow the existence of evil in this world.
One of the philosophical theories states that God has nothing to do with all the evil that exists in our world. His mightiness does not allow mistakes, but at the same time there is one gift given to the human kind, which allows the existence of evil in this world and still keeps God as an omnipotent, omniscient and all-good creature. Independent actions of human beings are perceived by many philosophers as the stimuli for all evil that appears in this world. According to Mackie, this possibility to make independent decisions is something that God not only allowed, but even blessed. Therefore, God did not create all the evil and suffering in the world, but rather gave humans a “gift” that has somehow initiated the growth and expansion of evil.
Next question is why did God do it while knowing that free will is going to lead to such disastrous consequences. It is clear that God knew about the results of free will because he is all-knowing. He could have stopped human kind from executing free will because He is all-powerful. And if one takes into consideration the notion that God is perfectly good, it is even more surprising that He allowed the existence of free will that leads to evil deeds and unhappiness in this world. Therefore, to understand the possible reasoning under God’s actions it is essential to look deeper in the concept of free will.
Alvin Plantinga presented the most famous argument on the God’s reasons to allow evil in this world, as well as on the protection of free will, back in the last quarter of the 20th century. The philosopher stated that free will is the most significant thing given to people by God. This “gift” that people received from God is so significant and valuable that it is more important than all the evil that one might execute with free will. Moreover, Plantinga argued that without free will people won’t be able to execute not only evil deeds, but also they wouldn’t have been capable of significant good actions.
To understand the whole concept of free will and its’ influence on the lives of people it is essential to find the definition of free will. Plantinga defines the concept of libertarianism, which can be described as a view, according to which “a person is free with respect to a given action if and only if that person is both free to perform that action and free to refrain from performing that action” (29). It means that one is responsible for own actions and thus cannot put the responsibility for one’s deeds and their consequences on other people. At the same time people have the freedom to do both good and bad things, which s commonly referred to as the freedom of choice. Therefore, if God had created human beings as perfectly good, they would have been significantly inferior to the current state of human beings.
The argument on free will of people as the reason for all the evil in this world is one of the major concepts in philosophy. On one hand God is all-knowing, all-mighty and perfectly good, but on the other hand he allows evil to exist in our world. Therefore, God should have some reasoning behind this decision. According to one of the most famous arguments of the modernity, proposed by Alvin Plantinga, God allowed evil to exist in this world because the concept of free will is much more valuable than the concept of pure good. By being able to make own decisions people have a chance to commit not only bad deeds, but also some purely-good actions. And decisions, which are based on one’s own choice are much more valuable than those influenced purely by external conditions.
