- published: 12 Jul 2012
- views: 720
Natural evil is evil for which “no non-divine agent can be held morally responsible for its occurrence.” By contrast, moral evil is “caused by human activity.” The existence of natural evil challenges not only belief in the omnibenevolence or the omnipotence of God, but also belief in the existence of God.
Moral evil results from a perpetrator, or one who acts intentionally and in so doing has flouted some duty or engaged in some vice. Natural evil has only victims, and is generally taken to be the result of natural processes. The "evil" thus identified is evil only from the perspective of those affected and who perceive it as an affliction. Examples include cancer, birth defects, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, acts of God, and other phenomena which inflict suffering with apparently no accompanying mitigating good. Such phenomena inflict "evil" on victims with no perpetrator to blame.
In the Bible, God is portrayed as the ultimate perpetrator, for the “sun, moon and stars, celestial activity, clouds, dew, frost, hail, lightning, rain, snow, thunder, and wind are all subject to God's command.” Examples of natural evils ascribed to God follow:
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/reasonable-faith-podcast/latest
Dr Denis Alexander tackles the issue of all the suffering and death involved in evolution. Buy the DVD, book & study materials at http://www.testoffaith.com
Ravi responds to a question about how a good God can allow natural disasters, or, evil.
In this video, I discuss Richard Swinburne's interesting argument from a need for knowledge which claims that the need for knowledge of the consequences of our moral actions necessitates some natural evils. Real Atheology Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealAtheolog... Real Atheology Twitter: https://twitter.com/Justinsweh Real Atheology Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RealAtheology...
http://drcraigvideos.blogspot.com - In March, 2011, Japan has suffered their hardest hitting earthquake (which was followed by a Tsunami) in their history. What is the Christian response? Dr. William Lane Craig explores God's providence in light of natural disasters. Dr. Craig's lecture on the problem of pain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhBnRq9v-d0 Atheism Cannot Justify Morality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5LhbR5-Euo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvhGsEsVda4 Absurdity of life without God: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F780A451A2190F29 Objective Morality: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3DBE77BB622A22F7 We welcome your comments in the Reasonable Faith forums: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/forums/ Follow Reasonable Faith On Twitter: http://twitter.com/rfu...
William Hasker (Huntington College) offers his perspective on natural evil.
To support me in my work on this channel: https://www.patreon.com/noelplum99 For Part 1: Atheist Arguments #1 The Problem of Evil (Moral Evil) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrjE-8fm9Uw
In a previous video, I presented Swinburne's argument which claims that natural evils are necessary for morally relevant free choices. This video is a short critique of that argument. In this video, I discuss Richard Swinburne's interesting argument from a need for knowledge which claims that the need for knowledge of the consequences of our moral actions necessitates some natural evils. Real Atheology Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealAtheolog... Real Atheology Twitter: https://twitter.com/Justinsweh Real Atheology Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RealAtheology...