Evaluating Free Will Defence

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Strengths of Free Will Defence

The FWD does explain evil
Does explain & solve some logical problem of evil (Inconsistant Triad), an omnipotent, benevolent God is justified in continuing to allow free will. 

FWD dies provide some explanation of natural evil
Swinburne attempts to explain natural eivl. Natural evil require rationality, we get rationality from being moral agents, to be rational we need to live in a coherant world governeed by universal laws. 

FWD is consisten with the God of Classical Theism
God is all loving so gives us free will. 
Hick and Augustine preserve his qualities - Quotes Genesis 1:26 "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness"                           2:7 "Then the Lord God formed a man, from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being"

FW and moral perfection do appear to be incompatible
God would be limiting our freedom if he guaranteed moral perfection. Murder, it is ones choice to murder, they do so are free. If God stopped them then they wouldn't be free. Our own choice to act morally or not.  

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Weaknesses of Free Will Defence

The evidential problem is still an issue
Intense suffering of innocents is just thr price we must pay for the rest of us being able to possess freedom. New borns suffering from terminal illness/diseases, just so others have free will. Use Dostoevsky and Rowe.

The FWD struggles with explaining natural evil
In failing to address natural evil it ignored the most common causes of death (David McCandless over 80% of deaths in the 20th Century were caused by natural evils). Focuses on moral evil not natural evil.  

Free Will may be an illusion
Determinists reject FWD as they believe we don't have free will. Sam Harris says it could be an illusion, backed up support from Neuro Science. Calvinsim - God is making us do actions to push us to predestination, partially free.

FWD and moral perfection may in fact be compatible 
Mackie doesn't accept that there is a contradiction between free, morally perfect beings. If we can be free & morally perfect then it fails to address the logical problem, meaning a contradiction between God's omnipotence & benevolence remains. 

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