Good and Evil

GOOD AND EVIL -

God and the Devil 

• power of good - God - more powerful than Devil, therefore good is stronger than evil 
• power of evil - Devil - "fallen angel"
• original sin - when Eve picked the fruit from the tree she brought original sin into the world (the fall), some Christians believe we are born with this sin and we have to be baptised to be redeemed of it 
• the fall - when Adam and Eve had to leave the garden of Eden
• some christians believe that being made in the image of God humans would have been made immortal but original sin took this away from us 
• redemption - by dying on the cross, Jesus saved humanity from the consequences of original sin

The problem of Evil 

• people argue that if God is omnipotent, then why is there still evil in the world?
• the christian counter arguments - 1. if there is good there must also be evil, otherwise good would not be good, 2. God gave us free will and it is our fault if we misuse it, 3. God has a purpose for evil and suffering, he "moves in mysterious ways" 4. evil is not a thing itself but just a lack of good, relating to free will
• however, natural disasters happen to good people in an unfortunate situation so why does god let them suffer?
• natural evil - suffering caused by natural events e.g. volcanoes, floods, hurricanes
• moral evil - actions made by humans that are cruel and uncaring and cause suffering e.g. the holocaust 
• humanists might argue all humans have the choice of how to behave - they can do…