Philosophers through the ages have posed questions and
attempted to answer questions about a multitude of things. Many have wondered about the very
existence of God. Some have tried to prove God’s existence and others have tried to disprove it.
Even when there is some tentative agreement on the existence of a Supreme Being, creator of the
universe, there are still arguments about the nature of God. Traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs
declare God to be all-powerful, all knowing and all good. Philosophers ask, if God is all
powerful, all knowing and all good, why did he create an imperfect world with obvious evil,
which is the opposite of good? If God created everything then he must have created evil and how
could a God that is all good have created the opposite of good, which is evil? I intend to show
that when the pertinent information is reviewed, there is no "problem of evil."
Philosophers have a problem understanding traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs about God.
To have any intellectual thoughts on the subject of God, his attributes or what he can or can not
do or what he will or will not do we must first agree on a definition and a reference. The word
religion is typically defined as a personal set or institutionalized system of religious
attitudes, beliefs and practices. This will do for a technical definition. However, it is
generally accepted that a religion is an organized group of rules, behaviors and dogma that
should be followed to get to God, Heaven, enlightenment or whatever the stated destination of the
particular group. If one will accept this definition as reasonable, then all of the major
organized religions fall nicely into this definition save one, Judeo-Christianity. I group these
together because both believe the same things except that in Judaism, they are still awaiting the
Messiah, while the Christians are awaiting his Second Coming. Judeo-Christianity is based on God
reaching out to people versus people reaching out to God. Since the Holy Bible is God’s word
written by inspired men as opposed to men’s words inspired by their ideas, it must be used to
help explain what is really going on with this perceived problem of evil.
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