Transcript B. C. JOHNSON

B. C. JOHNSON
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL:
REAL EVIL SHOWS THAT
A GOOD GOD IS NOT REAL
B. C. Johnson - pseudonym
The Burning Baby
Is this consistent
with God’s existence?
The LOGIC of the problem of evil
These 4 claims are inconsistent:
i)
God is omniscient.
ii) God is omnipotent.
iii) God is omni-good.
iv) Evil exists.
Every “solution” must give up one
(or more) of the above.
NOTE: the above is not provided by Johnson, but Foss.
Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”)
i) Heavenly reward (97-8).
[Denies iv.]
BCJ: evil is not erased by reward.
ii) Evil leads to good (98L).
[Denies iv.]
BCJ: destroys morality.
Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”)
iii) Free-will defense (98L).
[Denies ii or iii. A perennial favorite]
BCJ: makes God evil bystander.
[Moral vs. Natural evil; postulation of
evil powers, Satan, etc.]
Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”)
iv) Virtue-building defense (98-9).
[Denies ii]
BCJ: destroys morality.
v) Natural law defense (99R).
[Denies i, ii or iii.]
BCJ: Hitler’s heart-attack example.
Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”)
vi) Logical complement defense (99R).
[Denies iii.]
BCJ: But just a tiny bit of evil is
required.
vii) Higher morality defense (99-100)
[Denies iv.]
BCJ: destroys morality (makes
Hitler a good man).
CONCLUSION
Since none of the standard defenses
stands up to logical scrutiny, the problem
of evil is not solved, and we must
conclude that God, as normally
conceived, does not exist.