Natural Evil As Necessity
The natural-evil-as-necessity argument is meant to be a response to the classic philosophical argument of the Problem of Evil, which contends that an all-powerful, all-knowing and beneficent God cannot exist as such because natural evil (mudslides which crush the legs of innocent children, for instance) occurs. Peacocke contends that the capacities necessary for consciousness and thus a relationship with God also enable their possessors to experience pain, as necessary for identifying injury and disease. Preventing the experience of pain would prevent the possibility of consciousness. Peacocke also takes an eastern argument for natural evil of that which made must be unmade for a new making to occur; there is no creation without destruction. To Peacocke, it is necessary that organisms go out of existence for others to come into it. Thus, pain, suffering and death are necessary evils in a universe which will result in beings capable of having a relationship with God. God is said to suffer with His creation because He loves creation, conforming the deity to be consistent with the Christian God.
Read more about this topic: Arthur Peacocke, Peacocke's Views
Famous quotes containing the words natural, evil and/or necessity:
“The natural order will emerge only if we let go of the fear of the disorder, we trust each other.”
—Judith Malina (b. 1926)
“O God of our flesh, return us to Your wrath,
Let us be evil could we enter in
Your grace, and falter on the stony path!”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“Perhaps love is a compelling necessity imposed on man by God that has something to do with suffering”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)