THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL A PHILOSOPHICAL EVALUATION

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problem of the existence of God is as old as Man. it is a major issue that man either consciously or unconsciously raises in his mind. Philosophers are very concerned with this problem. The problem of the existence of God has almost become a part of every being and one who his beliefs will tagged an atheist which today connotes a black sheep of the family.

Man shares quite a number of characteristic with other living thing but the fact is that man still stands clear that he is very unique. Man has been endowed with certain qualities which other beings cannot boast of which is his rationality, that is the ability to reason, unlike plants and lower animals who, just respond to external stimulation involuntarily man is capable of deciding consciously which stimuli he ought to respond to and which he is to regard.

In  the area of religion people  are so firm in their minds that they assume that as with other matters of knowledge like technology, custom and ethics, that there must be away to prove the existence and nature of God. Other believe that it is in some ways unnecessary and even evil to seek rational justification for the existence of God, which they think should be accepted without any attempt to proof its existence.

They rationality of man has automatically made him responsible for whatever  action  after  conscious evaluation of the fact that behind every action preformed by man, there is a motivating principle.1 It is equally important to know and understand the meaning and purposes of all that exist, despite the serious mystery in which things are strictly bound up. Philosopher can never be satisfied with anything less than good reason for % adopting a belief or any phenomenon at all.2 In matters of religion and in every other area, philosopher search for answers that can be justified by sound arguments.

The fact that everything in nature has got some meaning and can be understood to constitute certain meaning towards the realization of certain ends, and having equally grasped it to the extent that all other things as well as the lower forms of life are meant and designed for human purposes and convinces, the word it becomes some what comprehend the meaning purpose and the end for which human existence is meant.

God’s existence cannot be proved merely, by considering the word “GOD” as in the onto logical argument. God’s existence cannot be proved just by examining the concept what it is about nature that makes it manifest that it requires God as its original cause. Humans existence has been seen by some pessimist like a walking shadow full of found and   fury signifying nothing.3 That is human existence count for nothing but emptiness and meaning lessness.

To other philosophers like St. Augustine, everything is created to fulfill a purpose. St. Augustine assertion is that God is a God of purpose who cannot create anything without a purpose. This is the greatest tragedy in life, it’s not death according to his believe but life without a reason, so nit dangerous to be alive and not know why one was given life.4 Since deepest and ultimate craving of the human existence is the search for a sense of significance and relevance to life, thus fundamental questions such as Who I am? Why am I here for, what am I here about? And so forth has continued to puzzle the minds of the deep-thinking men in philosophy. The fact meaning that God’s existence can only be proved by his part and purpose in nature as seen as in Thomas Aquinas argument for the existence of God.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The purpose of this essay is to critically examine the argument for the existence of God in relation to the problem of evil. We shall also take a cursory look at st. Thomas Aguinas argument for the existence of God. In order to debunk the logical, evidential, skeptics and the theoretical determinism approach to the problem of evil.

THESIS

The thesis of this essay is that the realities of evil call into question the phenomenal attributes of God as omnipotent, omniscience, and omnibenevolent. But beyond this our thesis  affirm that all that exists did not just come into being but it is caused by some offer thing than itself.

Whatever caused the universe is and all mat exists is greater than the universe and all that exists itself. God is the only being   greater than the universe, therefore God caused the universe and God exist.

METHODOLOGY

Our method shall be historical, explanatory and analytical method.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

The scope of this essay is restricted to the proofs on the existence of God and the existence of evil. With particular reference to Thomas Aquinas argument for the existence of God we shall critically and thoroughly examine the problem of evil in its various expressions.

SOURCES

In writing this essay we shall make use of relevant academic material (texts books, journal s articles) from the following universities: The library of Olabisi Onabanjo University.

University of Ibadan main library

The central library, Babcock University Ilisan Remo.

The central library, University of Lagos.

Information from worldwide website and some other educational centre.