Why Is There Evil Do Humans Have Free Will Analysis

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Renick’s chapter titled “Why Is There Evil? Do Human Have Free Will? (and Other Questions You’re Better Off Not Asking)” from his book Aquinas for Armchair Theologians seeks to provide the reader an answer, from the viewpoint of Aquinas, to the following often debated questions: Why is there evil in the world? How can Christians rationally account for the existence of Satan and Evil in the world? Why does evil persist? Why would God make evil in the first place? Who or what causes the removal of good from one of God’s creations (also known as the privation of the good)? Is God not the source of the decay in good things? Do humans (and angels) have free choice? Why is there evil in the world? Many of us know the story of Adam and Eve living in paradise as God’s first created humans. Then Satan comes in the form of a snake and convinces Eve to take the bite of the apple. According to scripture, this is the first appearance of evil and many, including Aquinas himself, would argue that this is the reason why we have evil in the world. We have evil in the world because of Satan himself. How can Christians rationally account for the existence of Satan and Evil in the world? This question is very difficult to answer but Aquinas provides a clear…show more content…
He demonstrates the difficulty of answer this by asking if God was the one who created the good to be removed from an angle, and then that angel becomes Satan, then is God solely responsible for the evil? Aquinas answers this by arguing that although God created everyone and everything to be good, he did not make them to be perfect and immutable. The reason for this is because if we were perfect and immutable then we would be of equal to God who is all-perfect and all-good. Simply put, anything that is created, by default, is imperfect because of the notion that it has a creator and therefore owes its existence to a

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