The Problem of Evil

So I've been typing in 'evil' into the google search engine, and several websites refer to the logical problem of evil. This list (from wikipedia) tries to rationalize the presence of evil. What do you think about it?

1. God exists.
2. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good.
3. A perfectly good being would want to prevent all evils.
4. An omniscient being knows every way in which evils can come into existence.
5. An omnipotent being, who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, has the power to prevent that evil from coming into existence.
6. A being who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, who is able to prevent that evil from coming into existence, and who wants to do so, would prevent the existence of that evil.
7. If there exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good being, then no evil exists.
8. Evil exists (logical contradiction).

Confusion

Throughout the poem Satan talks about Hell as a terrible, awful, bad place compared to Heaven. He keeps talking about "how far we've fallen" and how its such a shame that they're not in Heaven anymore. I don't understand how Satan can be happy with what he has done if he keeps complaining about his situation. I figured that because Satan is so evil that he would consider what we consider bad to be good. But strangely my opinion of Hell seems to be his opinion: bad.

Satan and his demons are aware that what they are doing is evil, they even call it evil. I would have thought that evil would become good and good would become evil.

I think Coach Crook, you said something about Hell not being the opposite of Heaven but an inverse of it? Is this what that means? Or is this just Satan knowing what is evil and liking it? Or if not liking it, at least tolerating it.

Democracy?

Today in class Coach Crook mentioned that the devil will create a fake democracy in hell. We also touched on the topic of how God gives everyone the choice to be good or to be evil. If God promotes free choice than why did he punish Satan for choosing to overthrow him? Is God really any more noble than Satan?

Jewish View on the Devil

So after our discussion in class today I started to wonder what the Jews believe about the devil. So after looking around chabad.org i came across some interesting points in this article: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1093498/jewish/Can-You-Sell-Your-Soul-to-the-Devil.htm

"we see that G‑d created an angel to play the role of provocateur; that he is a messenger of, and subservient to, G‑d. He was not a fallen angel or sent to Hell, where he began fighting G‑d; he was created to be Satan. Neither does Satan spend his days stoking the flames of hell with his pitchfork. He is a presence on earth with a mission: to provoke people to disobey G‑d's will."

"There is no power of evil independent of G‑d; otherwise this would imply a lack of G‑d's all-inclusive control and power. To quote the Book of Isaiah:

"…from the place where the sun rises until the place where it sets, there is nothing but Me. I am G‑d, there is nothing else. [I am He] Who forms light and creates darkness, Who makes peace and creates evil; I am G‑d Who makes all these."3

Obviously then, the satan is not an autonomous force who opposes G‑d and recruits people to his militia. Rather, the satan is a spiritual entity that is completely faithful to its maker"

We were discussing today in class that everything God creates is good. However, God was the creator of hell and of Satan. I think some of the points I pulled from the article help answer our questions.

Emilia vs Iago

In class today we talked about how Emilia really had no intention of giving Iago Desdemona's hankerchief (at least the real one).  There is no way that she could have thought he was going to do anything good with the hankerchief.  I think Emilia just wants to see the good in everyone.  She believes that Desdemona did not cheat on Othello.  She does not realize that her own husband is incredibly evil.  She, unlike Iago, wants everyone to be good and nice, while Iago goes out of his way to see everyone in a negative light.  Emilia is almost the complete opposite of Iago.

Hitler's Youth

Marlowe is surprised in The Heart of Darkness by how normal the savages look. How unstrange they appear. Isn't evil supposed to look and seem different? The Devil has red horns and a pointy tail- so why can't it be that easy to spot evil in everyday life. I think the tragedy of Hitler's Youth was that the children were not able to recognize the wickedness of what they were doing, saying, and whom they were praising because they knew no better. Satan in Paradise Lost ponders whether it can " do [Adam and Eve] onely stand/ By ignorance, is that the happie state”(Milton, IV. 518-519). The Hitler Youth live in the happy state of ignorance, not knowing  the evil that surrounds them in around every campfire and in every tune they gleefully chant. It is palpable, but their ideas of good and evil are manipulated and reversed. With so many interpretations of evil, who really is to say what's right and what's wrong?

Loss of Restraint

As Eve justifies to herself eating the apple, she fights against her pure hunger for the fruit which bears the knowledge of good and evil. The one thing of which God has not satiated. She and Adam were told to restrain from this one thing, and they do a good job for awhile. But Eve's appetite soon overcomes her and she tastes of the fruit anyway. After having a taste, her hunger grows ten fold and she continues to eat and eat without any restraint. Eve, upon turning to the dark side, has lost all sense of restraint. The unknowing prey to the wills of the Devil has turned villainous herself, but a bad villain at that. For Machaievelli describes a true villain as having restraint, but she has none. The turned villlains who are prey to the Mephostitillain characters always seem to be terrible in their villainry.

Hanky-Pankage

Satan has a very interesting set of family members. From my interpretation, Sin was born of Satan's mind which makes sense. The best part is that Sin came from Satan's mind and is technically not one of God's creations, merely a by-product. Sin is Satan's Idea and child. Even more interesting, Death itself is born from Satan and Sin.  The bible says that Sin and Death came into the world after Adam and Eve ate the apple, but it never says from where they originally came from. On top of that, Death and Sin create monsters together, so Milton tries to say that Satan, Sin, and Death created everything evil and terrible in the world.

Reading 3

Lines 215-219, "while he sought/ Evil to others, and enrag'd might see/ How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth/ Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn/ On Man...". Is Milton saying that Satan's evil is necessary for the definition of good? Can anyone describe good as anything more than the absence of evil? I mean, if there was no concept of evil, there would be no way to understand what "good" is because what would be "good" would be the norm.

Also...

In Dante's Inferno, the ninth and final circle of Hell is reserved for the treacherous. Satan is imprisoned in the very center, but the description of Satan and Hell in Inferno and in Paradise lost are completely different. Dante describes Hell as an icy wasteland with a lake of ice, and claims that Satan is encased in ice, weeping for eternity in anger and regret. Milton probably used Inferno as inspiration, but the way Satan is in Paradise Lost is the complete opposite of the way he is portrayed in Dante's Inferno. Furthermore, I feel as if Milton referenced all the epic poets except for Dante. Is this only because of the Puritan/Catholic split?

Reading 3

As I was reading through the text I noticed that Milton says that Satan was floating on the lake of fire. Is this an ability of all demons and heavenly beings, or is there a strange commonality between Satan and Jesus, who is also known for walking on water?

From the Eyes of the Enemy

Going back to the second reading, Satan's soldier or comrade says in lines 134-139, "Too well I see and rue the dire event, that with sad overthrow and foul defeat hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty Host in horrible destruction laid thus low, as far as Gods and Heavenly Essences can perish." This just reminded me of the quote from Dr. Faustus by Mephistopheles. He says that he never leaves Hell because he has seen and lost the wonders of Heaven and the glory of God.  Satan's soldier is saying that their fall is so much greater because of where they have fallen from.  In the third reading section, Satan basically says that all his actions are based on the sole purpose of hurting God. In lines 159-162 he even says, "To do good never will be our task, but ever to do ill our sole delight, as being contrary to his high will whom we resist." He is evil and acts evilly just to get revenge on God. He also says in lines 165-168, "And out of good still to find means of evil; which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb his inmost counsels from their destined aim." Satan is confessing that his motive for malignity is purely being evil for the sake of being evil and being evil for the sake of being the opposite of good.

Satan's actions - Screwtape

Lines around 210 through 220 describe Satan's actions meant to hurt people ending up good, light, or in order instead of towards disorder. Milton says "while he sought Evil to others, and enrag'd might see How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn On Man by him seduc't, but on himself Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd." This reminds me of Screwtape Letters because wormwood's "patient" goes to church, becomes friends with religious people, prays, or does something for God after wormwood tried to negatively influence him. Screwtape advises wormwood several times and later finds out that the patient reacted by praising God in someway. The slight difference between praying towards god versus an idol constantly gets wormwood into trouble or danger of losing his patient. I guess I'm trying to say that evil is defeated often and enraged as a result. Also, the margin by which evil loses is very small from slightly changing an action or thought. Satan tries to negatively influence humans, but often finds that he does good. This must be frustrating if you want to do everything that is not good. God seems to clearly by the ultimate god and creator. Does this make sense?

God's intentions with fallen angels (rd 2)

(good and evil) The fallen angel from lines 143-157 wonders why God let the them, the rebels in punishment, keep their minds and spirit. He mentions how miserable he is because he can remember the pleasures and happiness of heaven in contrast to his new world. In a way he is questioning the "goodness" of God. If God is good and forgiving, why does he send Satan and his followers out of heaven with out a chance to ever return? Or does God even send them to Hell like Milton says? I keep thinking of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort constantly tells Wormtail that he is only loyal to him through fear. Would it be arguable to say that angels in heaven and men may follow God and worship him out of fear of hell and God's power to put them there (if he even does so)? Is this why the bible, Jesus, and God's messengers say "Do not be afraid" before they speak of God's plans? Since God is omnicient, he would have anticipated Satan and his followers starting an unending war, and let it happen knowing that the fallen agnels would serve as examples of those who turned against God or disobeyed him. (A possible strategy of God's.)

(Problem) However, did God actaully create and place satan into the underworld? If heaven is such a rightous, happy, and suitable place, how could a conflict or desire to turn against God could not possibly occur? I do not remember the bible containing any statements of a war or conflict in heaven either. Rather, Satan is described as simply wanting to turn away from God. If your happy, why would you want to turn away? The stories that I have learned from my parents, church, and Paradise Lost are starting to conflict with each other. I'm rather confused about how a rebel against God came to be. I think this paragraph connects with a previous entry about the accuracy of the events that are in the Bible. Anyone can walk home and tell a story about speaking with God, but how many would do so and then publish volumes of their experience?

Reading 2

I find it interesting that in lines 159- 161 Satan says that from then on he and the other angels will focus on doing evil.  For Satan, good and evil would have to have been defined by God.  Since God is good, performing evil would be doing the opposite of what God says this would mean that God had to give the angels a set of rules to follow just like he gave to man.

Reading 1???

I like how Milton opens up the book.  He starts the story with a great dramatic opening of Satan getting banished from Heaven, and him vowing revenge.  Maybe I read a little to far ahead, but I feel like if I were writing a movie, it would be about the war between God and Satan in which Satan is defeated.  Then as Satan lies there defeated, he rises up to vow vengeance on God in a never ending eternal war, setting up the ending for a sequel.  I suppose what I am saying is that the opening tells of even some more back story, and baits the audience with more to come.