Evil and Suffering

Evil and Suffering

1. natural suffering

   • Suffering caused by nature, e.g because of earthquakes, volcanoes, floods etc

2. Man-made suffering

   • Suffering caused by the actions of humans, e.g through war, pollution, crime etc

3. Free Will

   • Having the ability to choose or determine one's own actions.

4. Karma

   • The law of cause and effect. This is a Buddhist / Hindu idea.

5.  Job

   • Story from the old testament suggesting that suffering is a test from God.

6. The Fall

   • When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were cast out of the garden of Eden.

7. Evil

   • The opposite of good. A force or the personification of a negative power that is seen by many traditions as destructive and against God.

8. Personal being (nature of evil)

   • The ideas that evil is an evil spirit or a devil rather than an impersonal force.

9. Psychological phenomenon

   • an idea about the nature of evil that it is something arising from the mind of a person.

10. Theodicy

    • An attempt to answer the question of why God permits suffering in the world.

11. Nature of evil

    • What evil is like, whether a personal being, a psychological phenomenon or an impersonal force.