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On the Coronavirus And The Problem of Natural Evil

Why would an all-good and all-powerful God allow a pandemic?

by John Shaheen—

John is a junior at the University of Michigan–Dearborn. He especially loves philosophy and biology.


Fear is aroused, panic abounds, medical supplies dwindle, and the economy suffers… where is God?  Why would he let the people that he loves suffer?  Within months, the Coronavirus has rapidly spread throughout the world.  What seemed like alarmism now seems like inadequate preparation.  Surely, the question on the minds of many is why would God allow this?  Where is the God of infinite and perfect love and mercy?
     In response to the logical problem of evil, many solutions have been offered, the most famous being the Free will Defense.  Perhaps evil and suffering are a consequence of allowing free beings to exist.  The objection soon arose, what about natural evil?  How are floods, diseases, earthquakes, etc. the result of free beings?  Alvin Plantinga suggested that perhaps these disasters are the result of the free actions of supernatural beings such as angels or demons.  Though this is definitely a solution that makes natural evil logically compatible with a perfect and powerful God, it still feels unsatisfactory.  Why did God give these beings this kind of power?  He could have easily restricted their power without limiting their free will.  They can only cause this kind of havoc if God allows them.  God is still the ultimate authority and power in this paradigm.  Furthermore, in an age of scientific knowledge of the causes of natural disasters, this solution may seem unsatisfactory to the naturalist.  
  • 22 July 2020
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 2385
  • Comments: 0
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