{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Sgwrs Tei Bow","provider_url":"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy","author_name":"Clarke Roberts","author_url":"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy\/author\/clarke-roberts\/","title":"Theodicy: Theology's Biggest Problem? | Bow Tie Talks","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Fgbj75TJGn\"><a href=\"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy\/2013\/10\/05\/theodicy-theologys-biggest-problem\/\">Theodicy: Problem Fwyaf Diwinyddiaeth?<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy\/2013\/10\/05\/theodicy-theologys-biggest-problem\/embed\/#?secret=Fgbj75TJGn\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Theodicy: Theology&#8217;s Biggest Problem?&#8221; &#8212; Bow Tie Talks\" data-secret=\"Fgbj75TJGn\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>","description":"Every time I am questioned about my faith and theological views, the conversation that follows my response is almost certainly, always full of challenge and scepticism surrounding my idea of Christianity and God. This is an understandable outcome. It is no secret that the problem of evil, theodicy, is one of the greatest challenges posed to belief in God not merely in the contemporary world, but throughout the history of humanity&#8217;s relationship with the divine. How can one justify the belief in and ultimately the existence of, an all-loving God that is described to us in the Old and New Testaments? The answer has evaded all theologians that have sought a response to this age-old problem; I am no exception! I wrote a piece not too long ago attempting to suggest a possible answer to the question, but I feel even that fell short of providing satisfaction to not only those who read it, but to myself also. \u00a0So as I sit here pondering potential PhD ideas I find myself asking the question: is the problem of evil really as great an issue as theologians have made out? Without fail, the majority of theodicies that have been posited by scholars have somewhere at their core, an eschatological dimension; that is, something concerned with the events of post-life (death if you will). The most convincing to me being that of John Hick, which claims that the evil endured throughout life is a &#8216;means to an end&#8217;. It is part of a &#8216;soul-making&#8217; process in which humans are eventually perfected in unison with their creator. Hick concedes himself that this soul-making process cannot be hoped to be completed within a human lifetime, and thus the process continues into the escahton (the state of being after death). An immediate confession into the belief of the importance of some form of &#8216;after-life&#8217;. I ask, why is it as Christians, or indeed any person of strong religious conviction, that we are seemingly obsessed with our post-life experience? Should we not be concentrating on our lives now? After all, no matter how strictly one clings to their religious or spiritual beliefs of the eschaton, the conditions of the physical existence in which we all reside is perhaps the only thing we as humans can be 100% certain of. One of the issues with existing theodicies is that they either a) appear to try and justify the\u00a0existence of evil which, as John Roth quite rightly argues, cannot and should not be accepted. How can the evils of, for example, the Holocaust ever rightly be justified? Point b) is that no theodicy either past or present, that I have come across, can make the evils of the world appear justifiable in an embodied earthly existence. As discussed above, the resolution of evil and the &#8216;reward&#8217; for enduring suffering is obtained once one has died. I feel this is no longer a relevant proposition for those living in a modern world, where scientific discovery is ever-decreasing the belief in [&hellip;]"}