Category: RE

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Evil and Suffering exam questions

a) For what reasons may suffering create philosophical problems for religious believers? [10]

b) Outline TWO solutions and comment on their success? [10] (from the specimen paper)

 

2001

a) What do religious believers mean by the problem of suffering? [5]

b) Select any two theodicies and consider how far they offer solutions to this problem. [15]

 

2002

a) Outline the reasons why some beliefs about God mean that suffering poses particular problems for religious believers. [7]

b) Examine and comment of the success or otherwise of any TWO theodicies. [13]

 

2003

a) What is meant by the ‘problem of suffering’? [4]

b) Give an account of TWO theodicies and consider the view that they fail to solve the problem of suffering. [16]

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Evil and suffering quick quiz

1

What kind of evil does the holocaust come under?

Moral

2

What kind of evil does earthquake come under?

Natural

3

What is the biggest obstacle to a believer’s faith?

The fact of evil and suff

4

What three attributes does the God of classical theism have?

  

5

Choose one and explain how it is undermined by the existence of evil and suffering.

  

6

Finish the hypothesis: either God is not omnipotent OR He is not Omni benevolent OR …

Evil does not exist

7

Who said the above?

  

8

Who said ‘there is evil in the world; therefore God does not exist’ but rejected this conclusion?

Aquinas

9

What word means a justification of the existence of evil by God?

Theodicy

10

Whose was the belief that God’s creation was perfect?

Augustine

11

On what did he base this idea?

Genesis 1:26

12

What did he call the doctrine of the sins of Adam and Eve being passed down to all mankind forever?

Original Sin

13

How does he justify the continued existence of evil and suffering? i.e. what / how are we compensated or rewarded?

Through faith in Christ

14

Whose solution to the problem explained that God didn’t make the world perfect anyway?

Irenaeus

15

Why?

To allow souls to develop

16

His phrase was this world is a ‘Vale of …….’

Suffering

17

How does he justify the continued existence of evil and suffering? i.e. what reward does he offer to all as compensation?

Heaven

18

What example story does Peter Vardy tell to explain why God allows us free choice to worship him?

The peasant girl and the king

19

With which solution does the theory of evolution conflict?

Augustine’s

20

What do both solutions have in common that they blame for the existence of suffering?

Free-will