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B. C. JOHNSON

B. C. JOHNSON. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: REAL EVIL SHOWS THAT A GOOD GOD IS NOT REAL. B. C. Johnson - pseudonym. The Burning Baby. Is this consistent with God’s existence?. The LOGIC of the problem of evil. These 4 claims are inconsistent: i) God is omniscient. ii) God is omnipotent.

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B. C. JOHNSON

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  1. B. C. JOHNSON THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: REAL EVIL SHOWS THAT A GOOD GOD IS NOT REAL

  2. B. C. Johnson - pseudonym

  3. The Burning Baby Is this consistent with God’s existence?

  4. The LOGIC of the problem of evil These 4 claims are inconsistent: i) God is omniscient. ii) God is omnipotent. iii) God is omni-good. iv) Evil exists. Every “solution” must give up one (or more) of the above. NOTE: the above is not provided by Johnson, but Foss.

  5. Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”) i) Heavenly reward (97-8). [Denies iv.] BCJ: evil is not erased by reward. ii) Evil leads to good (98L). [Denies iv.] BCJ: destroys morality.

  6. Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”) iii) Free-will defense (98L). [Denies ii or iii. A perennial favorite] BCJ: makes God evil bystander. [Moral vs. Natural evil; postulation of evil powers, Satan, etc.]

  7. Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”) iv) Virtue-building defense (98-9). [Denies ii] BCJ: destroys morality. v) Natural law defense (99R). [Denies i, ii or iii.] BCJ: Hitler’s heart-attack example.

  8. Standard Solutions (aka “defenses”) vi) Logical complement defense (99R). [Denies iii.] BCJ: But just a tiny bit of evil is required. vii) Higher morality defense (99-100) [Denies iv.] BCJ: destroys morality (makes Hitler a good man).

  9. CONCLUSION Since none of the standard defenses stands up to logical scrutiny, the problem of evil is not solved, and we must conclude that God, as normally conceived, does not exist.

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