The Medieval Paradigm was centered around the religious thought. The power of the Church increased and its claim to the Absolute Truth was dictating the politics and social relations in the Middle Ages. One of the problems that medieval philosophers had to resolve was the Problem of Evil.
Please look at the argument carefully:
1.If God exists, then God is omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect.
2.If God is omnipotent, then God has the power to eliminate all evil.
3.If God is omniscient, then God knows when evil exists.
4.If God is morally perfect, then God has the desire to eliminate all evil.
5.Evil exists.
6.If evil exists and God exists, then either God doesn’t have the power to eliminate all evil, or doesn’t know when evil exists, or doesn’t have the desire to eliminate all evil.
7.Therefore, God doesn’t exist. (source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Such syllogism is quite devastating for Christianity since God would not be good if he had knowingly created evil or his existence has to be questioned.
St. Augustine proposed the solution to this problem: the problem of evil is not the problem of God but it is the result of the mere fact that humans have free will and are imperfect. What is your stance on this problem? Do you agree with St. Augustine?
