Why does not god do likewise

Reference no: EM132895258

The Free Will Defense

According to the free will defense, God allows suffering because

a) it's good for human beings to possess free will, and

b) if we are going to have free will, God cannot prevent us from making bad choices and harming others.

As Louise Antony notes, this does not explain why God allows suffering due to natural causes. But we might ask whether the free will defense succeeds even in the limited task of explaining why God allows suffering due to human choices.
Suppose Jones is about to attack Smith, and you pull Smith to safety at the last minute. You have frustrated Jones's plan. But have you interfered with his free will? No. Jones made his choice freely, and you did not prevent him from doing that. You simply protected Smith from the harm that Jones's free choice would have caused.

Question 1: Why doesn't God do likewise? Without limiting anyone's capacity for free choice, he could still protect the innocent from the evil choices of others (for example, by putting an invisible shield around us that would prevent others from harming us without good reason). A good parent would certainly protect her child in this way if she could. But God doesn't do this. Isn't that compelling evidence that a good God does not exist?

Question 2: Imagine what it would be like to live in a world in which we were protected from human evil in this way. Would such a world be worse in any way? If not, does this show that the free will defense fails on its own terms?

Reference no: EM132895258

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