by jimwalton » Mon Dec 26, 2016 3:05 pm
Alvin Plantinga says, "A world containing free creatures who freely perform both good and evil actions—and do more good than evil—is more valuable than a world containing quasi automata who always do what is right because they are unable to do otherwise. God can create free creatures, but He cannot causally or otherwise determine them to do only what is right; for if He does so then they do not do what is right freely. To create creatures capable of moral good, therefore, He must create creatures capable of moral evil; but He cannot create the possibility of moral evil and at the same time prohibit its actuality. And as it turned out, some of the free creatures God created exercised their freedom to do what is wrong: hence moral evil. The fact that free creatures sometimes err, however, in no way tells against God’s omnipotence or against His goodness; for He could forestall the occurrence of moral evil only by removing the possibility of moral good."
Last bumped by Anonymous on Mon Dec 26, 2016 3:05 pm.