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THE PROBLEM OF EVIL & SUFFERING

SUFFERING & DEVELOPMENT

THE SOUL MAKING THEORY

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IRENAEUS

  • Augustine explained evil and God by looking back. Evil was a flaw.
  • Irenaeus explained evil and God and looking forward. Evil is developmental.
  • Humans are “children” and “infants.” Innocent, but not spiritually and morally mature.
  • Suffering provides the necessary conditions to freely find God and grow into his likeness.

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SOUL MAKING

  • The world is a “classroom” or a “vale of soul-making,” not a “hedonistic paradise” for “human pets”

Requirements

  • Real challenges and temptations
  • God’s epistemic distance
  • A reliable natural order