nature of god

deism

• ey to prob of evil is that God doesn’t seem to intervene on many occasions when he was needed to  

• Deism is belief in non-interventionist God bc he has ordered to world exactly as he intends it to be 

• For god to intervene would be to admit it was not originally perfect 

• STRENGTH: hick + epistemic distance 

• WEAKNESS: impersonal + undermines God’s love -> also eucharist 

relational god who is a fellow sufferer

• THE FELLOW-SUFFERER WHO UNDERSTANDS - ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD 

• Instead of a stern and remote God watching on while human beings suffer, the Relational God can feel pain and SHARES their suffering. 

• Most importantly for the Problem of Evil, genuine FREEWILL is possible for creations of a Relational God.  

• Since the Freewill Defence is widely recognised as the most successful response to the Problem of Evil, this is very important.  

• It's hard to understand how humans can be free with regards to an Impassible God - if they could surprise him or defy him or make him change his plans through their actions, he wouldn't be Impassible; but if nothing they can do makes any difference, are they really free at all?  

• This problem disappears if there is a Relational God who is affected by his creations' free choices. 

COUNTER to relational god

The Relational God of Process Theology is quite far removed from the Impassible God of traditional Christian theology; not many churches believe in a God like this. Most Christians believe God is the Sovereign Lord - he is in total control of the universe and has complete power over his creations. 

evolution

survival of fittest cruel