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History
A modern advocate of Augustine's view can be found in Alvin Plantinga (God, Freedom and Evil, 1974) who claimed that for God to have created a being who could only have performed good actions would have been logically impossible.
This view was later criticised by Anthony Flew and J.L.Mackie, who both argue that God could have chosen to create "good robots" who still possessed free-will.
Questions
1. If Satan and his angels led Man astray, how can we account for the fact that Satan himself exists? Isn't God here responsible for creating an evil being?
2. Are well-behaved robots better than ill-behaved free agents?
3. If God cannot intervene without harming free-will, does this mean that he cannot intervene at all? Would this then make him not as powerful?
4. What would be the difference between a God who could not intervene and a God who did not exist?
5. Does the fact that God sends Christ to redeem the world make up for the existence of evil? Could God have expressed His love any other way?6. Does the fact that evil exists still cause problems for these arguments?
Summary
St. Augustine proposed a solution to the problem by blaming it on the Fall of humanity after the disobedience in the Garden of Eden. From this view, Man is responsible for evil by being led astray by Satan.
This not only absolves God of creating evil but also allows Him to show the world His love by bringing Christ into the world.
The Free-Will Argument
Perhaps the most common theodicy is the so-called free-will argument - very similiar to Augustine's argument - which goes something like this:
1. Evil is the result of human error
2. Human error results from free-will (the ability to do wrong)
3. If we didn't have free-will we would be robots
4. God prefers a world of free agents to a world of robots
5. Evil is therefore an unfortunate - although not unavoidable outcome - of free-will
6. For God to intervene would be to go take away our free-will
7. Therefore, God is neither responsible for evil nor guilty of neglect for not intervening