Theodicy in Christianity Giovanna Zappulla
What does Evil mean?
The dictionary meaning of Evil is "morally reprehensible, sinful, wicked". But the definition in the bible have two meanings such as, evil against one another (murder, thief, adultery...) and Evil against God (unbelief, idolatry, blasphemy...)
The story that Christians tell about who and how was evil was created is like this: "This angel, who became Satan out of Lucifer ("angel of light"), was expelled from heaven together with all the others who joined him in his act of rebellion. The cause of his fall was pride, the desire to be independent from God, to refuse submission and inferiority to God. Lucifer wanted to be by himself more than his created status could permit him."
After reading this story, you can conclude that evil was "created" by Lucifer, that was a angel of light, not God. But as he wanted independence from God, so he became evil.
Satan’s fall couldn’t have occurred without a real freedom of choice. He had the ability to choose either to adore and respect God and recognize him as his creator, who put him in the Heavens or to follow a selfish way and seek independence, which he did, he chose independence and evilness instead of love of God.
What is Theodicy?
Theodicy is the study of the problem of the evil in the world, they believe that God is the most powerful and perfect thing in the world and he shouldn't and won't allow any kind of evil, the Theodicy seeks to explain why does evil exists.
They try to explain why does God let evil exist in the world that should be truly good because the one who is sovereign is God. So if evil exist is because God said so. According to Christianity, God created all things, but this doesn’t mean he is the creator of evil.
In Christianity, evil entered our world as a result of Satan’s fall, so it has a personal character. Jesus Christ spoke directly to Satan at the moment of his temptation (Matthew 4,1-11; etc.). He cast out demons (Mark 1,21-28; etc.) (Velea, Ernest.)
Religions say that the creator of evil is Satan, but who let it in our world was not God, it was us, Humans, through our sins. In any religion, Sin is a very bad thing, if you sin, you won't go to Heaven, Nirvana.... To a salvation, and as we know, God didn't create evil, neither allowed it in our world, so it is basically our fault that there's evil in the world.
Conclusion
My conclusion about evil and theodicy is that, theodicy is the study of evil in the religions and in the world. God is not the creator of evil, is Satan. The ones who let evil enter our world was not God it was us, Humans, because we sin.
Evil should end. Evil has an end, we just have to find it. We will find and end for all the evil in the world when we stop sinning and when we do so, the world will be peaceful, just like it was before Lucifer became Satan, or maybe before humans even existed.
Work Cited
Velea, Ernest. "Evil in Christianity." Comparative Religion. N.p., 24 Apr. 2015. Web. 28 May 2015.