PROBLEM OF EVIL

   the TRADITIONAL PHILOSOPHIC and practical problem which asks how an all knowing and all powerful GOD, who is both the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE and by definition GOOD, can allow SUFFERING and EVIL. It concerns the basic human problem of MEANING and significance in the face of DEATH and suffering. It is often seen as a particularly difficult question for THEISM which attributes both power and goodness to the DEITY creating the famous dilemma

   either GOD is able to prevent EVIL and will not, or, He is willing to prevent it and cannot. If the former, he is not merciful; if the latter, he is not OMNIPOTENT. It is, however, an equally great problem for all people who think about the meaning of life. Various religions answer it in different ways. In HINDUISM it is answered in terms of KARMA and MY with the great dialogue between ARUNJA and KRISHNA in the BHAGAVAD-GTA. BUDDHISM meets the problem by stating that all life is characterized by impermanence which can be escaped through the attainment of NIRVNA. JUDAISM and ISLAM find the solution in submission to the WILL of GOD, while CHRISTIANITY presents a complex answer beginning with the FALL and ending in the ATONEMENT. The biggest difference between the YOGIC and ABRAMIC solutions to this problem is that Yogic religions see it in terms of ONTOLOGY while the Abramic religions recognize a MORAL issue.