The Problem of Evil | Free Will, Divine Will, & A World Without Sin | Part 1 of 5 | Episode 42

My Wild Ride to Orthodoxy https://youtu.be/yRYBsOXX3e0 Part 1 on Problem of Divine Hiddenness: https://youtu.be/J7uP9uFNThY Today Dr. Jacobs will examine the basic philosophical and theological elements of the Problem of Evil. He’ll explore perspectives from Christian tradition and philosophical discourse. The episode tackles key concepts including free will, divine permission, and whether a sinless world would be preferable. All the links: X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/ Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/ Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs 00:00:00 Intro 00:10:34 What is the Problem of Evil? 00:14:34 What is evil? (Illusion, metaphysical dualism, or privation) 00:31:25 Why Christianity is the most compelling option (And the atheist’s coherence problem) 00:47:36 Problems with the anti proofs 01:01:39 The Free Will Defense 01:13:42 The Possible Worlds Theory 01:25:59 Is a sinless world preferable? 01:30:08 The permissive and consequent will of God 01:49:25 The Christian narrative Other words for the algorithm… Leibniz, Theodicy, A defense of God, Epicurus, David Hume, Heraclitus, The Problem of Pain, The Problem of Divine Hiddenness, Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Orthodox Christian, Christianity, Evangelical, Protestant, Catholicism, Catholics, pantheism, Empedocles, body-soul dualism, metaphysical dualism, Manichaeism, Augustine of Hippo, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Nicene Creed, The Arian Dispute, Christology, Seven Ecumenical Councils, Jonathan Pageau, Fr. Josiah Trenham, Jordan Peterson, Pints With Aquinas, Christian apologetics, theology, Alex O'Connor, John of Damascus, Alvin Plantinga, modal logic, Scholastics, the consequent will of God, Origen, complex goods, Theism, philosophy of religion, natural theology, moral philosophy, ontological argument, teleological argument, cosmological argument, ancient philosophy, patristics, church fathers, suffering, existentialism, free will, determinism, sovereignty, divine attributes, omnipotence, omniscience, benevolence, theological ethics, moral evil, natural evil, comparative religion, religious epistemology, divine justice, meaning of suffering, spiritual formation, rationalism, empiricism, atheism, agnosticism, William Lane Craig, Ravi Zacharias, Bishop Barron, apologetics debate, philosophical theology, Thomas Aquinas, divine providence, spiritual warfare, eschatology, redemptive suffering