John_Mackie_Evil_And_Omnipotence

John Mackie:Evil And Omnipotence Argument In the essay, “Evil and Omnipotence” John L. Mackie states the problem of evil, as a contradiction between the propositions “God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists” (p.160). This contradiction is made apparent as Mackie explains that if any two of the propositions are held to be true, the third is always false. As all three propositions appear essential from a theistic perspective, it seems that God’s omnipotence and complete goodness are being decisively argued against. In this paper, I hope to explore in more detail, Mackie’s claim that a good omnipotent being cannot exist alongside evil. Mackie opens his writing by stating a few rules. Mackie states that one must “be prepared to believe, not merely what cannot be proved, but what can be disproved from other beliefs that he also holds” (pg. 160). This is an important consideration from Mackie, which he uses to preface his following arguments. Mackie next outlines the problem of evil and how it applies to the reader. “The problem of evil, john, meackie, evil, good, mackie, god, omnipotent, order, problem, states, solution, being, one, cannot, free, first, must, mackie’s, always, wholly, thing, eliminate, possible, exist, argument, second, propositions, without, whether, things, omnipotence, exists, way, third, place, judge, humans