Why a Christian God would permit so much human suffering 1

Journal article

Our earthly benefactors (parents and the state) have the right to impose suffering on their beneficiaries, subject to two restrictions- the suffering does not outweigh actual benefits received and reasonably expected, and the suffering is the only way in which the benefactor can make possible some comparable good. One great good which humans have is libertarian free will to benefit or harm others, and thereby form our own character. In allowing humans to cause or suffer horrendous evils, God gives us the great good of having the opportunity to make ourselves saints or become totally evil. If we do not have this opportunity in our earthly life, it is compatible with Orthodox views of the afterlife, and with the Roman Catholic view, given an amended doctrine of Purgatory, that we shall have this opportunity after our death.

Authors: Swinburne, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer
• Journal: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion
• Volume: 98
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 243-252
• Publication date: 2025-09-17
• Acceptance date: 2025-08-21
• DOI: 10.1007/s11153-025-09969-x
• EISSN: 1572-8684
• ISSN: 0020-7047
• Language: English
• Keywords: Damnation; Purgatory; Perfectly good God; After-life:; Sanctity; Horrendous evil; Problem of evil