three premises are: God is omnipotent, God is wholly good, and evil exists.

However, many people are skeptical to this belief, claiming that an

omnipotent and wholly good God would not allow evil to exist. One such

person is John Mackie, who allows the contradiction between these premises

to be seen much clearer by adding two additional premises which connect the

terms "good", "evil", and "omnipotence". Mackie also claims that the only

way to avoid the problem of evil is to deny at least one of the premises upon

which the belief is founded. In response to Mackie's claim many solutions

have been put forth which attempt to remove the contradiction but still

maintain the premises. Examples of such solutions are that 'Evil is only an

illusion of the human mind', and 'Evil is created by human free will'. Mackie

and another philosopher John Hick both respond to these possible solutions

and prove their inadequacy. The problem of evil is a problem for the theist

because to hold the premises: God is omnipotent, God is good, and evil exists

all to be true is to contradict oneself, and the only proper solution is to deny

unexplainable fortunes, there still remains the issue of the many physical evils

of the Human mind', and 'Evil is created by Human free will', and find them

wholly good, then you are denying his omnipotence because he did not create

this solution by asking the question "If God has made men such that they in

exist, or that good is not opposed to the kind of evil that exists, or that there

to be inadequate. There is of course objections to a position that contends

without moving away from its proponents. Both Hick and Mackie analyze

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Approximate Word count = 1295
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)