WEBVTT

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Religions say that God
loves us completely.

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They also say that he's omniscient,
which means he knows everything,

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and he's omnipotent, which means
he can control everything.

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But here's a problem;

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every day, bad things
happen to good people.

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So if God loves us, and he knows
about these bad things that happen,

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and he could stop
them from happening,

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then why doesn't he do
something about it?

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This is known as
'The Problem of Evil'.

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So let's take a look at what
the word 'evil' actually means.

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There are 2 types of evil:

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First, there's moral evil, which means
the things that people choose to do,

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such as murder, stealing, kidnapping,

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and second, there's natural evil,

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these are things that Nature does,

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like tsunamis, earthquakes
and hurricanes.

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Different religions have come
up with various explanations

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to help their followers understand

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why a loving God would let
evil things happen to them.

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The attempt to solve this
problem is known as Theodicy,

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and here are a few examples of them...

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If God controlled everything we did,
we'd be just like puppets on a string.

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Most religions believe that
rather than keeping us as puppets,

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God set us free by allowing
us to choose our own path

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and make our own decisions.

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This is called 'Free will'.

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So you can use your free
will to do whatever you want

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and some people use it to do good
things, like helping other people.

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- You dropped this.
- Thanks very much.

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Unfortunately, other people
use it to do bad things.

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Oi!

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Some religions, like Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, see life as a test.

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When we come to the end of
our life, we'll be judged,

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God will look at all the good things
we did and all the bad things we did

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and decide if we deserve to
go to Heaven or to Hell.

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By giving us free will, God will be
able to see whether we chose to do good,

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or chose to do bad.

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Okay, so this might explain moral evil,

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but it doesn't explain
why natural evil happens,

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like earthquakes and tsunamis
which kill thousands of people.

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Some people believe however,
that this is part of the test,

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and gives people a chance to
prove that they are morally good

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by helping and responding
to those people in need.

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Earthquake Appeal!

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Other religions such as
Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism

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believe rather than going to
Heaven or Hell when you die,

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your soul will be
reborn into a new body

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and this is called reincarnation.

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These religions believe that
people who do evil things

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could be punished in the next life

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and that's known as karma.

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Shhh!

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So, if something bad happens to us

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it's because we did
something bad in the past,

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or even in a past life.

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It might even be something
as small as killing a fly.

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Ooh!

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These people believe that
all life is valuable,

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which is why a lot of people who
believe in karma are vegetarians.

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These people also believe that natural
evil is caused by human actions,

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so if we don't learn to
take care of the planet

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we'll be punished through things
like earthquakes and tsunamis.

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With the law of karma, good is
rewarded and bad is punished.

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Some Christians believe in
the idea of 'Original Sin'.

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This comes from the Bible, when Adam
and Eve were in the Garden of Eden

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and Eve disobeyed God by eating
fruit from the forbidden tree.

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Because Eve did this evil act, and
she's the mother of all mankind,

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it means that each of us has
a little bit of evil in us

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and sometimes do bad things.

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It also explains why sometimes
people need to be punished

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through things like natural disasters.

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The final group we're going
to look at is Atheists.

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For atheists who don't believe in
a God there is no Problem of Evil.

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Atheists are scientific and
rational in their view of the world,

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and because they don't
believe in a God,

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they look for other reasons as
to why people do bad things.

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These reasons might include
problems in society,

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a person's background,
or even their biology.

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Now people who don't believe in God

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often use the Problem of Evil
to support their argument.

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If God is all-loving,
omnipotent and omnipresent,

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then why do injustices
happen in the world such as

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war and famine, tsunamis
and earthquakes,

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which kill thousands upon
thousands of innocent people?

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Atheists often say that the
easiest way to explain this

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is that there is no God.

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No God, no problem.

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The Problem of Evil - bad
things happening to good people -

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is something that people have talked
about for hundreds and hundreds of years.

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What's going on here?

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Is it free will, punishment,
original sin, karma?

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Or perhaps you believe there is no God?

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Maybe you've got another
explanation of your own.

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It may be difficult to
come to an exact answer,

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but it does make for a very
interesting discussion.

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So why do you think there's evil
and suffering in the world?