About the Author
Bryan Frances is the world’s only intellectual wisdom coach. He’s a former professor of philosophy & logic, doing research & teaching at universities in the US, UK, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He teaches you how to become the wisest thinker in the room—which is different from being the most knowledgeable or having the highest IQ. Contact for a free session.
In response to the Problem of Evil, some theists say this:
A huge portion of the many trillions of cases of horrific suffering are justified by the fact God himself has suffered more than anyone. Often the idea here is that Jesus is appropriately related to God (his “son”) and suffered not just incredible physical pain via crucifixion but went through the pain of being separated from God the father (he was “forsaken,” allegedly in his own words), which is the ultimate sacrifice for someone who was in communion with God (even if he is in some sense “identical” with God).
I have difficulty in figuring out how this bears on the Problem of Evil, despite the fact that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are the key to Christianity (but of course they aren’t crucial to other forms of theism).
There are intelligent doubts about the success of this proposal. When you read the material below, always, always, always keep in mind the context: what you’re reading are introductory remarks only, meant to encourage reasonable evaluation of the proposal.