Year 8 - Religious education
The free will defence
Suffering: Can Christian theology overcome the problem of evil?
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit pupils will examine the question of evil. They will look at various ways in which Christians have answered this question such as the existence of the devil, free will and the story of Job.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain the free will defence, with reference to the Christian teachings on the creation of humans.
Key Notes
- The book of Genesis describes God creating humans to have free will, and the first humans misusing their free will.
- Many Christians believe Adam and Eve's disobedience and misuse of their free will introduced evil into the world.
- Some Christians believe that humans have inherited Adam and Eve's tendancy to sin; this is known as original sin.
- Most Christians agree that evil continues in the world today because humans often misuse their free will.
- God allows free will for the greater good and many Christians defend God's nature through the free will defence.
Vocabulary To Learn
- free will: being able to choose between different actions
- Genesis: the first book of the Torah and the Bible, containing the story of creation
- original sin: the idea that all humans are born with a tendency to sin because of Adam and Eve's disobedience
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- If God was all loving, all powerful and all knowing, he would not allow humans to make harmful choices.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
The book of Genesis describes God creating humans to have free will, and the first humans misusing their free will. Many Christians believe Adam and Eve's disobedience and misuse of their free will introduced evil into the world.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'free will'
being able to choose between different actions.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: If God was all loving, all powerful and all knowing, he would not allow humans to make harmful choices. Correction: Many Christians would argue that God gave humans the gift of free will because a world with free choice and evil is better than a world without free choice; true love and goodness can only come through free choice.
More Lessons In This Unit
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