Theodicy is the study of the concept of God's omni-benevolence in light of the world's messes and suffering, or in other words, the study of the problem of evil. If God is good, why is the world often so bad?
Though I am now a free thinker with strains of Deism, Humanism, Mysticism, Buddhist non-duality, Muslim and Jewish monotheism, and New Age modernism, I have a Mormon native theological sensibility. From my childhood, I have conceived of humanity as masses of children of God that have freely chosen to incarnate from heaven into the physical world for some wise educational purpose.
Core to my conception of a transcendental world is the idea that every individual in this universe--here, there, present, past, and future-- existed prior to incarnation, had some level of knowledge of the suffering in this universe, and chose to incarnate nonetheless. As a fellow Mormon free thinker explained it, we each signed a disclaimer before coming to this world that no matter how bad the experience turned out, we would not sue. So here we are. And sometimes it seems bad. So why sue God?
And it's as simple as that. God's not to blame at all. I am. And you are. If you want to complain about evil, complain to the mirror, not to the ceiling. In other words, "Why, oh why did I ever get myself into this body?" Not "Why, oh why are you doing this to me, God?"
I would love to hear better thoughts about this that might expand my thinking. Feel free to comment.
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