Evil and Suffering Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dualist

While many Christians do believe in an evil, supernatural power (Satan) they do not believe this power is equal with God. Rather, Satan and the devils are subservient to God. But dualists view the world as a kind of battlefield where the good and evil powers combat one another.

Answer: Pantheist

In his book "Mere Christianity," C.S. Lewis describes the primary difference between the view of Pantheists and that of the other three religions listed here: "[Some] people would say that the wiser you become the less you would want to call anything good or bad, and the more clearly you would see that everything is good in one way and bad in another . . .The other and opposite idea is that God is quite definitely 'good' . . . a God who takes sides . . .

The first of these views--the one that thinks God beyond good and evil--is called Pantheism . . .

The other view is held by Jews, Mohammedans and Christians."

Answer: Buddhist

Buddha taught that life was full of suffering which was perpetuated by desire. If desire ceases, he taught, then suffering also ceases. The goal of the Buddhist is to be free from desire and to achieve Enlightenment.

Answer: Hindu

According to the Hindu Website (http://hinduwebsite.com), "While this logic leaves a pessimist with a sense of desperation, an optimist finds in it a great opportunity to turn the tide over and recreate his future through careful planning and deliberate action."

Answer: False

While sin is the cause of much suffering in the view of Christians, it is not the cause of all suffering. The Old Testament, for example, tells of Job, who is the prime example of a man who suffers despite his righteousness. In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man.

He is asked by his disciples whether the man is blind because of his own sin or the sin of his parents, and Jesus answers "Neither." Rather, he is blind "that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Answer: Neither of these

God gives Job no answer for his suffering. Instead, he reprimands Job for daring to question God's justice in the first place, and He asks Job where the man was when God laid the foundations of the world and created all things. God also reprimands those "comforters" who claim Job's sufferings are the result of his sin.

Answer: Buddhism

Christians, Jews, and Muslims share in common a belief in the reality of sin. Sin, as a theological concept, is more than just an act; it is a state of estrangement from God which cannot be reconciled except through propitiation or divine forgiveness. Though Buddhists speak of "right action" and "wrong action" (for lack of more precise words), they do not maintain a concept of sin as such.

As Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera explains, "there is no such thing as sin as explained by other religions . . .

The wicked man is an ignorant man . . . He is not regarded as violating god's will or as a person who must beg for divine mercy and forgiveness. He needs only guidance for his enlightenment."

Answer: Islam

Other names used for Satan by Christian, Jews, or Muslims include Lucifer, Shaytan, and Beezelbub. Muslim scholars tend to identify Iblis as a jinni rather than an angel, since in Islam angels are incapable of sin.

Answer: Yes

According to a survey published in "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community" (Simon & Schuster, 2000), 80 percent of church members give to charity (compared to only 60 percent of nonmembers), and 60 percent of church members volunteer (compared to only 35 percent of nonmembers).

Answer: Islam and Christianity

Satan (and variants of Satan) are mentioned only a handful of times in the Hebrew Scriptures. He plays a much larger role in the New Testament and in later Christian tradition than in Judaism. In Islam, too, Satan is the central Tempter figure, who actively seeks to make men sin.

Answer: C.S. Lewis

Lewis was one of the foremost Christian apologists of the 20th century, and among the most popular. He also addressed issues of evil and suffering in his major apologetic work, "Mere Christianity." In "A Grief Observed," he struggled with his own suffering after the death of his wife, writing his thoughts in journal form.

Answer: Rabbi Kushner

Kushner's conclusion is not an orthodox Jewish one--he basically concludes that God is not, in fact, all powerful, and that is why evil can exist. (He also employs traditional Judeo-Christian arguments about free will, however.)

Answer: Theodicy

Theology is the study of religion. A theophany is an event in which God appears to man; the term is often used by Christians to refer to what they perceive to be appearances of Christ in the Old Testament. Theomorphism is depicting man as a god. The question of theodicy is this: If God is all powerful, then He can prevent all suffering.

But He does not prevent all suffering, so is He good? Most theologians tend to focus on free will when answering this question; some refer to a concept of original sin passed down from generation to generation; some argue that evil does not really exist and is an illusion; and some argue that suffering helps to shape and mold us for the next world.

Some circumvent the problem by suggesting that God is not all powerful, and cannot stop all suffering.

Answer: False

Christians do struggle with the problem, like all people, but not for this reason! Christ never promised Christians freedom from suffering. Rather, He vowed, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." However, he reminded his followers that this suffering was not permanent: "but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

In one of his sermons to his disciples, Christ said, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake" (Matthew 5: 11).

The Apostle Paul also taught that suffering would be an integral part of the Christian's life.

Answer: Judaism

In Judaism (as in Christianity and Islam), suffering is very real, and it is often (but not always) perceived as a direct result of man's sin and as a punishment from God. According to "The Basics of Buddhism" by Pat Allwright, "Buddhism teaches that suffering is caused by illusions, instinctive desires." Pantheism teaches that suffering and evil only seem to exist, but if you could see things from a different perspective, you would see that God is actually in all things. Christian Science teaches that "God is all that is real and God is completely good; therefore, good is real and evil is an illusion/delusion" (from "What Christian Scientists Believe" on beliefnet).