Sterba’s Problem of Evil and a Penal Colony Theodicy

Abstract

Sterba argues that God would be ethically bound to implement a set of exceptionless evil prevention requirements. However, he argues that the world as we know it is not as it would be if God were applying them. Sterba concludes that God does not exist. In this paper, I offer a penal colony theodicy that will show how the world as we know it is entirely compatible with God’s implementation of such evil prevention requirements.

Keywords

• evil
• omnipotence
• omnibenevolence
• theodicy
• desert