Editing Argument from nonbelief (section)

=== Soul-making theodicy ===
{{see also|Irenaean theodicy}}
[[John Hick]] used the term "soul-making" in his theodicy ''Evil and the God of Love'' to describe the kind of spiritual development that he believes justifies the existence of evil. This defense is employed by Michael Murray,<ref name="mm-ne">{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Michael J. |year=2001 |chapter=Deus Absconditus |chapter-url=http://server1.fandm.edu/Departments/Philosophy/staticpages/Murray/Hiddenness_Murray.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041231201314/http://server1.fandm.edu/departments/Philosophy/staticpages/Murray/Hiddenness_Murray.pdf |archive-date=2004-12-31 |url-status=live |title=Divine Hiddenness: New Essays |isbn=0-521-00610-4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York}}</ref> who explains how, in his view, divine hiddenness is essential to soul-making. It may seem that it is not hard to imagine a world where God is known and yet believers act freely with ample opportunities for spiritual development. But Murray gives a deep and careful analysis of the argument, concluding that if God's existence were revealed in such a way as to remove reasonable non-belief, then "any desire that we might have to believe or act in ways contrary to that which has been revealed would be overwhelmed."

Critics note here that, for example, in Christianity (and even more in Judaism, where God is represented as talking to Job and explaining why he is just), God is already believed to have exposed himself very distinctly: for example to the Apostles who saw his resurrection. One theistic explanation of this might be that God knows some people would not believe anyway but if God knows this before creating, there is a problem about God's liability for what is created. More fundamentally in relation to Murray's argument, there is the problem for orthodox believers of explaining the existence of Satan, a fallen angel who is obviously aware of God and yet, according to theistic scriptures, freely chose to rebel against God.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.godonthe.net/evidence/satan.htm|title=Satan - the Devil and Demons - the Fallen Angels}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=November 2020}}