The presence of evil has been a conflicting view among various philosophers dating back thousands of years. With belief in God throughout the world, an essential question arises: Since God is stated to be omniscient, omnipotent, and loving, then how can there be evil in the world? Augustine of Hippo, an eminent philosopher born in Algeria, North Africa in 354, had attempted to expose this significant contradiction. In 360, Augustine followed the religion of Manichaeism, founded by a Persian man named Mani. They believed that humanity, being a byproduct of the devil, was inherently evil and, therefore, not guilty of evil in the world. With the belief that humans were capable of free will, Augustine eventually broke ties with the Manichaeans. Human beings as a single entity of body and soul were made good by almighty God and with their free will were able to cause evil phenomena, which excludes the idea that God is the cause of evil. Peter Kreeft was one who agreed with Augustine's ideals and offered an answer to why God created the possibility of evil. According to Augustine, there is no evil. It is simply the deprivation of good. In Augustine's book, On the Free Choice of the Will, he speaks through Evodius, who presents God as one with absolute goodness. Everything He created is good; therefore humanity as body and soul together is good (Augustine). Evodius argues the position: “The existence of a good, omniscient (omniscient) and omnipotent (omnipotent) God is contradicted by our experience of evil in the world. It makes sense to conclude that God does not exist." (Bwanali). In response Augustine asserts that the evil we experience is only a lack of good...... middle of paper...... good and is not the reason for evil those who live happy, faithful lives. All in all, the problem of evil has been debated for thousands of years. Some believe that evil is caused by Satan and not humanity, such as Manichaeists and Bogomilists, and some believe that humans are the cause of evil, rather than God, such as Augustine, Peter Kreefe, and me. While God is aware that a lack of goodness may occur, He is not the cause of it. He is omniscient, omnipotent and loving and creates human beings with absolute goodness; however, with that that absolute goodness comes from free will. With free will, humans have the ability to choose wrongly and therefore experience evil or lack of goodness. God gave us this right because it is the only way to become happy. God cannot make a person happy. The individual is the cause of his own happiness.