{"id":83603,"date":"2022-11-04T22:34:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-05T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=83603"},"modified":"2022-11-17T14:01:55","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:01:55","slug":"c-s-lewis-free-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/","title":{"rendered":"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why does evil exist? Why would an all-powerful, all-loving God allow evil and suffering?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For millennia, people have struggled with this paradox. According to C. S. Lewis, free will is to blame. He lays out his argument in his classic book <em>Mere Christianity<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to understand how free will solves the problem of evil and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-c-s-lewis-on-free-will\">C. S. Lewis on Free Will<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If God is the highest power and favors good over evil, this raises a difficult question: <strong>Why does evil exist at all? <\/strong>If God has power over creation, then why not simply use that power to eliminate evil? According to C. S. Lewis, free will is the solution to this quandary. He argues that evil doesn&#8217;t pose a paradox for Christianity because <strong>goodness can exist <em>only <\/em>because of free will, and evil is the price we must pay for free will.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lewis argues that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/good-versus-evil\/\">good and evil<\/a> <\/strong><strong><em>can exist<\/em><\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong><em>only <\/em><\/strong><strong>when someone with a rational mind has the ability to choose between right and wrong.<\/strong><strong> <\/strong>Recall that moral laws advise us on how we <em>ought <\/em>to behave. Therefore, they are only relevant when it is possible for us to behave differently from how we ought to. For example, if a hurricane destroys your house, this doesn\u2019t make it evil, because the hurricane didn\u2019t choose to cause harm. On the other hand, if a person decides to burn down your house, this is evil because they could have chosen not to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, Lewis concludes, evil exists because of free will: God calls on us to <em>voluntarily <\/em>choose good, but many disobey and choose evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: While most people today agree that only agents capable of making <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/moral-choices\/\">moral decisions<\/a> can be considered moral or immoral, ancient cultures harbored some very different ideas about the nature of good and evil. Early religions often attributed all types of natural evil\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/concept-evil\/\">including both bad <em>decisions<\/em> and bad <em>events<\/em> like droughts, plagues, or famines\u2014<\/a>to sources of absolute cosmic evil, like powerful demons or evil gods. While modern ethicists may dismiss the idea of a cosmic and absolute evil, this concept still frequently reappears in popular entertainment franchises like \u201cStar Wars\u201d or \u201cThe Lord of the Rings.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Other Solutions to the Paradox of Evil<\/strong><br><br>Lewis&#8217;s arguments on free will belong to the tradition of theodicy (literally &#8220;defense of God&#8221;), a practice of explaining how evil can exist in a world created by a God who is infinitely good. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/evil\/\">Christian thinkers have proposed a wide range of solutions to this question<\/a>. Here, we&#8217;ll review a few of the major alternatives.&nbsp;<br><br><strong>Evil is a test from God.<\/strong> In the book of Job, God inflicts suffering on Job to test his commitment. Here, the question is not whether God&#8217;s actions are right, but whether Job can remain committed to God in spite of his suffering. In this view, God has the right to test humans&#8217; faith.<br><br><strong>Evil exists for our moral development. <\/strong>The Greek theologians Irenaeus and Origen argued that Earth is like a hospital or a school for the soul. Evil exists so that we can learn from it as we become greater moral beings ourselves.<br><br><strong>Evil is simply the absence of good.<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/st-augustine-biography\/\">St. Augustine<\/a> argued that good is a positive quality created by God and that evil is simply the absence of good\u2014much in the way that physicists consider coldness the absence of heat rather than a positive property of \u201ccoldness.\u201d<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why does evil exist? Why would an all-powerful, all-loving God allow evil and suffering? For millennia, people have struggled with this paradox. According to C. S. Lewis, free will is to blame. He lays out his argument in his classic book Mere Christianity. Keep reading to understand how free will solves the problem of evil and suffering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":83606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,6],"tags":[799],"class_list":["post-83603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-spiritual","tag-mere-christianity","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"People have struggled to understand the problem of evil for millennia. C. S. Lewis argues that free will solves this quandary. Here&#039;s how.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People have struggled to understand the problem of evil for millennia. C. S. Lewis argues that free will solves this quandary. Here&#039;s how.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-05T02:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-17T18:01:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-05T02:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-17T18:01:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/\"},\"wordCount\":588,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Mere Christianity\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Philosophy\",\"Spiritual\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/\",\"name\":\"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-05T02:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-17T18:01:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"People have struggled to understand the problem of evil for millennia. C. S. Lewis argues that free will solves this quandary. Here's how.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil - Shortform Books","description":"People have struggled to understand the problem of evil for millennia. C. S. Lewis argues that free will solves this quandary. Here's how.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil","og_description":"People have struggled to understand the problem of evil for millennia. C. S. Lewis argues that free will solves this quandary. Here's how.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-11-05T02:34:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-17T18:01:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil","datePublished":"2022-11-05T02:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-17T18:01:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/"},"wordCount":588,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg","keywords":["Mere Christianity"],"articleSection":["Philosophy","Spiritual"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/","name":"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-05T02:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-17T18:01:55+00:00","description":"People have struggled to understand the problem of evil for millennia. C. S. Lewis argues that free will solves this quandary. Here's how.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/c-s-lewis-free-will\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"C. S. Lewis: Free Will Solves the Paradox of Evil"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/eden-serpent-eve-sin.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83603"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84139,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83603\/revisions\/84139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}