Is God Evil?
The Problem with a Good God and Suffering
One of the most popular, and as J.L Schellenberg calls it, one of the most powerful, atheistic arguments is called the problem of evil. The general form calls into question how one could reconcile a good, omnipotent, and omniscient God with the observable, undeniable evil in the world.
There are many forms and variations of this argument, we will first look at the logical problem of evil: the assertion that a good God and the existence of evil are logically incompatible and contradictory.
A simplified form of the argument:
If God is good, God would want to prevent evil
Evil Exists (ie. is not prevented by God)
Therefore Either:
1. God is not good, or
2. God does not exist.
However, there is a third possible conclusion. If you can admit that it is even a slight possibility that God allowed the existence of evil for some greater purpose, then the argument while still convincing is logcially defeated. If it is possible that evil exists for some higher reason beyond our understanding, then a good God and the existence of evil are not truly logical contradictions.
Even so, as the clear majority of us do not approach our day-to-day lives as trained logicians, the problem of evil, in this and various other forms, continues to persuade and resonate with those…
