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That sounds interesting, thanks. So you agree that an all-powerful god who allows so much suffering cannot be 'good'?

With respect, this is extremely silly. Your god is supposed to have infinite powers (within what is logically possible). I am asked to believe in one breath that he knows the number of hairs on every persons head, and in the next that he is incapable of manipulating the physical world in order...

If I was a God, and chose to create thinking creatures, I would want my creations to think independently and have opinions about what I got right and what I could do better. I would NOT want fawning platitudes and unconditional adoration all the time. The God concept some are describing here...

To me, this sounds like serfdom, mental slavery and the abdication of moral reason. I created my child (or at least had a hand in his creation and his existence is contingent on my choices). That doesn't mean that he has to be in servitude to me and that whatever I say goes. He is entitled to...

Clearly, lots of people find this line of reasoning compelling. But this really limits God in quite a significant way. God could have made a universe in which all living creatures had free will but were not inclined to sin. (This is how many people imagine we will be in Heaven so such a state...

I agree. If God exists and is omnipotent he is likely to be evil as the suffering in the world must be a matter of his choosing.

A couple of observations if I might: 1) Someone putting their life on the line to selflessly die to save or protect another is indeed an act of heroism. Someone offering to be murdered in an act of substitutionary atonement is not analogous because it's a deliberate avoidable scenario and is...

Thank you Taodeching for your forthright and thoughtful answer. I am not a theist so this issue causes me no concerns. But if I was one, it would keep me up at night.

You're my kind of person. Intellectually honest and prepared to consider difficult questions with an open mind. Thank you.

Thank you Pete. I would be horrified at anyone dying in my place. Not an offer I would want or accept. I find the ethics of substitutionary atonement horrible personally.

This is a really nice post. Thank you for lurking and taking an interest. My view is that the problem of evil is too easily dismissed by believers. God cannot be all powerful and all good with so much suffering in the world.

Do you really think that? God has parted oceans. You're saying he can't tweak a few things to stop an attacker committing a crime?

I'm not looking for a fight. I am asking tricky questions though and giving my perspective on the answers. Of course you have every right not to participate, and if I'm not welcome here, if my questions/responses are out of bounds, I'll consider leaving.

Try telling that to all the animals, children and babies that God killed with his flood.

Another thing to add, is that if we accept that all this pain and suffering and death NEEDS to happen as part of God's plan, he is even more cruel as he could communicate the reasons WHY that is the case and bring relief to billions who struggle to make sense of it. But no. He chooses to remain...

If God exists, he gave us brains capable of making moral Judgements. Of course I'm going to pass judgement on any being who chooses to have children raped and murdered when it would be trivially easy (given infinite power) to prevent it. Such a being would be evil and ANY decent person should...

All of these objections to the problem of evil anthropomorphise God, making him sound like a limited mortal struggling to get things right in a very challenging world and hoping that things pan out ok or he might be sad. You can't have it both ways. Is he a god or a man? It is not consistent...

That is silly. Did God screw up his first design (pre Noah) and say'Oh dear, I thought that was going to turn out better. Let me just kill everything (all the babies and animals too) and start again and see if I can do a better job next time."?

That's a desperate argument. God could easily just intervene by causing a tree to fall in the road so the rapist doesn't get to the girl in time. etc

No. I am NOT assuming that omnipotence means doing self-contradictory things. Omnipotence as defined by modern theologians is taken to mean the ability to do all logically possible things (so excludes square circles etc). That's the usage I'm employing here. Nothing in what I have suggested by...