discussion 4041
Assume for the moment that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent and otherwise perfect creator of the universe (this is the view of all the Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam). If God is so knowledgeable, powerful and good, then why does God allow, for example, so many children to die of terrible and painful genetic diseases? These are diseases caused by nature, not people. God would have the knowledge to stop them, the power to stop them, and like any loving father, it would seem, God would want to cure or wipe out these terrible afflictions on humanity. What father wants to see his children suffer terribly and then die? Isn’t it cruel to allow such horrible tragedies to occur, and does that not throw into question the existence of such a being? Think about this a little before you respond. For example, you might be tempted to say, well, if a child dies of one of these diseases, people rally together and donate money to find a cure, so a greater good comes about. But if God is all powerful, couldn’t he wipe out the disease to begin with, and not inflict and sacrifice innocent children to bring it about? Or, or if you are tempted to say we need some bad things in life to know or appreciate the good, well, that seems unfair to the suffering and DYING children who are being used as a means to make other people fully appreciate the good in their lives. Finally, if you are tempted to say, these children must die to bring about some final profoundly hidden greater good, well, God is supposed to be omnipotent (He can do ANYTHING that is not logically impossible, like making a square circle), so why couldn’t God bring about this great final good without making innocent children suffer and die?
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