The Problem of Evil - Theodicy

“Epicurus's old questions are still unanswered: Is he (God) willing to prevent evil, but not able? then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? then whence evil?”
    ― David Hume

The so called "good" god allows horrible things to happen on earth - exactly the same kind of horrible things that would happen if he didn't exist at all. I see a few options:

• He doesn't exist
• He is powerless to fix things
• He doesn't care
• He is so perverted that he thinks evil is a good thing
• Somehow he thinks evil has a good side (likes it teaches us compassion or some other incomprehensible good results from it).
• He is actually punishing people who he thinks deserve it

Christians jump through amazingly complex hoops to explain it all away. They generate every type of ad hoc reason to show why it is perfectly normal for god to allow these things - ad hoc in the sense that the reasons given are designed specifically to address the obvious and glaring moral inconsistencies, but able to explain nothing else. It is really not the kind of behavior or outcome any sane person would expect from a super-being of god's stature. One of the explanations is that "god works in mysterious ways". How can that be offered up as an excuse, immediately to be followed by attributing good outcomes from disease, misfortune, and other of life's problems to a well-intentioned and benevolent god? When something good happens, the apologist is ready to attribute it to god's good intentions, but when something bad happens they are ready with "god works in mysterious ways". You can't have it both ways. You either know how god thinks and why he does things, or you don't. Either he is mysterious and we can't figure out why he does what he does, or he is a good guy who deals with our problems the way we would hope a god would do. Christians want to have it both ways - he is both a complete mystery and simultaneously, a giver of easy-to-understand treats and bonuses.

Obviously the first four choices, above, would be unacceptable to most Christians. They generally split between the last two choice - what we perceive as evil is just us not seeing the big picture, or evil is a result of people abandoning god and separating themselves from him. Evil is not caused by god, but is a separation from god. That's quite a stretch.

Regarding the question of god allowing evil in the form of natural disasters so that humans will have the opportunity to learn compassion, here is a hypothetical situation that illustrates just how bizarre that is. Assume that we discover that some form of natural disaster, for example tornadoes, are not natural at all, but are being caused by an evil super-villain in a hidden fortress who is manipulating the weather, shooting mysterious rays into the atmosphere which cause the tornadoes. We catch him. He confesses to it, but says his motives were good - the tornadoes help communities come together and allow individuals to help their fellow man and practice compassion and generosity. We would consider him a dangerous psychotic and would lock him up and throw away the keys. But when the apologist says that this is god's motive, we are expected to accept that as a legitimate explanation.

From another perspective, consider typhoons and hurricanes. I am sure if you asked one of the selfless members of Doctors Without Borders whether they are happy that they have a chance to practice compassion on the victims of these disasters, they would each gladly trade that opportunity for self-improvement for the hurricane never having happened. They certainly would not consider the limited good that comes from their actions after a hurricane to be at all worth the horrible suffering caused by it.

Atheists ask why an all-powerful god cannot just create a perfect world without suffering and evil. The common Christian response is that god wants us to use our free will, and that suffering results from our misuse of that free will - of humans making evil choices. Well, it certainly is possible for god to eliminate evil and bring a perfect world into being - he did just that when he created heaven (according to Christian mythology). This perfect world (heaven) is full of angels who can think for themselves. They aren't robots - several of them make cameo appearances at various points in the bible, and they appear to be pretty rational creatures. One would assume that Angels have free will. From biblical writing they don't appear to be mindless automatons. Certainly Satan/Lucifer had the free will to leave god's side. Gabriel and Michael seem to think pretty fast on their feet and make choices and decisions without having to check in with god every five minutes. So, clearly (according to Christian dogma), it is possible for god to create a world without suffering in which the inhabitants also have free will. With us, for some inscrutable reason, he decided to create a realm of suffering here on earth. I'm sure there is a Christian rebuttal for that, but it's clear enough to me that they struggle when it comes to responding to the problem of evil with anything other than an embarrassing and shameful set of excuses.