Evil & An Omnipotent, Benevolent God
Zdeněk Petráček looks at the biggest problem facing monotheism
One last question is, could virtues be developed in a world without evil? Virtues like compassion and empathy could probably still develop, as even in a world without pervasive evil there could still be more minor difficulties that would help people to understand and support each other during challenging times.
Lots of people will note things like compassion and empathy as good things. When, of course, existentially, it always comes down to who or what you feel these things for. Is it only for those who are "one of us"? In other words, the reason some go through challenging times is because it is others who created them.
“Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.”
Epicurus’ second assertion is that if God can prevent evil but lacks the willingness to do so, then divine benevolence is undermined.
The part where some suggest that, given the simply staggering pain and suffering embedded in human interactions and in "acts of God", a God, the God may well be a sadistic monster. Then, however, those who refuse to accept this because they "just know" that everything will all be explained once they are privy to the reasons behind His "mysterious ways".
The notion that greater good is achieved through the existence of evil again might be used to justify God’s apparent indifference to instances of intense suffering. But one could argue that the existence of unnecessary and gratuitous suffering, such as child abuse or natural disasters causing widespread devastation, raises profound ethical concerns here. If an all-powerful God possesses the ability to prevent such suffering but chooses not to intervene, it challenges the traditional understanding of benevolence. So judging whether God is malevolent requires a broader perspective beyond individual instances of suffering.
Come on, it generally becomes as broad or as narrow as each of us individually need it to be.
Those who do believe God provides us with moral commandments and with the assurance that we will live on forever in paradise...?
In other words, what is it about God that you yourself are willing to accept in order to sustain that comfort and consolation up to and beyond the grave?
On the other hand, what part of God's mysterious ways don't you understand? It is there in fact to encompass, well, everything under the sun.
Or, to put it "spiritually"...
A comprehensive evaluation of God’s benevolence should take into account the entirety of life, including the potential long-term consequences of allowing evil. Human (lack of) understanding could be preventing us from fully grasping the ultimate reasons that God allows evil.
Now, you just have to "believe it", right? Let the ecclesiastics among us wallow in all that theological stuff.
However, I would argue that even when considering the broader perspective, there remain cases of extreme suffering that seem incompatible with the idea of a perfectly good God: the concept of a benevolent deity cannot, unqualified, genuinely account for the existence of such intense and unnecessary forms of evil. Even given the argument of virtues developing through facing evil, we have to ask what virtues are developed by genocide or child abuse.
So, what do you argue instead?