How can god exist when there is so much evil in the world?

How can a good, omnipotent god exist when there is so much evil in the world?

The free will theodicy is completely flawed, any answer mentioning free will will be ignored.

big rob2006-05-23T11:46:28Z

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I actually have two answers.

1. Evil doesn't exist.
Explanation: There is no such thing as cold, just an absence of heat. There is no such thing as darkness, just an absences of light. Evil is the same way. It is a word used to describe an absence of good.

2. God doesn't exist.
Explanation: If your view of God is a omnipotent being who has ultimate control, and does nothing but good things, then the answer to the question as to why he would allow such cruel things to happen is simply that he doesn't exist. It he had the power to stop it, then he would. This my be that your view of God is wrong, that maybe he is not omnipotent, not all powerful, or not completely about doing good for the world. Or it may mean that he or she does not exist all together and we are really alone in this world.

Take whatever answer you would like, but take it with a grain of salt.

SEOplanNOW.com2006-05-23T21:14:17Z

Evil has to exist to expose it as evil. It will get worse and worse. What if God just stamped out evil? People would say He was arbitrary. He was not fair. It was not that bad. So God lets it go on. So it can take its natural course. And finally when man can take it no more he will put an end to it. Of course everything is being recorded. So 20 million years from now if someone wants to do some evil they can see the results.

vonwasden2006-05-23T18:41:10Z

Well, sense you don't want to discuss free will, how about the antithesis theory: for every one thing the opposite exists. If there is evil then good must exist and God is the embodiment of all things good, just as the devil is the embodiment of all things evil.

bergice2006-05-23T18:45:57Z

god doesnt exist and to blame evils on the boogie man is absurd-think you know this and are just trying to get rise out of christians-people are responsible for any evil done also for any good-keep the peace and lots of love old hippie

spyders812006-05-23T19:22:41Z

I think it all has to with the balance of good and evil, meaning there has to be bad to balance out the good. Think about it...if you go your whole life with nothing but good things happening to you, with no trials and tribulations and the like, what have you learned? We learn most of our life lessons while we work through our negative experiences. It helps us become better, stronger people.

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