The problem of evil is one of Atheist most used arguments but is it valid and does it work? Just for a quick note this argument Atheist should not be allowed to use because there is no objective morally good or evil if there is no god (because nothing matters and everything is meaningless and most importantly there is no lawgiver therefore no law) and it is not an argument it is a complaint but this paper will still explain the problem because it is one of the most used arguments that atheist use.
The Problem of Evil argument goes like this:
1. If God is all-powerful (omnipotent), He could stop evil
2. If God is all-loving (omnibenevolent), He would stop evil.
3. If God is all-knowing (omniscient), He would know about evil.
4. Therefore, if an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient God existed, evil would not.
5. Evil exists; therefore, an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient God does not.
This argument misses a few major points. God is all-powerful, all-loving, but he is also all- just. He also gives us free will, so we are not just a bunch of robots that sit around and do whatever God says. He gives us free will because he is all-loving, all-powerful, and all-just and wants a relationship with us. When he gave us free will we then sinned resulting in God punishing us for our sin. Skeptics might say "Why did he make us if he is all-knowing and therefore knew that we would sin resulting in our fallen world." This argument too can be defeated, because God is all knowing he already had a plan to send his only son as a sacrifice for are sins and whoever believes in him will receive eternal life. Also, because he knew that this was the only way to have a sincere relationship with us. Back to the original argument, we can counter it by saying:
1. If God is all-loving, he would create us and let us have free will.
2. If God was all-just, he would have to punish evil (because he is holy and cannot be next
to evil.)
3. If we have free will, we will do evil.
4. Therefore, if an all-loving, all-just God existed, evil would.
5. Evil exists; therefore, an all-loving, all-just God does.
Sin and evil coincide with one another, their definitions are very similar, almost the same. And because of our sin evil entered the world. Because God is holy and cannot be next to sin he cannot be with us. That is why Satan has rule over earth. Atheists and other skeptics might reply to this and say what about; cancer, thousands of people dying each day of starvation, and many other evil things in our world.
This is a good honest question. Here is an example; There is a drunk driver the car he hits has three people in it and all of them die and he dies. There are many consequences that at first glance you may not see. Obviously, they would all be dead, but the cars would be damaged severely, loved ones of these people would be heartbroken, the people who died jobs would be lost and more. Because of one small thing there can be many consequences.
Back to the example the drunk driver could have got drunk in the first place because he lost his wife when she was killed by a drunk driver resulting in him getting drunk then killing three other people, etc.
This is the same with our sin. Adam and Eve broke their one rule resulting in hiding from God then blaming each other. Then getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden which in the process made the world corrupt and death entered the world along with sickness suffering and starvation. This is why children die of starvation and sickness it is the sad truth of humanity because of our sin God must punish us.
Atheists most likely will reply why is it only some children and not others and why does the place you're born almost automatically decide your world view/religion. The answer to this is complicated and takes some time to dive into it. Solomon talks about this subject in a good chunk of Ecclesiastes he says in Ecclesiastes 8:14 "There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless." The wicked might be in power now but this life on earth is short and God will punish all evil doers and promises eternal life with those who are righteous (implying they have a personal relationship with Jesus.) This shows that the righteous and the innocent are victims to evil from the corrupt world they are the ones who "get punished by God" but is this really true they might die a tragic death but then they get to go live in Heaven. And the evil in the world might live long and prosperous life's but their reign will be short compared to their days in eternal darkness (hell).
Then the second question was, "why does the place you’re born almost automatically decide what religion you are?" Well for one it does not and two after the fall of man people grouped together and made cities and the bigger the city the more sin their tended to be so they then made different types of gods and became more corrupt, resulting in generations of hardened hearts, but there are still missionary's all over the world and people coming to Christ every day.
God wants a relationship with us that is why he made us with free will and he shows us his existence, and we are without excuse meaning that everyone has their own brain and can think freely for themselves and do think freely. And they can pile the evidence and see that there is a God and can see which is the only one true God/religion. If someone has never heard the gospel then they can still make it to heaven because they can see that there is a creator and can reason that everything is not a god.
1 John 4:8 states "the one that does no love does not know God, for God is love." The ones who do not love will never except God. They are blinded by their own eyes they are like soil as hard as rock when the seeds come, they do not even penetrate the soil, and the birds eat up the seeds. They will never see how loving God is because they are spiritually blinded no matter how much evidence there is they will not expect God. I've heard Atheist say even if Jesus rose from the dead, I would not believe that he is God and even if there was a God, I would not worship it.
This is the sad truth of many atheists even if they are not willing to say it out loud, their hearts are so hardened, as Ezekeil says they have a heart of stone, nothing no evidence, no amount of love, nothing can bring these atheists to Gods love because they have hardened hearts from years of rejecting God.
These people classify themselves as "Antitheist" meaning they are against religion they believe religion has nothing good to offer the world it just brings more evil into the world.
They might claim that “God is a dictator” or “religion causes most wars” or “why do I have to worship God or burn in Hell.” Religious war is only about 7% of all wars and atheists have caused way more evil than theist have. When a war is started because of religion or “in the name of Christianity” these people are using religion as the reason or cause of the war even when it is entirely not true. Normally these people use this tactics to get more loyal followers especially in mid-evil times when religious people were in power using their religious influence to convince followers to fight to take land.
But humans are all corrupt and because of this, humans start war over differences and Christians are hypocrites and are not at all perfect we are all sinners like the rest of humanity and that is why we need Jesus. Christians have changed the world for the better in many ways freeing the world of slavery, feeding and sheltering the poor, bringing help to those in need (helping out after floods and other natural disasters).
The problem of evil is a terrible argument once you dive into it because it does not disprove God, it goes against logic (there is no morally good or evil if there is no God), and it can be easily countered. Atheists may try to argue back and ask what may seem like difficult questions but those too can be easily countered. This is how to defeat the "Problem of Evil" argument.