Another Problem of Evil Issue

Copyright 2017 by Donald R. Tveter, don@dontveter.com

Alpha version from June 14, 2017

This document may be freely distributed provided it is complete and unchanged.


Many atheists love to believe they are superior beings. They think they're superior to Christians who believe in a God that permits all sorts of evil to happen in this world. For a case in point, there was a posting in a Facebook discussion group that was a graphic that had text that read:
You either have a God who sends child rapists to rape children or you have a God who simply watches and says: "When you're done I'm going to punish you".
If I could stop a person from raping a child, I would. That's the difference between me and your God.
The quote was attributed to Tracie Harris, from The Atheist Experience. Searching the net it looks like The Atheist Experience is an internet TV show. So Tracie Harris believes she is superior to the God of the Bible. (Of course she doesn't even believe in the God of the Bible, she just wants to embarrass Christians who do believe in the God of the Bible.)

Atheists always inspire me and this case was no exception. So I posted a reply. The following is an improved version of that reply.

So you want God to intervene to stop children from being raped?

Would you like God to intervene to stop you from speeding on the highways? (Because speeding kills!)

Would you like God to intervene to stop you from lying? (Because lies hurt people too!)

Would you like God to intervene to stop unmarried people from having sex? (Because even if it feels good now, sooner or later sex outside of marriage will cause suffering. Maybe disease. Maybe a financial crisis. Maybe a child without a father who grows up to join a gang and kills some people. Or maybe it will create a drug user and a drug seller.)

Then would you like God to intervene to stop abortions? (Because, abortion is, after all, murder!)

I can imagine what atheists would say if God did intervene in these and similar situations. They'd say something along the lines of "I can take care of myself, so get the hell out of my life! It's none of your business!"

In doing things that God knows are bad, sinners are telling God that they don't want Him around. Sinners are saying they can do perfectly well without Him. They're saying they don't want his advice. They're saying they don't want to follow His plans. So, for the most part, God does stay our of our lives. He doesn't intervene in these situations very often. He lets people do many of the selfish things they really want to do. This gives sinners a chance to see what a world without God is like. This gives sinners a chance to see how bad THEY are.

But there is Good News! If you're honestly looking for a better world and you can admit that YOU are part of the problem, you can ask God to get rid of that bad (sinful, selfish) nature of yours so you can be perfect. So you can go on to a perfect world. It's a world where anyone who would even so as much as just THINK about doing something bad will not even get in.