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Problems of Belief & Unbelief

Moral Manipulation & the Problem of Evil

Jimmy Alfonso Licon challenges a traditional Christian explanation of suffering.

There is a vast amount of suffering in the world: war, famine, disease, hurricanes, earthquakes, rape, murder, the Holocaust, the Crusades, terrorist attacks, and the list goes on. Some people suffer horribly, others don’t, and it seems you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it. This is precisely what you would expect if, underneath it all, the universe were just indifferent.

All of which poses a serious problem for the belief that there is an all-powerful, all-knowing God who is perfectly benevolent. The problem can be simply stated as follows: if God can do anything, and has perfect love for us, then why would He allow such suffering? Imagine someone who claims to love their children, but they constantly neglect them – they are never home, and their children are often hungry and unprotected.

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