Evil is present throughout the world in many different forms. Wars, torture, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and many other evil atrocities are an every day occurrence in some parts of the world. It would seem that the world cannot escape from evil and the problem of suffering will always exist. According to Christianity, God created all things, but this does not necessarily mean that He is the creator of evil. When God finished His creation, He appreciated that "all that He had made was very good" (Genesis 1,31). From here arises one of the major arguments for the problem of suffering: If God is all good, He should want to stop evil, and if He is omnipotent, He could stop it. But evil still exists in the world, So God lacks either all-goodness in that he can stop evil but does not want to. Or, He lacks omnipotence in that He wants to stop it but cannot. But as God is declared to be all good (1 John 4" and all-powerful (Revelation 19,6), how can this argument be solved?.
First, it is important to distinguish between the two kinds of evil: moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is the actions of humans i.e. murder, rape, theft etc. Whereas, natural evil results from natural processes such as earthquakes and floods. .
If the problem were looked at logically, it would seem irrational to believe in the existence of a good and powerful God on the basis of the existence of evil in the world. A good God would destroy evil and an all powerful God could destroy evil. But evil is not destroyed so therefore there cannot be such a good and powerful God.
David Hume, stated the logical problem of evil when he inquired about God:.
"Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent.
Is He able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able.
And willing? Whence then is evil?".
In order to resolve this evident conflict, one has to recognise that when God is portrayed as all powerful, this does not mean that He is capable of doing anything imaginable.
