NationStates Jolt Archive

Why would an omnibenevolant God create evil?(and allow us to suffer)
Why does evil seem to go unpunished?
If he is omnipotent why not create a flawlesss universe?
If Gos is omnipresent then surely he must also be present in evil??
St Augustine says that it is all our fault,(the augustinian theodicy)(as follows)
God is perfect and made a world free of evil,God didnt create evil, evil is an absence of good.Evil comes from angels and humans who choose not to follow god(freewill )God doesnt intervene to stop our suffering as we are recieving our just reward(even natureal 'evils'such as earthquakes are our fault-we are all guilty of sin)But gos is still loving because he will save us.
Does anyone else but me see the flaw here?
Some may say if there was no evil we could not appriciate good(the worls is a place of soul making)But surley the quantity and gravity of suffering is unacceptable?
Ther is also a freewill defence, a loss of suffering would mean a loss of freedom.Is suffering too high a price to pay for freedom,would comprimising our freedom be a better option is we didnt know about it?
Process theology(john hick and d Griffin) claims that eveil; and God are compatible becayuse God is not all powerful, he made us but not the universe.He is a co-sufferer and co-sharer,he suffers when evil occurs-he is developing just like us.Surley, though, this is not the God of classical theism, and doesnt explain how and omnipotent and omnibenevolent God can exist in a worlds full of evil?Is this God worthy of worship.

I have to admit, I cannot see how God and evil can coexist, but my mind is always open to change, and if someone can come up with a better reason(or a better reason for me to disbelieve)I am open to new ideas.
Discuss people(mwa ha ha ha):p

god doesnt exist.


Your wasting your time....seriously.

god doesnt exist.


Your wasting your time....seriously.
but what if he did?

but what if he did?

if he did then id say hes a real sadist.

if he did then id say hes a real sadist.
Touche!(i like your style:p )

god doesnt exist.


Your wasting your time....seriously.


Especially here on NSG.

I think he'd be just as he appears in the christian bible:
"Pass through the city after him, and smite; your eye shall not spare and you shall show no pity; slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women..."
..........Ezekiel 9:5

"Slay and utterly destroy after them, says the Lord, and do all that I have commanded you."
..........Jeremiah 50:21

"Samar'ia shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open."
..........Hosea 13:16

"And the Lord our God gave him over to us; and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. And we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city, men, women and children; we left none remaining..."
..........Deuteronomy 2:33



A complete asshole

Assuming God is also omniscient, so he's aware of any evil that might exist, it's clearly incompatible.

Since God is omnipotent, there can't be any requirement for evil that he couldn't change (and since he's omnibenvolent, he'd want to).

Evil is created by our actions. Our actions are created by freewill. Freewill was created because if we did not have freewill, we would not exist - only God would. God did not wish to be alone, so God created us, and God created us with freewill. In so doing, evil resulted.

Evil seems to go unpunished because we don't notice it getting punished.

Natural disasters occur because that is how the world was made. The flawless universe is Heaven.

God is only omnipresent in the physical sense. Evil is not physical. Ergo, God is not present in the evil.

If there is a god and there is a hell, not only is god not omnibenevolent, but god is also quite an evil prick.

If God loved me He wouldnt let you put this "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in a thread title. You are proof that God has forsaken me.

There's no such thing as evil.

Evil is created by our actions. Our actions are created by freewill. Freewill was created because if we did not have freewill, we would not exist - only God would. God did not wish to be alone, so God created us, and God created us with freewill. In so doing, evil resulted.

Evil seems to go unpunished because we don't notice it getting punished.

Natural disasters occur because that is how the world was made. The flawless universe is Heaven.

God is only omnipresent in the physical sense. Evil is not physical. Ergo, God is not present in the evil.

But that precludes God being omnibenevolent and wanting only good things for us.

There's no such thing as evil.
Sure there is... it's just a subjective, unverifiable, unfalsifiable concept created by humans in order to scare them straight.

Hmm... sounds familiar...

EDIT: Thank you, OP, for removing the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11one from the title.

Evil is created by our actions. Our actions are created by freewill. Freewill was created because if we did not have freewill, we would not exist - only God would. God did not wish to be alone, so God created us, and God created us with freewill. In so doing, evil resulted.

Evil seems to go unpunished because we don't notice it getting punished.

Natural disasters occur because that is how the world was made. The flawless universe is Heaven.

God is only omnipresent in the physical sense. Evil is not physical. Ergo, God is not present in the evil.

omnipresent means present in everything, everywhere!

If God loved me He wouldnt let you put this "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in a thread title. You are proof that God has forsaken me.
sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

omnipresent means present in everything, everywhere!

Everything. Unless you happen to be a neoplatonist, I see no contradiction.

Everything. Unless you happen to be a neoplatonist, I see no contradiction.

I don't think you need God to be omnipresent. As long as he's omniscient and omnipotent, he knows about all evil and can do something about all evil, regardless of where God might exist.

But that precludes God being omnibenevolent and wanting only good things for us.

Not at all. If God does not allow evil to exist, God does not allow us to exist. If God allows us to exist, God allows evil to exist. Between the two, the better thing for us is to exist.

Not at all. If God does not allow evil to exist, God does not allow us to exist. If God allows us to exist, God allows evil to exist. Between the two, the better thing for us is to exist.

But that relationship only exists because God made it so. He could have done otherwise.

The mods stole all of your exclamation points!
Power Abuse! omfg :eek:

But that relationship only exists because God made it so. He could have done otherwise.

No, it's inherent. God could not have.

What about the idea that God isn't omnipotent then, but rather superpotent?

No, it's inherent. God could not have.

But that precludes God's omnipotence. If there exists anything God can't do, then God's not omnipotent.

A god who is, and created, all things would, by definition have to encompass both good and evil.

A god who is, and created, all things would, by definition have to encompass both good and evil.
...assuming that good and evil both exist, and that morality has a physical manifestation.

But that precludes God's omnipotence. If there exists anything God can't do, then God's not omnipotent.

Not at all. God can do anything that can be done.

God is an illogical paradox.....the end.

Oh, there's the reply box, you have to scroll to the right...
There is no God, and if there is, he doesn't go out of his way to exterminate evil.

Not at all. God can do anything that can be done.

Isn't the point of all those miracle thingies doing something that can't be done?

Not at all. God can do anything that can be done.

God created the universe. God is the author of the rules that govern what can and can't be done.

If there exist actions that can't be performed by God, even if they can't be performed by anything, then God isn't omnipotent.

damm them, taking my !!!!!!!!!'s away.Thats just being picky.:sniper:

If there exist actions that can't be performed by God, even if they can't be performed by anything, then God isn't omnipotent.

OMGWTF HE CAN LICK HIS ELBOW?!?!

OMGWTF HE CAN LICK HIS ELBOW?!?!

He can do both at the same time.

Isn't the point of all those miracle thingies doing something that can't be done?

But see, it can be done, even if we can't do it.

Assuming God is also omniscient, so he's aware of any evil that might exist, it's clearly incompatible.

Since God is omnipotent, there can't be any requirement for evil that he couldn't change (and since he's omnibenvolent, he'd want to).

Let me explain

God is indeed omnibenevelont and omnipotent and omniscent, but evil exists. There is no contradiction.

God created people, but part of how he created them was with free will. There was a simple reason for this. Free will is nessecary for love. You cannot coerce love, or in anyway force someone to love you. You can force them to do things to you that they would do if they were in love with you, but that isn't the same as being in love with someone.

However free will alone is pointless in a prison. God had to create not only the ability to choose, but a choice to be had. Hence we have Eden. God gave them a choice and explained to them all about it.

Evil exists because people choose to be evil and they have the ability to choose because God gave them it. Why does God not end all evil, well he ultimately will. But why doesnt he do it now? Well because of free will. God is not just going to fix all of our mistakes for us.

I would read several of these explainations of God and Evil

http://www.christian-thinktank.com/gr5part1.html

http://www.christian-thinktank.com/natevl.html

http://www.christian-thinktank.com/2stds.html

If you want a true understanding though of why there is evil, you need only to look at human actions. God is not responsable for what humans do.

Why would an omnibenevolant God create evil?(and allow us to suffer)
Why does evil seem to go unpunished?
If he is omnipotent why not create a flawlesss universe?
If Gos is omnipresent then surely he must also be present in evil??
St Augustine says that it is all our fault,(the augustinian theodicy)(as follows)
God is perfect and made a world free of evil,God didnt create evil, evil is an absence of good.Evil comes from angels and humans who choose not to follow god(freewill )God doesnt intervene to stop our suffering as we are recieving our just reward(even natureal 'evils'such as earthquakes are our fault-we are all guilty of sin)But gos is still loving because he will save us.
Does anyone else but me see the flaw here?
Some may say if there was no evil we could not appriciate good(the worls is a place of soul making)But surley the quantity and gravity of suffering is unacceptable?
Ther is also a freewill defence, a loss of suffering would mean a loss of freedom.Is suffering too high a price to pay for freedom,would comprimising our freedom be a better option is we didnt know about it?
Process theology(john hick and d Griffin) claims that eveil; and God are compatible becayuse God is not all powerful, he made us but not the universe.He is a co-sufferer and co-sharer,he suffers when evil occurs-he is developing just like us.Surley, though, this is not the God of classical theism, and doesnt explain how and omnipotent and omnibenevolent God can exist in a worlds full of evil?Is this God worthy of worship.

I have to admit, I cannot see how God and evil can coexist, but my mind is always open to change, and if someone can come up with a better reason(or a better reason for me to disbelieve)I am open to new ideas.
Discuss people(mwa ha ha ha):p

If God isn't omnipotent, that solves the problem.

If God isn't omnipotent, that solves the problem.
Quite simple, isn't it?

Let me explain

God is indeed omnibenevelont and omnipotent and omniscent, but evil exists. There is no contradiction.

God created people, but part of how he created them was with free will. There was a simple reason for this. Free will is nessecary for love. You cannot coerce love, or in anyway force someone to love you.

Why can't we?

If you want a true understanding though of why there is evil, you need only to look at human actions. God is not responsable for what humans do.

Uuhh...He sort of is, what with being responsible for our existance as it is.

Let me explain

God is indeed omnibenevelont and omnipotent and omniscent, but evil exists. There is no contradiction.

This should be fun.

God created people, but part of how he created them was with free will. There was a simple reason for this. Free will is nessecary for love.

Only because God made it so. God could have designed the universe otherwise. If God's omnipotent, he necessarily has the power to change that relationship.

Wow, that was anti-climactic.

...assuming that good and evil both exist, and that morality has a physical manifestation.

Good point: good and evil are both human created concepts and are entirely subjective. God is also a human creation, and entirely subjective.

Good point: good and evil are both human created concepts and are entirely subjective. God is also a human creation, and entirely subjective.
Plus a God was never infalible until Christian times, and records say that the greeks were amongst the first people to adopt the human image for Gods being so in love with the image of the human body.

Plus Christianity and Islam are two of the few religions that believe in a "hell" or some form of punishment directed by a master of evil. In Islam, if I remember correctly, people are not damned to hell, and only suffer until the sins have been paid off. Of course, this does not fill church pues so in christianity, which is by far one of the most totalitarian religions, one is damned to hell for all time.

Good point: good and evil are both human created concepts and are entirely subjective. God is also a human creation, and entirely subjective.

Let's knock that goofy crap off right here. The fact that people disagree about whether action X is good or evil is in itself not evidence that good and evil are either subjective or purely human-created, any more than saying gravity didn't exist before Newton made an argument for its existence, and even then the gravitational constant of the universe fluctuated considerably until Newton got his equations right.

Existence is not predicable on our observation of something. Gravity existed before it was discovered, and if someone had argued either that some other factor than gravity was doing the work of gravity (such as Aristotle's universal tendency of air and water to fall), or that the gravitational constant of the universe was some other figure than what the accepted figure is, they would just be wrong. I don't see why necessarily any different for concepts like good and evil.

-snip-
Gravity would still exist if sentient beings did not.
Morality would not.

I don't see why necessarily any different for concepts like good and evil.

...You're comparing evil to gravity?

Gravity would still exist if sentient beings did not.
Morality would not.

I don't know about that at all. Certainly evil acts are only done by sentient creatures, but even if the universe had never existed at all, a proposed Holocaust in some hypothetical universe would still be evil.

...You're comparing evil to gravity?

To the extent that they are both defined not by the meanings of terms but by referents in the world, yes. Even if no one were around to condemn it, an act of evil is still evil.

I don't know about that at all. Certainly evil acts are only done by sentient creatures, but even if the universe had never existed at all, a proposed Holocaust in some hypothetical universe would still be evil.


The proposed holocaust in a hypothetical universe is "evil" when you apply your morality to the situation. Your sense of morality exists within this universe, not the hypothetical one.

The only way I can imagine a holocaust happening without sentient beings is with robots, and I don't think that the destruction of nonsentient robots is evil.

God created people, but part of how he created them was with free will.

The idea of free will makes no sense whether there is an omnipotent God, a uninterested God, or no God at all.

There was a simple reason for this. Free will is nessecary for love. You cannot coerce love, or in anyway force someone to love you.

First off, a person is not capable of forcing someone to love, the rules governing the universe are very capable of forcing someone to love. If there is a God, it is the "rules governing the universe."

The proposed holocaust in a hypothetical universe is "evil" when you apply your morality to the situation. Your sense of morality exists within this universe, not the hypothetical one.

The only way I can imagine a holocaust happening without sentient beings is with robots, and I don't think that the destruction of nonsentient robots is evil.

No, when you apply the morality of any rational being to the situation, as morality is a function of reason. As I said, sentience is a prerequisite for moral or immoral actions to happen, but even if there are no sentients to witness an evil act, even if no one ever saw or remembered an evil act, it is still evil.

To the extent that they are both defined not by the meanings of terms but by referents in the world, yes. Even if no one were around to condemn it, an act of evil is still evil.


And you tell us to quit the goofy crap

No, when you apply the morality of any rational being to the situation, as morality is a function of reason.

What reasoning, exactly? How do you deductively conclude the holocaust as evil? Or anything, really.

No, when you apply the morality of any rational being to the situation, as morality is a function of reason. As I said, sentience is a prerequisite for moral or immoral actions to happen, but even if there are no sentients to witness an evil act, even if no one ever saw or remembered an evil act, it is still evil.

But without a morally responsible agent, there is no evil act, therefore without a free actor exerting his own will it is impossible for morality to exist.

On a side note, sentience has nothing to do with morality.

No, when you apply the morality of any rational being to the situation, as morality is a function of reason. As I said, sentience is a prerequisite for moral or immoral actions to happen, but even if there are no sentients to witness an evil act, even if no one ever saw or remembered an evil act, it is still evil.

Your definition of evil seems to be "that which violates the golden rule."
Is this true? How do you define evil?

Offline...

Well, if this is the case, a psychotic individual who murders someone, but feels no remorse, does not care about the consequences, and is willing to die would not have committed an immoral act.

If EVERYONE was a psychopath? True.
If only that one person was a psychopath, then the majority says that that would be evil, even if the psychopath wouldn't agree.

If EVERYONE was a psychopath? True.
If only that one person was a psychopath, then the majority says that that would be evil, even if the psychopath wouldn't agree.

In other words...It's subjective?

First off, a person is not capable of forcing someone to love, the rules governing the universe are very capable of forcing someone to love. If there is a God, it is the "rules governing the universe."

No they arnt. Because that is not what love means. By its very nature love cannot be forced.

I think your questions ( or rather, your choosable answers ) are slighlty wrong.
Totally wrong.

You might just strip off the word God here, and ask the same question.
And then try chosing from the same answer-list.

Evil is created by our actions. Our actions are created by freewill. Freewill was created because if we did not have freewill, we would not exist - only God would. God did not wish to be alone, so God created us, and God created us with freewill. In so doing, evil resulted.

Evil seems to go unpunished because we don't notice it getting punished.

Natural disasters occur because that is how the world was made. The flawless universe is Heaven.

God is only omnipresent in the physical sense. Evil is not physical. Ergo, God is not present in the evil.
I second that. Well phrased - I wouldn't have been able make that point so clear. Thanks :D

Why would an omnibenevolant God create evil?(and allow us to suffer)

Because we're bad dirty no good sinners who deserve it.


Why does evil seem to go unpunished?

Because we deserve it.


If he is omnipotent why not create a flawlesss universe?

It is flawless, we're just bad dirty no good sinners who ruin everything, and thus end up suffering.


If Gos is omnipresent then surely he must also be present in evil??

God isn't omnipresent, he just likes to watch.


St Augustine says that it is all our fault,(the augustinian theodicy)(as follows)
God is perfect and made a world free of evil,God didnt create evil, evil is an absence of good.Evil comes from angels and humans who choose not to follow god(freewill )God doesnt intervene to stop our suffering as we are recieving our just reward(even natureal 'evils'such as earthquakes are our fault-we are all guilty of sin)But gos is still loving because he will save us.
Does anyone else but me see the flaw here?

God is like your abusive husband, see. He loves you, he really does, it's just that you make him so angry and then he hits you. You really should know better than to make him angry. If you'd just clean the house the way he orders you to do then he wouldn't get mad and break your jaw. He really does love you, he swears he does, and he's really sorry that he had to hurt you.

But you really should know better. I mean, you're ugly and sinful, and nobody else will ever love you the way he does, so it's not like you've got anywhere to go. If you ever did try to leave him then you'd end up suffering for all eternity. His love will follow you everywhere, even if you try to get away, and he'll never allow you to simply live your life without him. If you try to live without him, he'll get you eventually. Then you'll really be sorry.

So you really shouldn't make him angry. He loves you, so shouldn't you try to make him happy? Yes, you should. He's doing you a favor by being with you, after all, and nobody else will love you anyway. Now can you see how wrong you were to question him and his perfect love for you? That's ok, he forgives you. It'll all be okay.


Some may say if there was no evil we could not appriciate good(the worls is a place of soul making)But surley the quantity and gravity of suffering is unacceptable?

Are you suggesting that an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving being might be capable of teaching humanity right from wrong without inflicting endless misery upon us? Pfft, that's crazy talk.


Ther is also a freewill defence, a loss of suffering would mean a loss of freedom.

Right. Which is why happy, content people are significantly less free than people who are crippled and dying of starvation.


Is suffering too high a price to pay for freedom,would comprimising our freedom be a better option is we didnt know about it?

Depends; who's suffering are we talking about? I mean, if we're just saying that suffering needs to exist in the world, then that's fine...as long as somebody else is doing the suffering, and I'm the one getting to have free will because I know of their suffering.


Process theology(john hick and d Griffin) claims that eveil; and God are compatible becayuse God is not all powerful, he made us but not the universe.He is a co-sufferer and co-sharer,he suffers when evil occurs-he is developing just like us.Surley, though, this is not the God of classical theism, and doesnt explain how and omnipotent and omnibenevolent God can exist in a worlds full of evil?Is this God worthy of worship.

I once wrote this story where God was a granola bar, and evil was the raisins. It was pretty deep, considering how much hash I'd been doing at the time.


I have to admit, I cannot see how God and evil can coexist, but my mind is always open to change, and if someone can come up with a better reason(or a better reason for me to disbelieve)I am open to new ideas.
Discuss people(mwa ha ha ha):p
Since both evil and God are your own creations, you can make them fit together however they like. In my mind's eye, they have a bowling league together.

Offline...

Well, if this is the case, a psychotic individual who murders someone, but feels no remorse, does not care about the consequences, and is willing to die would not have committed an immoral act.

Immorality and evil are two different things.

Immorality and evil are two different things.
Quite agreed...an act may be immoral but not evil, ie stealing food.
An act may be evil but not immoral, ie euthanasia (subjective, yes)
An act may be both, ie murder
An act may be neither, ie self defense.

Right then , I have had enuff about you tarts talking about me , yes I exist , I am not evil ( just playful like a big eternal kitten) would ya stop ya praying and your insistance ( especially if your a muslim to go in a high pitched whine aiaiaiaiaiaiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiiaiaaiiaiaiaaiaiiiiiiiiiiiii) when the guys are getting jiggy with it , chill smoke a phat one and dont you are the evil one's
DONT MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE AND OPEN UP A CAN OR TEN OF WHUPASS...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
LOVE AND HUGS
GOD xx

An omnipotent god has to be malevelent to create the world as it is today, but a non-omnipotent god could have just messed up.

So, either god is a bumbling nice guy, or an all powerful asshole.

An omnipotent god has to be malevelent to create the world as it is today, but a non-omnipotent god could have just messed up.

So, either god is a bumbling nice guy, or an all powerful asshole.

according to the book i'm reading he's on a fishing trip with his son Jay, uncle Ghost, and it's all his 18 year old son's fault, cuz he pushed a button he shouldnt have.

God hates you for making this topic and will cause you much suffering.

God hates you for making this topic and will cause you much suffering.

god shouldnt have given us the freedom to express ourselves then should he?

he should hate himself if that's the case

No they arnt. Because that is not what love means. By its very nature love cannot be forced.

How does love occur then?

I think he'd be just as he appears in the christian bible:
"Pass through the city after him, and smite; your eye shall not spare and you shall show no pity; slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women..."
..........Ezekiel 9:5

"Slay and utterly destroy after them, says the Lord, and do all that I have commanded you."
..........Jeremiah 50:21

"Samar'ia shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open."
..........Hosea 13:16

"And the Lord our God gave him over to us; and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. And we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city, men, women and children; we left none remaining..."
..........Deuteronomy 2:33



A complete asshole

I got a quote for you from the New Testament:
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall never die, but have eternal life."-John 3:16

Oh, also, the type of God the Christian Old Testament/Jewish Torah pushes is repeated in Islam and Hinduism. Don't just quote from Christianity and call it an evil. Also, the reason for death: Because the people chose to do wrong, evil begets evil.

Why would an omnibenevolant God create evil?(and allow us to suffer)
Why does evil seem to go unpunished?
If he is omnipotent why not create a flawlesss universe?
If Gos is omnipresent then surely he must also be present in evil??
St Augustine says that it is all our fault,(the augustinian theodicy)(as follows)
God is perfect and made a world free of evil,God didnt create evil, evil is an absence of good.Evil comes from angels and humans who choose not to follow god(freewill )God doesnt intervene to stop our suffering as we are recieving our just reward(even natureal 'evils'such as earthquakes are our fault-we are all guilty of sin)But gos is still loving because he will save us.
Does anyone else but me see the flaw here?
Some may say if there was no evil we could not appriciate good(the worls is a place of soul making)But surley the quantity and gravity of suffering is unacceptable?
Ther is also a freewill defence, a loss of suffering would mean a loss of freedom.Is suffering too high a price to pay for freedom,would comprimising our freedom be a better option is we didnt know about it?
Process theology(john hick and d Griffin) claims that eveil; and God are compatible becayuse God is not all powerful, he made us but not the universe.He is a co-sufferer and co-sharer,he suffers when evil occurs-he is developing just like us.Surley, though, this is not the God of classical theism, and doesnt explain how and omnipotent and omnibenevolent God can exist in a worlds full of evil?Is this God worthy of worship.

I have to admit, I cannot see how God and evil can coexist, but my mind is always open to change, and if someone can come up with a better reason(or a better reason for me to disbelieve)I am open to new ideas.
Discuss people(mwa ha ha ha):p

There are a lot of theories on the subject (a whole crap load, you should read up on it if you are interested -- many raise as many questions as they answer, however). Some would consider the "free will" argument you pointed out to answer part of the question. Evil exists so that we are free to choose evil and thus be truly free. However, that doesn't explain where evil came from in the first place. Did God create evil or did he create something that he knew would create evil? Would it make us any less free to not be able to choose something that didn't even exist?

Ultimately, I think the answer you'd get from a lot of Christians, who have to defend a God who is omnibenevolent, ominiscient, and omnipresent, is that it is a mystery -- beyond our ability to grasp. That probably doesn't sit well with the nonreligious because they might consider it a copout answer. However, if we assume that there is an all-knowing and all-powerful God who created us, we also have to assume that our knowledge and reasoning capabities are insignifigant compared to such a God and that we can only understand things that God has given us the capability of understanding. That's one reason why the Bible and divine revelation are held in such high regard amongst Christians. It's because those are considered to be truths that could never have been understood or thought up without the intervention of the all-knowing and all-powerful God.

Atheism/humanism ftw! Check out the qoute in my sig. The only evil thing is to cause someone else unneccesary pain.

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
I'm not religious, but I'd say that judging from this, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is quite compatible with evil.

Why would an omnibenevolant God create evil?(and allow us to suffer)
Why does evil seem to go unpunished?
If he is omnipotent why not create a flawlesss universe?
If Gos is omnipresent then surely he must also be present in evil??
St Augustine says that it is all our fault,(the augustinian theodicy)(as follows)
God is perfect and made a world free of evil,God didnt create evil, evil is an absence of good.Evil comes from angels and humans who choose not to follow god(freewill )God doesnt intervene to stop our suffering as we are recieving our just reward(even natureal 'evils'such as earthquakes are our fault-we are all guilty of sin)But gos is still loving because he will save us.
Does anyone else but me see the flaw here?
Some may say if there was no evil we could not appriciate good(the worls is a place of soul making)But surley the quantity and gravity of suffering is unacceptable?
Ther is also a freewill defence, a loss of suffering would mean a loss of freedom.Is suffering too high a price to pay for freedom,would comprimising our freedom be a better option is we didnt know about it?
Process theology(john hick and d Griffin) claims that eveil; and God are compatible becayuse God is not all powerful, he made us but not the universe.He is a co-sufferer and co-sharer,he suffers when evil occurs-he is developing just like us.Surley, though, this is not the God of classical theism, and doesnt explain how and omnipotent and omnibenevolent God can exist in a worlds full of evil?Is this God worthy of worship.

I have to admit, I cannot see how God and evil can coexist, but my mind is always open to change, and if someone can come up with a better reason(or a better reason for me to disbelieve)I am open to new ideas.
Discuss people(mwa ha ha ha):p
Well, to answer all this, you have to A: beleive in reincarnation, B: beleive in karma, C: know that the only thing that is perfect IS God, thus, there cannot be a "perfect universe" D: know that without this pit of evil, the soul could not be self aware, and could not properly appreciate God, and E: Kalli, who is in charge of evil, has a soul, is not a bad guy, but more like The Cheif of Justice, and thus punishes people.

In acuallity, there is no evil, so I cannot answer your poll. Everything is predestined, yet we are still liable for our actions.