Explain how the existence of evil and suffering may lead to deny God’s existence.
According to the beliefs of Christians, God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent. However, in life we encounter numerous examples of evil, moral or natural, which lead many to rethink God’s true nature and His very existence.
If, for example someone were to look at the Asian Tsunami which killed millions of innocent people, and ask why a God who is all of the things He is claimed to be, did not the tragedy, there is already an apparent question of God’s existence and of His nature. If God were all-powerful, He would have the means and the strength to stop the Tsunami, but he didn’t. If God were all-knowing He would have known exactly what to do to save the people, yet He did nothing. If God were everywhere He would have been there in time to halt the wave or prevent the earthquake that started the Tsunami from ever happening, but He didn’t. And if He loved everyone on Earth He would have wanted to save the lives that were lost to the Tsunami, but He didn’t? Why didn’t He if He could? Some have reached the conclusion that maybe God does not exist at all and that is why no great force, benevolent or otherwise, stopped the Tsunami, because there was no force to begin with. If God does exist and He chose not to help then He cannot be omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient or benevolent. With so many believing that these four things are the true nature of God and yet He did not help, it is far more likely that He doesn’t exist at all rather than that He chose to ignore the suffering.
