Someone debate me

[Cinjin]

Since I have finished my portion of the debate and this argument never came up, I thought it would be good for me to answer it here.

If there was a benevolent Creator, there would not exist unnecessary suffering or suffering that would not bring about a greater good.
There exists suffering that is unnecessary and doesn't bring about a greater good.
Therefore a benevolent Creator does not exist.

This isn't exactly the same as the two other arguments "the extent of evil is too much" or "if there is any evil.."

I'm curious. If not, I would suggest someone takes it up with him and argue on that basis since he doesn't want to debate with me about it.

I would disagree with premise two, that there exists suffering that is unnecessary. To claim that there is such suffering, it seems to me, is to say that God could not have a morally sufficient reason for permitting such suffering. However, how does one know that, for any given instance of suffering, (call it "X") God could have no good reason for permitting X. The reason for X being permitted doesn't necessarily have to be for the benefit of the sufferer him/herself. It could even cause a chain of events leading to a future action hundreds of years later which was the reason for X being permitted. In such a case, it seems to me that we are not in a position to say that there is, all things considered, unnecessary suffering in the world.

An "all-powerful god" capable of creating every living moving thing in the entire universe in only seven days - needs suffering to get shit done in a few hundred years.


Well thank you Captain Excuse, without you everyone here just might think your god was an impotent dumb-fuck with a a bunch of airheads following him around.