HOW AND WHY GOD CAN CO-EXIST WITH EVIL - PART 4

AN OBJECTIVE PHILOSOPHICAL EVALUATION

The whole effort of religion is a human attempt to try to find order from a chaotic world. We can't accept random events of suffering and evil. We disbelieve that misfortunes are chance events. We want a worldly existence full of meaning and justice, yet all evidence points to the contrary. Are we left only with the the feeling of depression and abandonment as in existential philosophy?

So, despite the foregoing explanations, questions persist. Why is there evil and suffering at all? Why are they so hard to bear? Why doesn't God prevent them? And when they happened, why didn't God relieve or remove them? Does God know about my suffering? Or is God powerless or indifferent? Does God love me at all? How can He bear to let humans He love suffer so much?Or does He even exist?

SOME BIBLICAL CONTRADICTIONS

1. Isaiah 45:7 (KJV)
7 "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."

Does God create evil?

2. Amos 3:6 (KJV)
6 "When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?"

Is God responsible for natural disasters?

3. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 (KJV)
8 "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:" 9 "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;"

Does God ruthlessly punish and take revenge on those who don't know him or don't obey him?

WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF IT?

We have 3 options:

1. We can go on asking: why can't we be free-willed beings in a world without evil, living a life of moral goodness and mutual love, cooperating with God and enjoying His glory?

2. We can accept the Christian faith as it is and trust God whole-heartedly. But, this only works if your acceptance is true and sincere. Pascal's Wager will not do.

3. For those who somehow could not accept the Bible story or could not betray their intellectual honesty, you can assume that this may be the only life you've got and make the best of it and be the best person you can be despite the uncertainty, randomness and indifference of this existence.