This is not in any way a nuanced philosophical response to the problem of suffering. But it is a gut level response that I find hard to evade. Denying or removing God does nothing to solve the problem of suffering in the world. It merely eliminates the only One who can ultimately do something about it (Revelation 21:4; Isaiah 2:1-3; John 14:1-3). Suffering is the great given, the situation we cannot deny exists. What eliminating God does is make it incurable. Now one can try to go to the opposite extreme and say that evil is not really evil, it is how things are supposed to be. But if it is simply normal, why does my gut reaction say it is horribly wrong. It ends up not ending evil, but accepting evil as good and repudiating the idea of good. But it is God who is the standard for good. Without Him there is no basis for understanding, let alone solving the product of suffering. But often we are not so much interested in solving the problem as finding someone to blame (Genesis 3:10-13). But God is the only basis for a real solution.
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