Reply #30: No, of course I don't think god is cruel. [View All]

[trotsky]

But to those that believe in a god, the problem of evil/suffering can never be resolved without an appeal to faith. Ultimately you have to accept that things are the way they are because god made it so.

Now, an interesting way of analyzing this problem is to suggest that an omnibenevolent god would likely want to make the universe with the minimum amount of suffering that's still adequate to teach life lessons to the creatures who have to endure it. (Assuming, of course, that that is the reason why suffering must exist.) So the argument becomes, is the suffering in this universe clearly at a minimum? Personally, I think the answer has to be no.

Unless the god believer thinks that suffering *is* at the minumum possible amount, he or she must then acknowledge that god apparently doesn't care, doesn't see, or can't do anything about extra, unnecessary suffering that doesn't serve a purpose. (Making god, well, NOT god.) Or god is just a sadistic asshole.