The
Argument from Evil as
Saige phrases it is as follows:
- God is omnipotent.
- God doesn't like evil.
- God could and would eliminate evil.
- Evil is still here.
- Therefore, God does not exist.
This is not a proof. The logical fallacy lies squarely in statement #3: that God would utterly eliminate all evil from the world if such a thing were possible.
As Saige points out, the free will argument comes into play here:
- Assume God wants to eliminate all evil.
- If all evil is eliminated, then all free will must be eliminated.
- But God refuses to eliminate free will.
- Therefore, God does not want to eliminate all evil.