I heard a man say that if we take the evil and suffering of the world to mean God cannot exist, then we must also take the good and joy of the world to mean that God must exist. Since both exist, then they cannot be valid premises about the existence of God.
In a more visual way this is what he's saying:
Premise 1: God is all Good, Omniscient, Omnipotent
Premise 2: Evil cannot exist under first premise.
Premise 3: Good will exist under the first premise.
Premise 4: Evil exists.
Premise 5: Good exists.
Conclusion: Premises 2 and 3 are contradictions, and therefore are invalid conditionals for Premise 1.
I personally agree with this conclusion. It is not uncommon to hear Christians point to the good and beautiful or the miraculous as evidence that their God exists, just like it is not uncommon for Atheists to point at the evil and suffering of the world as proof that God doesn't exist. As a result, pointing at the current state of the world is not a good tool to measure the existence of God.
What do you guys think?
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