The Judeo-Christian religions believe that God is a three person God, the ultimate creator, the savior, and the one being full of love. On the contrary, philosophers ascribe three major attributes to this being (God?): wholly good (omnibenevolent), wholly powerful (omnipotent), and all knowing (omniscient). Therefore, God being all-good and powerful means that he only wants good to exist. However, from empirical evidence, one can conclude that evil undoubtedly exists. It is true that the word evil can have slightly different meanings to different people depending on their religion, age, race, and sex. In general terms, evil is something that is morally bad; something that always generates a negative outcome. Everyday news reporters paint a picture of what evil is: murders, bank robberies, stolen cars, earthquakes, hurricanes. Can one fully understand what evil is, or is evil best understood through everyday experiences? The problem of evil provokes the question: Does God exist at all? Or, is evil a misdirected use of the good that God provides; the illusion of the good? Can God and evil co-exist? In this essay, I will not argue that God exists, but I am going to show that the existence of evil itself is not sufficient enough to say that God does not exist. Therefore, I will argue that an omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient God can co-exist with evil.
First of all, evil can be classified into two broad categories: moral (human) evil and natural evil. “Moral evil is evil that results from an act, or failure to act, of man. Without the action, or omission of an action, by a human agent moral evil would not occur. In contrast to moral evil, natural evil arises through no fault of man. Man has no control over natural evil, and is completely ...