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[Sludge]

You may have seen the popular video of atheist Stephen Fry discussing the 'monstrous' nature of God given the atrocities that exist in the natural world. The example he cites is of insects which burrow into the eyes of children.

The video got me thinking that logically, we as humans can't speak to the idea of universal ethics without delving into the realm of speculation. But, has God not set forth an 'absolute' standard from which Christians may state with certainty what is 'good' and 'bad', and by that token, does a Christian not have to accept that things like stillbirths, bone cancer in children and 'eye insects' as unequivocally 'good' and 'ethical' simply because God has willed these things into being?

I'm wondering how a Christian would go about defending God from the starting point that anything he has created is his intention, and is therefore (presumably) automatically considered 'good', even though we may consider some of those things to be patently 'monstrous'.
I hope I've been clear in my point.. sorry if my question is a bit muddled.

[jimwalton]

I agree with wcspaz that your question is essentially a restatement of the problem of evil, but I disagree with him/her that it's probably the biggest unanswered question in theology. As a matter, it has been adequately answered over and over by one philosopher/theologian after another.

wcspaz is right that the introduction of sin into the world fundamentally changed the nature of existence, and that evil exists because man willed it, not because God willed it. There are a number of sensible answers to the problem of evil.

- It is not true that it's impossible that a good and all-powerful God would eliminate evil at every opportunity. Just as a doctor (surgeon; oncologist) can bring pain into one's life because he or she is trying to accomplish something good, so also evil and suffering can accomplish purposes other than destruction. We would be remiss to eliminate evil and in the process also eliminate the greater good. Ultimately, God can permit as much evil as he pleases, provided there is balance of good over evil in the universe as a whole.
- Our comprehension of all of the ins and outs of what evil is effecting inside of people is too restricted to reliably evaluate whether or not evil has enough redeeming qualities to consider it a realistically positive force in life.
- The elimination of suffering and evil for humanity would require that God make us all robots with no thoughts or actions of our own, essentially stripping us of everything that makes us human. There would be no such thing as love, kindness, forgiveness, let alone free will, science, or even personality.

God has not willed stillbirths, bone cancer, and eye insects into being. Somehow (and I don't know how) you've gotten the impression that God sat up in heaven and said, "First I'm going to create some good stuff, and then I'm going to create some NASTY stuff." See, I don't where this idea comes from. The Bible teaches that God created everything good, but that the beings he created have free will to choose. Free will isn't free if half of the options are off-limits. Instead, The Bible says God was clear with people about what obedience and disobedience were, he informed about what the consequences of each were, and then had to let people make their own decisions. A love relationship isn't a love relationship if we force people to love us. That's a self-contradiction. So when people chose rebellion, it had far-reaching effects on life as we know it. God didn't will these things into being; his will was that they never come about.