The Problem of PainA friend of mine on facebook a while back had a status that said he wondered why God created allergies. I said that He didn’t, that it was a result of the fall. Well then some other guy (I have no idea who this person is) says that I am papering over the tensions that are there about the sovereignty of God and such. I suggested him reading a book about the subject but that wasn’t enough for him so I responded with this:
I only meant to suggest a book because you seem to have difficulty with theodicy. Those books will go into an in depth and nuanced analysis not available for facebook comments. I agree with you that we shouldnt oversimplify or paper over answers which is why reading a book on the subject could be helpful. I personally have never had a problem with the fact that there is suffering in the world and having an omnipotent God. It's never been a big sticking point for me and seems to have a logical answer that accounts for both sides. I don't and wouldnt ignore the tension there but for me it is more understandable than say Husserl v. Heideger or other things we learned in philosophy. Sorry if suggesting a book seems arrogant or something. I just think that if you did read a book with a searching for truth attitude that it could be found better there than facebook. However, facebook is a possible means to truth...
By saying we are "free" or have free will we mean that humans are moral agents culpable for their own decisions. God is still sovereign in that he is in control over everything. Yes he does have the ability to stop all bad but he cannot because he has given us the gift of free will. If God controlled everything we would be robots. What you are confusing is the ability of God to stop wrong and his "causing" it. The two are not the same. So I suppose that 2) is correct. God allows evil in the world but does not cause it. One cannot be morally blameworthy for things that one does not cause. For example, if someone is murdered in front of you and you could have prevented it by yelling but were tongue tied are you responsible for the murder? No. In a sense, God is "tongue tied" by His amazingly let us have free will. In no sense does that mean he does not have the ability to control us all and everything at once...
Rather, God holds himself back and allows evil in the world as a means to point to a need for redemption and as a "restriction" on himself of letting human beings have free will. It is a false dichotomy to then say well God is not all powerful then because he has restrictions. This is true God cannot do certain things but only because it is in his nature not to do them. For example, the sovreignty issue is shown by this thought tool. If God can do anything, can He lie? The answer is no. God cannot lie. Not because he is not all powerful but because it is in His nature to be All Truth. It would go against the very nature of God to lie. In the same way God has set forth the rules of nature (now bent by the fall) and the limitation on himself of giving man free will.
You ask him now to go against his gift of free will to us because there is just too much bad stuff going on in the world. God cannot go against his giving us free will in the same way that God cannot lie. In fact, he would be lying in a sense to do so. And, we would be unable to love him without free will. So everything would be undone. Yes God would rid the world of evil but at the cost of going against his previous gift of free will to us and against his nature. This he cannot do and thus God remains all powerful yet there still exists evil in the world. Hope this clarifies for you and is not an "oversimplification" although I doubt anyone could say that from all that I have written lol. Have a good day.
Thoughts, comments, suggestions? | 
But what would you have done in that situation? Should you always refuse to help (because you don't know how the money will actually be spent) or is it a case by case basis?