The Problem and Existence of Evil

The problem of evil is an attempt to explain the existence of evil in the world. We view evil as the suffering in the world, whether it is naturally caused or human caused. Since God is omnibenevolent, omnipotent and omniscient, we understand that God is the creator of everything great, including our world. Despite possessing these divine qualities there is still an abundance of evil throughout our world, which is clearly flawed. Therefore the argument for the problem of evil follows:

If God exists, then this is a best possible world.

This is not a best possible world.

God doesn't exist.

While the problem of evil argument is valid, it is not sound because the first premise of the problem of evil can be refuted by the free will defense.

Free will is the ability of a person to act freely just in case they do what they want to do and their actions flow from their character under normal circumstances. A person is acting freely when they are able to make choices which dictate their own life. The free will defense rejects the first premise of the problem of evil argument:

If God exists, then this is a best possible world.

The rejection of this premise is based on the belief that God is the source of this free will. If God controlled the will of the people rather than allowing them to make their own decisions, he would be deceiving them. Therefore because people have the free will to make decisions, some of which are evil, they are the cause of some of the suffering in the world resulting in a less than best world.