Part Two: The Problem of Natural Evil.....5. The Problem of Pain and Suffering

How can we think that a world in which natural disasters like earthquakes and volcanoes destroy thousands of human beings in one fell swoop is designed, created and maintained by an all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving God? [p 94] [p 95] The problem stated In this second section we are to think about the pain and suffering caused, not by the human race's evil, cruel and immoral behaviour towards their fellow human beings, for which humans themselves are responsible, but by natural disasters: earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, landslides, avalanches, ultraviolet rays, droughts, blights, famines, plagues (e.g. locusts or malarial mosquitoes), for which the human race is not immediately responsible (though we may contribute indirectly to some of them by irresponsibly damaging the ecosystem); and other things like congenital deformities, traumatic accidents, personality-destroying illnesses and torturously painful diseases. For these, again, the human race is not immediately responsible (though we may contribute to some of them both directly and indirectly, as for instance to lung cancer by smoking, and to STDs by sexual promiscuity). The problem that these things raise in people's min...