Copernicus
Industrial Strength Linguist
You're asserting that death is not a necessary part of life and that any suffering is needless. If you never suffered for an overeating problem, everyone would most likely be dying of obesity and heartattacks at age 20...
You fail to take into account the power of omnipotence, which is a very important premise to all this. If God exists and can do anything, then that renders suffering needless. He has the power to alleviate all suffering. He can cure obesity and heart attacks. It is also a fact that not everyone suffers equally, and that calls into question God's fairness. Finally, let us not forget that the whole point is to get us into an everlasting existence in which there is zero suffering--none at all. If God has the power to eliminate suffering for eternity, then surely he has the power to eliminate it on Earth.
...I know theese people had little choice in what happened to them, but maybe in the greater scheme of a universe where humanity is a small fraction of a percent (instead of the center) there could have been a need for their death. It is tragic for some of us, but it isn't without need or design because it saddens us.
Again, consider the plausibility of what you are saying. Different people experience different levels of suffering. If suffering is needed for some reason, then why do some have to experience unbearable levels of suffering, but others do not? If God has some ulterior motive for making some suffer more than others, what could that possibly be? Many, if not most, religious people actually view the disparity as God lacking the grace to alleviate it in others. ("There but for the grace of God go I...") When people avoid death in a natural disaster such as the Haiti quake, it is quite common to hear them explain their good fortune in terms of God's actions. But what does that say about the people who were less fortunate? That God didn't favor them as much?
An earthquake is a reminder of the FLOOD, whose effects are still being felt to this very day. ANd the FLOOD is ultimately the result of the FALL of man. It is only GOD who keeps us from blowing each other up and the world from falling apart.
Actually, it is religious belief that helps to fuel some of our acts of blowing each other up, and there is no evidence at all that the FLOOD ever happened. It is a biblical myth that may have been inspired by one or more disastrous local floods in antiquity. (The Sumerians and Akkadians, who originated the FLOOD myth that appears in the Bible, experienced some catastrophic floods in their history.)
Who says suffering is needless? In a world with suffering and the dire need for help, there are still stupid people who somehow feel that they don't need an omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent GOD to help. One can only imagine what those people would be like if everything was perfect in a fallen world...
Your argument makes no sense. The question is why suffering must exist if God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent. Atheists do not argue that we don't need such a God. They argue that such a God is incompatible with the fact of apparent needless suffering. If you consider the suffering necessary, then you need to explain what would make it necessary. For example, what makes the suffering of a rape victim necessary? What makes the suffering of an earthquake victim necessary? Calling people who lack faith stupid does not answer those questions.