I assume God created everything, and that he should not be considered good if he created anything causing pain, suffering, or evil. Yet somehow there is pain, suffering, and evil. This is what I am pondering.
One solution is that a created free will creature (Lucifer) who rebelled against God. But this would mean he created the universe with its limited resources, the need for creatures to eat each other, and etc. This is more than Christians say about Lucifer. They think it is more satisfying to blame it all on Adam's sin, but this implies rapid evolution so that animals will become carnivores (for example), and a radical change to the natural laws to make the universe like it is today.
I'm stumped.
Basically good means that which is liked. It's purely subjective. Spinach tastes good to some people and bad to others. Behavior is good to somebody who likes it, and bad to somebody who dislikes it. But if we want to call some particular behavior
objectively good (i.e. moral) we need an objective goodness evaluator. Theists say the only possible candidate for that position is a Supreme Being. So if the SB creates suffering, it's automatically good -
when he creates it. Atheist have an alternative, but they haven't figured it out. I don't want to get into that with you.
If the SB is the arbiter of good, he certainly wouldn't judge himself to be bad. So either the SB is good by definition, or
above good vs. bad. A problem arises when a created being calls some particular behavior objectively good (or bad). He is either claiming to know what the SB likes, or he has another criterion for objective goodness (human survival, welfare, happiness, whatever).
Unfortunately, all created free-will beings who live in community must either:
1. claim to know what the objective evaluator likes or what the objective goodness criterion is.
or
2. assume might makes right. i.e. Whoever has the power to enforce his will on the community gets to define morality any way he wants.
or
3. assume moral nihilism. i.e. There is no objective morality.
Most people prefer #1, and either claim to know what the SB likes because of some particular scripture package, or claim to know what is good by some common sense definition, which is unfortunately yet to be articulated.
