system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: God could be either benevolent or omnipotent, but not both.

I have yet to see an argument that adequately explains the existence of suffering in the face of a benevolent, omnipotent God.

Provided God were both of these things, it wouldn't have created suffering in the first place. There wouldn't have been a need. To say that a God had to necessarily do something makes it no longer omnipotent.

I often see people say that suffering serves a purpose, such as bringing us closer to God or giving life meaning.

But once again, if the God were both benevolent and omnipotent, suffering wouldn't have had to be created in the first place. An emotion humans perceive as positive could just as easily take its place. If you claim otherwise, then that God is either no longer omnipotent or no longer benevolent.

No longer omnipotent because it can't get rid of a negative emotion, no longer benevolent because it can and chooses not to.


Edit 1: my opinion hasn't been changed but I've learned new concepts and been introduced to some novel ones, so the thread was still a success!!!

I decided to stop answer as most responses are currently bringing up free will, but the concept of that is for another thread entirely. 

I respect what others are saying, but i feel like ones conclusions about free will and the benevolence of creation is completely experience based. As such, I don't see a point in arguing over it as you can't change someone's life experience.

I'm still reading the responses, and will answer any that I feel I didn't address elsewhere in the thread.

Thank you all for your responses!

Edit 2: upon answering (I hope) every comment so far, it seems free will is more closely tied to benevolence than I'd originally realized. So I'll make a separate thread about that once I make my thoughts up on it (free will is one of those things that scare me, lol, so give me time pls).
gpt
What if earth is just a training ground, as many religions believe? You live, you learn, you die. Then you start over (ie Buddhism, etc).

Suffering - although might seem very significant here and now - is ultimately just a tool to help is grow and learn. Might suck that your kid died, but in the grand scheme that kid's soul is just starting over in a new body and regenerating  and you probably went through some sort of growth in the process. 

Nothing really matters except for our continued growth and experience, guided by an omnipotent god.


Think of it like high school (earth). 14 year olds might think events that take place there are earth shattering and pivotal, while adults looking in from the outside (ie "god") know that all the drama really means nothing at all.