God is Perfect and Can Do No Wrong

I only point that out to correct the two uses of the term "he" when referring to me, but it is of no consequence. I will simply argue that the Gods are imperfect (please feel free to substitute plurals for singulars to fit with your beliefs accordingly) because suffering and inequality exists in the world. My opponent states that "If I claim to be a loving person, but I don't help a fallen woman on the street, how loving of a person would I be? An all loving being would always want to do the best thing possible in any given situations. " This is a very good point which I shall relate to my argument. The fact that there is so much pain and suffering in the world, I think, serves to demonstrate my belief that the Gods are not perfect, as they are not always capable of helping a fallen woman on the street. I would now like to quote the often used philosophical argument often attributed to Epicarus:"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is He neither able nor willing? Then why call Him God? "1I have often seen this point used by people who try to prove God does not exist, but I believe I can alter the argument it is often used to support slightly. The first two lines explain my point. If God is willing but not able, then He is not omnipotent. This is what I believe, and what I intend to argue, that the Gods are willing but not able, that they are not omnipotent. I have therefore chosen my answer. For God to be perfect according to my opponent's definition, He must be both able and willing. So I should therefore ask my opponent, "Then whence cometh evil? "I have spent many years contemplating this question, and came to the conclusion that I do not believe the Gods to be omnipotent, simply because they must maintain the balance of nature. There must always be light and dark, good and evil, order and chaos, for one cannot exist without the other for contrast and balance. There must be both pleasure and suffering, and the Gods are bound to maintain them. They cannot prevent suffering, because doing so would destroy the balance. I then would like to make the point that if the Gods are unable to prevent suffering, for whatever reason, how could we honestly call them perfect? I would next like to cite the existence of diseases such as malaria, smallpox, the black plague, cancer and diabetes, and ask that if this world was perfectly designed by a perfect God, what purpose do these things serve? Surely the existence of cancer and diabetes, conditions caused by malfunctions of our own bodies, are proof that we are not perfectly designed? And if the Gods were incapable of designing us perfectly, how can they be perfect? Or maybe they were capable, but chose not to. Does this not contradict my opponent's argument that God is all-loving and must always want to be perfectly good and make the best choice? Is this not ignoring the woman in the street, or more to the point, being the one to trip her in the first place? Personally, I believe these exist simply as genetic flaws and the results of evolution, which by the requirements of maintaining balance, the Gods are restricted from interfering with too deeply. I personally hold the belief that we became sapient and able to form such abstract and fascinating concepts as Gods and philosophy due to divine intervention, but I also believe that the Gods are incapable by their own natural laws of eliminating things such as harmful microbes. The reason for this being that the Gods must allow nature to take its course for the sake of the balance. If they begin smiting any lifeform they deem harmful to other lifeforms, what hope do we have? Simply, I argue that suffering must exist for pleasure to exist, just as evil must exist for there to be good. However, if God is truly all-loving and all-powerful, and perfectly designed this world according to His whim, where did the suffering and evil come from? And if God is its creator, can we truly call Him all-loving when people die so young of things he supposedly created? Finally, I would like to add on a personal note that if my opponent is capable of proving to me that God can indeed be perfect in a world that appears so imperfect, I will hold much gratitude for it. I hope this will be a genuine learning experience, and I would like to think that if my opponent proves his point to be correct and convinces me of it, then I will have gained much from this debate. Citations:1. . http://www.goodreads.com...;