The Problem of Evil can be refutted effectivley.

My Opponent: "This is a big old fail for one reason; not everybody operates under what you call "free will". There are people whose minds are set from birth to become sadists, rapists, murderers. " So, people are born as rapists and murderers? How is that so? What evidence do you have to prove that? Maybe the fact that they are rapists and murderers are actually results of a bad upbringing, which is the parents' fault, due to free will, not God's. My Opponent: "Think about mentally retarded people who legitimately don't know right from wrong. " Why are there mentally retarded people in our society? The parents of mentally retarded people are to blame here, most of them have free will. Why wasn't he institutionalized or TAUGHT right from wrong (most mentally retarded people can still be taught what is acceptable or not). Even this is the result of wrongdoing on the part of humans. So then, if mentally retarded people are meant to be institutionalized why did God create them? God made these people for the very purpose of soul-making. I know a couple with a down-syndrome child, and they have conceded that it is more of a blessing than a curse. ; most down-syndrome children are very happy children. My Opponent: "Also, just because we are allowed to do anything within the rules, why did God make the rules as he did? For example, I wish to use my free will to fly, but God has made this impossible. Why could he not still give us free will but eliminate rape and torture entirely? " Because being able to fly doesn't encourage soul-making on any level. BUT NEITHER DOES RAPE AND TORTURE, my opponent will probably say. Once again, rape and torture are consequences of free will, and therefore human's fault, not God's. My Opponent: "Two people are tortured and slain ahead of their time just so another two can have a child. Why did God need to make the second couple sterile in the first place? If this is how God operates, he's not only evil, he's stupid and inefficient too. " Everybody has to die. The slaying of them is, again, the consequence of free will. Secondly, only some adoptive parents are sterile, I know of several who are not and just wish to raise children who wouldn't otherwise have parents. But, for the sake of this debate, let's suppose that this couple is sterile. So, the fact that these people cannot have children of their own INCLINES them to adopt this child, and by adopting this orphaned child, they help her in the long run. My Opponent: "If this being sees torturing a human as evil but not a chimpanzee, this being is pure evil. " No, he just doesn't equate animal life with human life. My Opponent: "What about the millions starving to death and about whom the fellow "humanoids" don't even know? " Who's fault is it that we don't know about them? I think that it is yours and mine, not God's. My Opponent: "More to the point, why would he have created those evils in the first place, even though he was planning on shielding us from them? " Maybe he didn't create them. If their is an all-powerful loving being, who is to say that there isn't an all-powerful evil being (Satan). My Opponent: "What of the millions of rapes committed every year which are seen by nobody but your "benevolent" god? " Rape is the consequence of free will. I rest my case.