Then he is impotent. Then he is malevolent. But even this argument is still a bit vague. Surely the problem must be more than just a set of questions that embarrass theists. Peo ple who use the problem of evil to criticize theism appear to take two main approaches.
Theists simply contra dict themselves.
The second approach is epistemological, holding not that the existence of evil is logically inconsistent with the existence of a perfectly good and omnipotent God but rather that it constitutes powerful evidence against the existence of such a God. That is, the existence of evil in the world constitutes very good reason to disbelieve or at least seriously doubt the existence of the God of theism. Both approaches are serious prima facie threats to theism, but a second dis tinction should be made. Some critics of theism emphasize that the problem of evil is created for theists given the existence of any amount of evil in the world, however small. Other critics emphasize the problem of evil as being created by the actual amount of evil that exists in the world.