The Problem of Evil, Part 1
The "Problem of Evil" (wikipedia) has been and is probably the toughest question atheists have posed to Christians. A theist's answer to this problem is called a "theodicy." It takes a good theology to pose a good theodicy, but maybe I'll cover that later.
What I'm primarily interested in right now is not the threat that the Problem of Evil poses for Christianity, but the problem it poses for atheism.
If an atheist poses the problem of evil to me, my first response should be, "Define evil." If the atheist is able to define evil, then the atheist is able to define goodness. If the atheist is able to define goodness and evil in objective terms, then they will be admitting to some ultimate standard of good and evil. By definition, atheist shouldn't be able to do that.
Suddenly, if my reasoning is correct, the problem of evil becomes a problem for atheists, not theists.
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The Problem of Good
If there is no God, how can there be good in the world?
turning it over
I've been turning your comment over in my mind all week.
I think that it's good. I'm pretty sure it's at least an equally good wording of the problem the atheologian faces. I'm glad you posted it. While it ultimately comes down to semantics, we should all be aware that our choices of words in different situations, while only semantically different by degrees can have completely different impacts on the audience.
I can see that the difference in wording could lead the conversation down completely different paths.
Thanks, Paul!