What kind of god would give people cancer, aids, epilepsy, emphysema, diarrhea, or any of the other medical problems people get? Why worship a god that isn't good, even if he does exist?

Muslim View

The Muslim Perspective

When you consider that this life is a trial and is temporary, whatever of pain and pleasure in it is part of that trial and temporary as well. Many believe that God doesn't exist, yet they still face these problems you speak of. In that context, these problems would be considered as part of what is possible in this life; something that happens that people have to deal with; something out of our hands. Yet when God is put into the picture it takes on a negative connotation and people want to blame Him?

The fact of the matter is that He gave us life and everything we have. Ironically, when we think of life, love, happiness, food, shelter, health and all the many other blessings that God gives us, these same people don't ask the question: Why not worship a god that does all this good? How ungrateful and self-centered.

In answer to your question: A God who does whatever He wills. A God who gives life and can take it away. A God who gave you the very intellect which you use to question His existence. And we should worship Him because he gave us life. We owe him our very lives and the amount of worship we do can never fully repay all the things He does for us. This, even if you don't see the wisdom behind His decrees.

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Atheist View

The Atheist Perspective

No capable and compassionate God would allow any of that. Therefore no capable and compassionate God exists. But whether God exists is a different question from whether, if we agreed He existed, we should worship Him. An evil God might exist, and every moral being ought in that case not to worship Him but rebel against all His works. But I see no credible evidence that even an evil God exists.

The Argument from Evil

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Christian View

The Christian Perspective

Interestingly enough, in presupposing that there is such a thing as "good", we must acknowledge that there is some kind of "rule of behavior" that transcends individual humans. However, if there is no good God, then such a transcendent rule of behavior cannot exist.

In other words, the only reason we can identify things as being good is because there is a good God who is the very measure of goodness. This is called the "argument from morality" and basically goes like this:


Premise 1. If there is no good God, there are no objective moral values.

Premise 2. However, there are objective moral values.

Conclusion. Therefore there is a good God.


Accusing anyone (even God Himself) of behaving in an immoral manner is identical to proclaiming the existence of a good God, because without a good God, nothing would be immoral.

Since, therefore, your question presupposes the existence of a good God, the answer must indeed be that a good God is the kind of God that would give people these diseases, and that since He is the measure of goodness, it would be silly not to worship Him.

We then, as finite and ignorant humans, naturally stand back and ask ourselves a much more appropriate question, namely, WHY a good God would give someone these diseases. Occasionally, we have answers (such as in John 9:3). Occasionally, however, we don't, and unless we have a "god complex" ourselves, there is absolutely no logical reason we should have a problem of any kind with being partially ignorant of our good God's perfect will (just read Job 38-42).

If you have not placed your life in His perfect hands, there is no better time to do so than now.

The Book of Job

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