It is not obvious to me why soul building or the free will theodicy fail to solve most of these like you have asserted. Many have argued for the extension of both of these theodicies towards non human life, and I see nothing implausible about this. After all, if one wants to argue that animals are capable of experiencing X type of suffering, what justification is there for suggesting they can't experience a proportional y type of goodness or virtue? If this is plausible (which I don't see any reason why it isn't) This would mean that there could in fact be justifications for the suffering of non human life going deep into history.
This doesn't answer some of these points, but I think whether you think it is plausible for Soul Building and Free Will theodicies to be extended to animal life is a good place to start
Never fear Mr. Bulldog! It is I, God. Yes. Do not be Shocked. In my omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnirational, omnipresent, omnizoid self, I have deigned to answer your pathetic excuse for an argument against my existence.
First of all you CLAIM that *I* have to account for *all* the evil in the WHOLE world. That's completely ridiculous. Omnibenevolence means that all my actions are good, inaction is not action, that's why the prefix "in" is in it. That means that most of the stuff you talk about is complete NONSENSE.
When I created a PERFECT world (some might say that perfection required more beings, however A. Adam and Eve existed in an infinite number of universes, and B. Ethics is about making people happy, not making more happy people) where Adam and later EVE experienced ABSOLUTE pleasure, that was a very good act. BUT I, in my infinite generosity, also decided to BESTOW upon ADAM that great gift of FREE WILL, because as well all know the creation of beings WITHOUT free will is a SIN of the highest order. HOWEVER, Free Will requires CONSEQUENCES for one's actions, and I, in my infinite genius DECIDED to create the GREATEST consequence of them all. When I informed Adam and Eve that the fruit on the TREE was forbidden they KNEW the consequences of their ACTIONS and DECIDED to consume it. It was AT THAT MOMENT that they ensured a world of SIN that would GRIP Mankind until the second coming of my son.
SO you SEE Mr. Bulldog that it was ADAM and not myself who made that ultimate decision to create the world you DECRY as unjust, and only Adam's descendants in the form of YOURSELF can remedy it by FOLLOWING the act and word of me.
HOWEVER, due to my infinite WISDOM and POWER I will respond to your further arguments.
FIRST, you CLAIM that SUFFERING has been going on without CAUSE for BILLIONS of years prior to humanity. This LAUGHABLE point is DEEPLY flawed for numerous reasons. A. The World was created when the Garden opened, all evidence of what would have come before was made at that moment. B. Even if the world existed before that, NOTHING was CONSCIOUS because the FIRST conscious creature (that you could comprehend) was ADAM, even if other prior beings LOOKED and SEEMED conscious, they were NOT. C. Only MAN can suffer as that term is properly understood, a dinosaur is EQUAL to a rat which is EQUAL to a gnat which is EQUAL to dust which is EQUAL to nothing! D. The IMAGINED suffering of the past you conjure up has created immense JOY for MAN. EVERY explorer, and scientist, and DISCOVERER of the bones of the ancients has held JOY in their HANDS and ADVANCED both the greatness of MAN and their own SOULS.
SECOND, you CLAIM that there is no OBVIOUS reason for the existence of some suffering, such as cancer, parasites, and the like. BUT there IS. A. The laws of the world must remain CONSISTENT. Would it not CHEAPEN the experience of MAN if the rules of reality were reshuffled on a WHIM and forever arbitrary in their operation!?! AS SUCH the consequences of those laws must remain consistent so as to render the world one that man can expect to thrive in. B. EVIL must exist in order for MAN to use his FREE WILL and Cure it. A PERFECT WORLD as you imagine would be a HELL of monotony and would DESTROY the purpose of the SOUL. ANY LESS EVIL in this world would DIMINISH the function of man as a being of WILL, and I an my INFINITE BENEVOLENCE have ensured that EVIL is ALREADY at its minimum level REQUIRED for the task at HAND. C. Absent STRUGGLE there is NO DRIVE in man. Without what you decry as Evil the descendants of Adam would have stayed where they were, never able to advance to the cusp of the HEAVENS ABOVE.
THIRD, you CLAIM that SOME evils are CLEARLY gratuitous. A. Some of the PERFECT arguments ABOVE apply here, such as CONSISTENCY in the rules of the world. B. A BABE with NO CHANCE for EVER meaningfully being a PERSON is NEVER given a soul, SO LONG as their killing is by no one's choice. C. THOSE FEW babes that do get CANCER do so as a NATURAL consequence of the unhealthy actions OF MAN (plastics, toxic chemicals, Military Base water pollution by people not wearing polaroid sunglasses, etc.)
FOURTH, you CLAIM that suffering arises from the way that SOME entities are DESIGNED. A. All of the examples you give are of ANIMALS, who are INSIGNIFICANT compared to the GLORY of man at their BEST. B. The HORROR or the suffering you DESCRIBE is the REASON why man has MOTIVE to use their FREE WILL to ADVANCE and improve the world. C. The aesthetic BEAUTY of an ALL EATING parasite FAR OUTWEIGHS any marginal suffering it may cause.
FIFTH, you CLAIM that all EVIL must be the BEST way of making the world GREAT. A. NO this is incorrect, as explained above SO LONG as each action I take is PERFECT the effects of WILL need not be. B. What EVIL there is is NECESSARILY the best way of PERFECTING the rebuilding of MAN from its ORIGINAL SIN. What motive would man have to advance if there was not EVIL to END. What motive would there be for philosophers to PONDER if there existed no application of that knowledge or EVIL to see it compared against. C. FALSE EVIL or the CREATION of FALSE beings in a way that would create Less SUFFERING is a MORTAL SIN that DECEIVES the SOUL and is TANTAMOUNT to the DECEPTIONS of LUCIFER himself - those that exist MUST be AUTHENTIC if they are to be MEANINGFUL.
SIXTH, you CLAIM that BECAUSE Evil should be FOUGHT it cannot be JUST. A. The ACT of fighting IS the JUSTICE of evil! A world where evil was fought and bested CAN be better than a world where struggle and the STRIVE at the heart of MAN never existed. B. The ABILITY to fight EVIL is necessary to bring CONSEQUENCE and truth to the use of FREE WILL, for without a true and grave consequences to that most important and holy spirits use it is MEANINGLESS.
SEVENTH, you CLAIM that EVIL Varies based on TIME AND PLACE, and is thus fundamentally unjust. A. The PROGRESSION of MAN is the use of FREE WILL that is critical to all that is good and holy. As one can see from the burning LIGHT of PROGRESS, your species is NATURALLY good and JUST, but to GIVE that JUSTICE meaning it MUST be allowed to IMPROVE the world over time. Just as the world in your eyes was HORRIFIC at the time my SON allowed your return to HEAVEN, the beings 2000 years hence will GASP at your existence as they reside within structures you cannot even IMAGINE. B. EVIL lessens as one travels farther and further from he who committed the original sin. And while the salve of TIME cannot absolve one from it, the touch of the SNAKE lessens by it.
It is not obvious to me why soul building or the free will theodicy fail to solve most of these like you have asserted. Many have argued for the extension of both of these theodicies towards non human life, and I see nothing implausible about this. After all, if one wants to argue that animals are capable of experiencing X type of suffering, what justification is there for suggesting they can't experience a proportional y type of goodness or virtue? If this is plausible (which I don't see any reason why it isn't) This would mean that there could in fact be justifications for the suffering of non human life going deep into history.
This doesn't answer some of these points, but I think whether you think it is plausible for Soul Building and Free Will theodicies to be extended to animal life is a good place to start
Never fear Mr. Bulldog! It is I, God. Yes. Do not be Shocked. In my omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnirational, omnipresent, omnizoid self, I have deigned to answer your pathetic excuse for an argument against my existence.
First of all you CLAIM that *I* have to account for *all* the evil in the WHOLE world. That's completely ridiculous. Omnibenevolence means that all my actions are good, inaction is not action, that's why the prefix "in" is in it. That means that most of the stuff you talk about is complete NONSENSE.
When I created a PERFECT world (some might say that perfection required more beings, however A. Adam and Eve existed in an infinite number of universes, and B. Ethics is about making people happy, not making more happy people) where Adam and later EVE experienced ABSOLUTE pleasure, that was a very good act. BUT I, in my infinite generosity, also decided to BESTOW upon ADAM that great gift of FREE WILL, because as well all know the creation of beings WITHOUT free will is a SIN of the highest order. HOWEVER, Free Will requires CONSEQUENCES for one's actions, and I, in my infinite genius DECIDED to create the GREATEST consequence of them all. When I informed Adam and Eve that the fruit on the TREE was forbidden they KNEW the consequences of their ACTIONS and DECIDED to consume it. It was AT THAT MOMENT that they ensured a world of SIN that would GRIP Mankind until the second coming of my son.
SO you SEE Mr. Bulldog that it was ADAM and not myself who made that ultimate decision to create the world you DECRY as unjust, and only Adam's descendants in the form of YOURSELF can remedy it by FOLLOWING the act and word of me.
HOWEVER, due to my infinite WISDOM and POWER I will respond to your further arguments.
FIRST, you CLAIM that SUFFERING has been going on without CAUSE for BILLIONS of years prior to humanity. This LAUGHABLE point is DEEPLY flawed for numerous reasons. A. The World was created when the Garden opened, all evidence of what would have come before was made at that moment. B. Even if the world existed before that, NOTHING was CONSCIOUS because the FIRST conscious creature (that you could comprehend) was ADAM, even if other prior beings LOOKED and SEEMED conscious, they were NOT. C. Only MAN can suffer as that term is properly understood, a dinosaur is EQUAL to a rat which is EQUAL to a gnat which is EQUAL to dust which is EQUAL to nothing! D. The IMAGINED suffering of the past you conjure up has created immense JOY for MAN. EVERY explorer, and scientist, and DISCOVERER of the bones of the ancients has held JOY in their HANDS and ADVANCED both the greatness of MAN and their own SOULS.
SECOND, you CLAIM that there is no OBVIOUS reason for the existence of some suffering, such as cancer, parasites, and the like. BUT there IS. A. The laws of the world must remain CONSISTENT. Would it not CHEAPEN the experience of MAN if the rules of reality were reshuffled on a WHIM and forever arbitrary in their operation!?! AS SUCH the consequences of those laws must remain consistent so as to render the world one that man can expect to thrive in. B. EVIL must exist in order for MAN to use his FREE WILL and Cure it. A PERFECT WORLD as you imagine would be a HELL of monotony and would DESTROY the purpose of the SOUL. ANY LESS EVIL in this world would DIMINISH the function of man as a being of WILL, and I an my INFINITE BENEVOLENCE have ensured that EVIL is ALREADY at its minimum level REQUIRED for the task at HAND. C. Absent STRUGGLE there is NO DRIVE in man. Without what you decry as Evil the descendants of Adam would have stayed where they were, never able to advance to the cusp of the HEAVENS ABOVE.
THIRD, you CLAIM that SOME evils are CLEARLY gratuitous. A. Some of the PERFECT arguments ABOVE apply here, such as CONSISTENCY in the rules of the world. B. A BABE with NO CHANCE for EVER meaningfully being a PERSON is NEVER given a soul, SO LONG as their killing is by no one's choice. C. THOSE FEW babes that do get CANCER do so as a NATURAL consequence of the unhealthy actions OF MAN (plastics, toxic chemicals, Military Base water pollution by people not wearing polaroid sunglasses, etc.)
FOURTH, you CLAIM that suffering arises from the way that SOME entities are DESIGNED. A. All of the examples you give are of ANIMALS, who are INSIGNIFICANT compared to the GLORY of man at their BEST. B. The HORROR or the suffering you DESCRIBE is the REASON why man has MOTIVE to use their FREE WILL to ADVANCE and improve the world. C. The aesthetic BEAUTY of an ALL EATING parasite FAR OUTWEIGHS any marginal suffering it may cause.
FIFTH, you CLAIM that all EVIL must be the BEST way of making the world GREAT. A. NO this is incorrect, as explained above SO LONG as each action I take is PERFECT the effects of WILL need not be. B. What EVIL there is is NECESSARILY the best way of PERFECTING the rebuilding of MAN from its ORIGINAL SIN. What motive would man have to advance if there was not EVIL to END. What motive would there be for philosophers to PONDER if there existed no application of that knowledge or EVIL to see it compared against. C. FALSE EVIL or the CREATION of FALSE beings in a way that would create Less SUFFERING is a MORTAL SIN that DECEIVES the SOUL and is TANTAMOUNT to the DECEPTIONS of LUCIFER himself - those that exist MUST be AUTHENTIC if they are to be MEANINGFUL.
SIXTH, you CLAIM that BECAUSE Evil should be FOUGHT it cannot be JUST. A. The ACT of fighting IS the JUSTICE of evil! A world where evil was fought and bested CAN be better than a world where struggle and the STRIVE at the heart of MAN never existed. B. The ABILITY to fight EVIL is necessary to bring CONSEQUENCE and truth to the use of FREE WILL, for without a true and grave consequences to that most important and holy spirits use it is MEANINGLESS.
SEVENTH, you CLAIM that EVIL Varies based on TIME AND PLACE, and is thus fundamentally unjust. A. The PROGRESSION of MAN is the use of FREE WILL that is critical to all that is good and holy. As one can see from the burning LIGHT of PROGRESS, your species is NATURALLY good and JUST, but to GIVE that JUSTICE meaning it MUST be allowed to IMPROVE the world over time. Just as the world in your eyes was HORRIFIC at the time my SON allowed your return to HEAVEN, the beings 2000 years hence will GASP at your existence as they reside within structures you cannot even IMAGINE. B. EVIL lessens as one travels farther and further from he who committed the original sin. And while the salve of TIME cannot absolve one from it, the touch of the SNAKE lessens by it.
[Continued BELOW]