The Problem of Evil

One of the most common objections to the existence of an omnibenevolent God is the so-called "problem of evil". Its proponents claim that if God loves everyone, how can He let bad things, like murder or tsunamis happen in the world? The logical conclusion of their argument is that an omni-benevolent God must not exist.
Now let's refute it. First, there are two types of evil: man-made, and natural. Murder is an example of man-made evil, because people kill each other. A tsunami, on the other hand, is an example of a natural evil, because people don't cause tsunamis.

Man-made evil is easy to explain in the context of an all-loving God. It is clear in Genesis that God endowed humans with free will, so that we can make our own decisions and take responsibility for them. Along with freedom comes those people who choose to abuse it. God does not interfere with free will, even if the action take were evil, but lets final judgment mete out punishment for the wrongs committed. God therefore doesn't cause evil, and permits it because He respects human free will.

However, natural evils are much more difficult reconcile with an all-loving God. The answer must be that, as odd as it sounds, natural disasters aren't intrinsically evil. In order for an action to be morally evil, the person performing the action has to intend the evil. Morality is premised on a system of praise and blame, where good deeds are praised and evil deeds are punished.This presupposes that there is someone to praise or blame for the action; someone has to take culpability for it. However, tsunamis and hurricanes can't intend evil because they aren't living beings. Agents of natural disasters can't be blamed for their destruction, and therefore the disaster isn't an intrinsic evil. To be sure, the deaths and sorrow that follow natural disasters are great tragedies, but it would be incorrect to assign the blame to God. God created the natural world, but doesn't micro-manage everything that happens.