I happened to be in a Christian bookshop some weeks before Christmas, and picked up a book by CS Lewis "the Problem of Pain" and had a little look through it, just in case there was anything I hadn't read before. There was a chapter where I read the oft-repeated claim that it's impossible for God to give free will without the possibility of evil (ie, suffering, pain, etc), and it's so absolutely impossible that even an otherwise omnipotent God can't do it (apparently it's as impossible as shooting round a corner). Leaving aside the presumptiousness of someone claiming to know what God can and can't do (with God, anything is possible, except when it is deemed impossible because otherwise the whole thing would fall down flat), it struck me that "God" has denied us many options to cause suffering to fellow humans and animals without really preventing free will. For instance: we can choose to make the attempt to tickle someone to death or not, but God has still somehow made us immune to the otherwise potentially deadly effects of tickling - he has prevented suffering, but still allowed us to make the attempt at causing suffering.
Same goes with drowning fish (in water). Attempting to drown a person like this is plainly evil in the sense that your intent is to cause suffering/pain/death. Is attempting to drown a fish in the same way evil too? It's not exactly good. It might be a stupid thing to try, but that's not the point. As far as I can see, attempting to kill a being by a specified method of harm is still evil whether it is immune to that method of harm or not. Same goes for trying to kill a bird by pushing it off a cliff. It's still an intent do to harm, therefore still evil: the fact it can easily fly away and live isn't relevant.
Therefore, the claim that God cannot both give us freewill and prevent suffering is self-evidently false: he's made beings immune from certain types of harm, yet we are perfectly able to choose whether to make the attempt to injure/kill them or leave them in peace.
Same goes with drowning fish (in water). Attempting to drown a person like this is plainly evil in the sense that your intent is to cause suffering/pain/death. Is attempting to drown a fish in the same way evil too? It's not exactly good. It might be a stupid thing to try, but that's not the point. As far as I can see, attempting to kill a being by a specified method of harm is still evil whether it is immune to that method of harm or not. Same goes for trying to kill a bird by pushing it off a cliff. It's still an intent do to harm, therefore still evil: the fact it can easily fly away and live isn't relevant.
Therefore, the claim that God cannot both give us freewill and prevent suffering is self-evidently false: he's made beings immune from certain types of harm, yet we are perfectly able to choose whether to make the attempt to injure/kill them or leave them in peace.
