Does God exist?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Does God exist?". Your opponent's style: Devil's advocate

I don't usually reflect on this question, so an argument won't come easily to me by itself. Can you provide the first argument?

Look, if God exists, why does a child die of cancer while a predator lives to 90? An all-powerful, all-good being wouldn't allow that suffering. So either God can't stop it or doesn't care. Which is it?

No, no, the opposite side

Fair enough. That suffering is exactly why we need God—without Him, there's no objective meaning to it, no cosmic justice, no reason to think it matters at all. Why should we even care about a child's pain if we're just atoms?

And God made the suffering. Either God can't stop it, doesn't care, or this level of suffering in the world is justified. If God is omnibenevolent and omnipotent, then your takeaway must be that this level of suffering in the world is justified. What justifies it though? The fact that God allows it?

You're circular. You're saying suffering is justified because God allows it, then using that to prove God exists. But "God permits it, so it must be good" is just circular logic dressed up. If I tortured someone and said "it's justified because I allowed it," you'd call me a monster. Why does omnipotence get a free pass? What actual justification exists beyond divine authority?

No, opposite side

Free will. God gave us genuine choice, and that requires the possibility of suffering. A world without pain is a world of puppets, not free beings. Can you even call it love if He strips away our ability to choose?