Re: If God is All Powerful, Why Must Evil and Suffering Exist in the World?
excellent question. But the principle that answers is the same and consistent. This may turnout to be a lengthy one but I will try.
Natural catastrophies are simply the continuation of the natural process (that God invoked if you are a believer). For example the planet, the oceans and currents, weather, the tectonic plates, the mountains…all of them (were) formed in a particular configuration that enabled life. But that process cannot stop - when sunshines, water has to evoporate; when it condenses it has to rain; when it rains water has to flow; when water flows muds has to be washed; when mud is washed tree has to fall…
The baby affected by disease and epidemic - the key here is why epidemics occur which again can be explained everytime by a combination of natural & manmade factors using above.
The other part of the question - why that baby? what bad thing did that baby do to die so young? This is a trickier question and depending upon whether you subscribe to Hindu philosophy, and to what degree and what parts of it you subscribe to (note I did not use the term ‘believ’ but the term subscribe to’ also note it is the Hindu philosophy i am talking about and not the religion), one or more of the following will apply:
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karmic cycle from across births; the Hindu puranas have numerous direct references of events that happen to babies and children because of prior birth actions. There are even cases where the effect of certain actions are measured to several births due to the enormity of the good or bad deed.
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we as present day human beings are very self centered and apply only our points of view; therefore we miss the big picture. An example: from a cosmic (not the best word but cannot think of the better one) perspective a baby may dying is neither a good or bad thing by itself. For example when a deer gets hit by a car it is a wasteful death from human perspective and therefore we feel bad. But (assuming you are not a vegetarian) if an animal is killed to be food, would you feel bad about it? Ofcourse from a human perspective, it is very difficult for us equate a baby and a deer. God’s perspective may be different.
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There is also the concept of attaining freedom from the birth-death cycle to reach and unison with the God. In that respect, there cited cases where death acts as a fast track. Again very difficult to accept for human beings but not difficult to comprehend.
Somebody once said and I only partly remember, the physical properties of matter - mass and energy- that maintains integrity (eg: a building standing as built) is also the same that cause decay (eg: a building is not only designed to stand, but the very same design is what causes it ultimately fall in a particular way). We like the ‘standing’ part and dislike the ‘falling’ part.
PS: As I read my post it occurred to me that it may not be easy or possible for everyone to appreciate or accept ‘karmic cycle’. so I’d add following:
Forget karmic cycle. It is by now well understood by all that a man and a woman can do certain things before they conceive a baby, that can materially, significantly and even corporally affect the baby that hasn’t even yet been conceived. and then there are certain things that can be done after the baby has been conceived but before entering each stage of formation & birth …and so on. So you may ask, how is it fair for that baby if its dad smoked and drank heavily and that led to a weak of diseased baby being born?
Because a baby is an effect, it can only be that of its causes. Surprisingly this is well understood in almost all cultures and accepted in all religions I know of (and I don’t know them all). We always say 'I am xyz son of so&so, grand son of so&so, coming in the clan of so&so etc…John**son **)