In This Essay Johnson Compares God's Behavior with That of a Morally

Multiple Choice

In this essay Johnson compares God's behavior with that of a morally good person. If you know that a six-month-old baby is in a burning building and you have the opportunity to save it without undue risk to your life, you would no doubt save the baby. Of course, if you could not save the child, you would be excused. The question is, "Why doesn't God intervene to save not just babies who are caught in fires but people everywhere who are suffering and in great need of help?" Johnson considers various "excuses" the theist might claim for God and argues that they all fail. His conclusion is that if there is a God, he or she is probably either evil or both good and evil.
-According to Johnson, to the theist's claim that in a world without suffering there would be no opportunities to cultivate virtues such as courage and sympathy, the atheist can reply that

A) there is more suffering in the world than is needed to produce these virtues.
B) human suffering is an illusion.
C) God would not permit suffering.
D) the world should have zero suffering.