Once upon a time, God created a whole bunch of people and sat them down in front of a huge banquet table filled with hamburgers, pizza, and tacos. They were very hungry and tried to eat, but God had neglected to give them elbows. Every time they tried to get the food to their mouths, their hands were too far away. Eventually, they got so frustrated that the table divided into four groups.
The first group of people said, "God must be very stupid, or He is not all-powerful. Because if God were smart, He would have known that we need elbows to eat; and if He were powerful, He would have been able to make them." Depressed at the thought of being stuck with a God who could not help them, they turned to the second group of people for advice.
The second group answered, "Look around at the trees, the mountains, the oceans, the sun, and the whole universe. God must certainly be all-knowing to have thought up all of this. And he must be all-powerful to create it all. The truth must be that God is mean and selfish and filled with anger and revenge. And that is why we have to suffer." At the thought of being stuck with a horrible God, these people became very afraid, and in imitation of their "angry God," they began to turn on one another in violence.
The third group of people cried out: "Stop! You just admitted that God must be all-powerful. But what is the most positive power that exists in the world? Of course, it is love. So if God exists, He must be all-powerful. And if He is all-powerful, He must be all-loving. Therefore, because we are suffering, God must not exist." At the thought of a world without any God at all, the people around the table became very cynical. They saw that life was ugly, brutish, and short. And they sat in protest until they began to starve to death.
