Hello, Dr. Craig. My name is Mary Carmen, and I am writing to you from Mexico with a question.

I have three adult children, two of whom are believers and one who is not.

He is my middle son, Abiram, who is 30 years old, and currently pursuing a PhD in molecular

biology in Germany.

Although he cites many reasons to justify his atheism, including scientific ones, one of the main reasons

is the problem of evil. In fact, I believe my son began the process of losing his faith

when I became gravely ill with peripheral neuropathy, which caused damage to my nervous system

and even led to episodes of psychosis. That stage of our lives affected the whole family, but he never recovered

from it. He was only 14 at the time. Eliezer, my oldest son, is a careful student of your work,

and often debates with Abiram, trying to show the rationality of his faith. He is the one who

has helped me write this question. In their most recent debate, my son Abiram asked,

If God exists, why is there so much evil in the world that seems pointless? My oldest replied that,

as human beings, we are not in a good position to judge with confidence whether such evil truly has

no point, since God could have reasons for permitting it.

Therefore, even though it does not appear that much of the evil in the world has a point,

one cannot infer from this that evil is actually pointless.

However, my son Abiram disputed,

if we are not in a position to judge with certainty that evil in the world is truly pointless, then we are also not in a position to judge with certainty that evil in the world is truly pointless, then we are also

not in a position to judge with certainty that it is not. I have no clue on how to answer his

objection, and I thought perhaps you might be able to help us. My oldest son, who is familiar

with your work, has helped me put Abiram's argument in the following form.

1. If God exists, gratuitous evil does not exist.

...