Those old Greeks, sharp little blades weren't they? However, the question is not quite so simple as Epicurus lays it out to be. God is both able to stop evil, but at the same time unable to stop evil. How can this be? He has the power to abolish evil from the world. However, if he did so it would destroy the world as we know it, and he does not want to destroy the world.
Look at it this way -- suppose that God is a person playing Solitaire with a deck of playing cards. At any time, God could eliminate the suit of Spades from the deck. But if he did so, he could no longer play Solitaire, since you need 52 cards to play the game. God can tip over the table and scatter all the cards on the floor any time he likes. He can stack the cards any way he chooses. But the game of Solitaire has certain rules, and if he were to do these things, those rules would be broken, and he could no longer play. He can break the game rules easily, but he wants the game to continue. See how it works. We're God's game.
He gave us free will. I think of this world as more of a testing/learning/growing dimension. Our souls/being can advance, decline. Evil is allowed as part of the test.
Except I am not interested in playing God's game since his rules are clear as mud. Freewill gives me self authority. Exercising freewill condemns me to infinite punishment for a finite transgression.
God is all powerful according to the bible.
Therefore God COULD if he chose, remove the suit of spades and yet STILL have 52 cards. Can't wrap your monkey brain around it? Doesn't matter, God is ALL powerful. Therefore he can brake and remake the laws of physics and reality at will.
Obviously we don't care about solitaire. This is just an example. The real question is can God fix evil, without destroying man's free will. That is always the justification I get from the religious when talking about this stuff. He could end evil, but it would eliminate free will...
But if he truly were all powerful he could have ended evil while still preserving free will. Or is that something God is incapable of? So we are forced to conclude that God is either incapable of ending evil, or unwilling. I ask you, what righteous being would willing allow such suffering as we see in the world today had they the power to prevent it?
At this point not one Christian I have ever debated, which has to be dozens at this point, has been able to give me a straight answer. Not one.
Alternatively you can boil this question down how the Simpsons did. "Can god microwave a burrito too hot for Him to eat?" This paradox will also BSOD any Christian or your money back.
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