The Atheist Turtle: Why are there so many starving people in the world?

Mat (Mature Atheist Turtle): That answer (to Why Won’t God Heal Amputees) seems like a copout but let’s move on to question #2;

Why are there so many starving people in the world? Why would God be worried about you getting a raise, while ignoring the prayers of desperate, innocent children and their parents [praying for food]? It doesn’t make any sense, does it? Why would a loving god do this [allow them to starve]? To explain it you have to come up with some sort of very strange excuse for God, like: God wants these children to suffer and die for some divine, mysterious reason. Then you push it out of your mind because it absolutely does not fit with your view of a loving, caring God.

Mat had worked himself into a tizzy

Ary: I agree with you. There is no explanation for god to act the way you suggest. He is a weak evil god who derives pleasure from the suffering of his creation. The problem is that you have manufactured that god for your own purposes. You set the rules for his behavior and then condemn me for not justifying it. That is perverted. It is your job to justify the actions of your god, or, perhaps more to the point, to explain why you want that god.

Mat: Your god is no better!

Ary: In fact my God is not only better, He is perfect, or perhaps I should say, PERFECTION. His Word tells us that after He had finished creating He looked at everything and said that it was very good.

Mat: Ha! Your god is not omnipotent or he would have created a perfect world, not just very good.

Ary: He could have, but He would not, but that is for another day. In the very good world He created man had ready and unimpeded access to all the food he needed. Note that I said needed. God created man to need to eat and in that we are dependant on His provision.

Mat: I know where you are going with this. Man screwed up, right?

Ary: More than that. Before the fall food was solely the provision of God. Man cared for the garden but his efforts were not necessary to sustain his life. After the fall God was no longer the sole provider of the food. Humans had to work and work hard to survive. You are demanding that God restore us to our state before the fall. By what reason would God do that and overlook the crime of humanity?

Mat: What about the babies, the starving, belly bloated, fly covered babies? What crime have they committed?

Food to feed thousands provided by Christians

Ary: That is a hard question because it illuminates our failure. There is more than enough food produced every year to feed everyone. The problem is buying it and getting it to the needy. From the earliest days of the church believers have worked to relieve hunger and disease. The same is true today but often the food purchased and shipped to feed the starving is stolen by corrupt people and sold to enrich themselves.

Mat: Why doesn’t god just kill the warlord who steals the food?

Ary (angry): You are not God! That warlord has a soul and is no less precious to God than you are. You would condemn that man’s soul to hell?

Mat: He deserves it.

Ary: We all deserve it, but while we live there is a chance to change - A chance to be saved. Let me tell you a story. Once there was a man who, just like the children you mentioned was starving. He lived a miserable life, hungry and covered with sores which the dogs came and licked. Finally, he died and was in heaven. The life of misery he led was over, replaced by one of happiness. Soon after, his rich master who had not fed or cared for his servant died too but his soul was separated from God and his former servant.

Mat: It seems like we are back where we started but with god unwilling to fix it. To me that seems worse than him not having the power. What you are saying is that god could fix it but won’t.

Ary: On the contrary, God has provided the fix. If all the world followed Him and we were all brothers there would be no warlords to steal food.