If God Exists, Why My Tummy Hurt?

Introduction:

I was scrolling through instagram and saw a “funny” post. It was an image with a caption that read, “Atheists be like: If god exists, why my tummy hurt? 😂😂😂😂”. The comments were full of people laughing, thinking it was a joke on atheists for making such “silly” arguments.

But I realized that, far from being silly, that is actually a perfectly valid and logical argument against the existence of a benevolent God. It’s an honest question that cuts to the very core of the problem of suffering.

The Two Kinds of Pain

Many theists defend suffering and they tend to sort pain into two categories.

First, there’s “good” suffering; pain with clear purpose. This is the kind that builds character, like a tough workout that makes you stronger, failing a test that motivates you to study harder, or a difficult breakup that leads to personal growth. This kind of pain, they would say, is part of a divine plan because it leads to a better future.

But then there is unnecessary suffering; pain with no apparent reason, no character-building purpose. A theist, however, will argue there is a Divine Master Plan, and that even seemingly pointless suffering is part of a greater, incomprehensible design. They’ll tell you that because you don’t know why a bad thing happened, you can’t say it’s pointless. Even a child having cancer, they might argue, could be for a “greater good.” Maybe it’s a test from God.

The Logic of the Apparent:

As humans, we must judge the world based on the apparent evidence. We don’t have access to divine hidden plans; we only have our logic and our senses.

Imagine you see a man violently beating his wife and kids in the middle of a road. Your immediate, rational judgment would be that he is doing something cruel and harmful. You wouldn’t assume, “Perhaps he has a hidden, benevolent reason we can’t understand 🤓.” From the standpoint of available evidence, the only reasonable conclusion is that the man is acting maliciously.

This highlights the absurdity of the “God’s plan” argument. We’re asked to abandon our most basic logical conclusions just because the actor is a divine being.

The Evidence of the Unnecessary

The “tummy ache” argument is a microcosm of the pointless, unjust suffering in the world. It’s evidence of a world that does not operate on a benevolent divine plan.

This leads to a formal logical argument known as the Evidential Problem of Evil:

• There exist instances of intense, unnecessary suffering that an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without losing a greater good or allowing an equal or worse evil.
• A wholly good being would prevent any intense suffering it could, unless it could not do so without losing a greater good or allowing an equal or worse evil.
• Therefore, there does not exist an omnipotent, omniscient, wholly good being.

Conclusion:

A god who allows such unnecessary suffering, even if for “hidden reasons”, is from our standpoint indistinguishable from a malevolent or indifferent being. The more rational conclusion is not that God has secret benevolence beyond our grasp, but that no benevolent God is at work. The tummy ache isn’t a silly meme. It’s a small but telling example of the cracks in the supposed divine plan.