The presence of evil and suffering in the world proves there is no God ?

Myth # 9: The presence of evil and suffering in the world proves there is no God.
Some people think that the problem of evil, with the suffering it brings, is a barrier to belief in God. The argument goes like this:
1. A God who is good and loving would not want evil to exist.
2. A God who is all-powerful could remove all evil if he so desired.
3. Thus, if God is both good and all-powerful, there would be no evil.
4. But evil continues in the world.
5. Therefore, God (at least a good and all-powerful God) does not exist.
This argument is superficially convincing. But it has one basic flaw. The third point does not follow from the first two. All that is required, if God were both good and all-powerful, is that evil would not exist forever. God would at some point deal with evil and remove it from his creation.
The argument does not reckon with the grace of God. It fails to take into account the love and compassion God has extended to us, his creatures, in delaying the removal of evil from the world. Suppose God were to immediately wipe out all evil. Where would we stand? Which one of us is free from evil? Far from remaining an intellectual problem “out there,” evil is a moral existential problem within each of us. We ourselves are the problem of evil. And if simple eradication were the answer, we would have no hope.
But the choice is not so stark. There is a third alternative, and this is the heart of the Christian message. God became man in Jesus Christ and took upon himself the total, cumulative weight of all of the world’s evil and suffering. Jesus died to solve the problem of evil. With the cross, something happened that is beyond human understanding.
God was not interested in simply eliminating evil if that meant getting rid of his creation in the process. Instead he offers us a way out – the way of forgiveness of our guilt, and the renewal and transformation of our broken lives and suffering world. How evil will finally end is just as mysterious in its origin. Perhaps no adequate human account can ever be given. Nevertheless, the Bible envisions the ultimate triumph of good in the universe because God has acted on our behalf. He both desires and is able to solve the problem of evil.
Now the onus is on us. We must start with ourselves if we are not to further contribute to the problem. We each need radical change, and this is what Christianity offers. The ball is in our court. God has already acted. Now it’s our turn.