God needs evil for an authentic relationship with humanity

The argument

This theodicy answers the problem of evil by arguing that a world without evil would make the relationship between God and humanity worth less, not more. The reasoning turns on what a choice requires. In a world containing no evil at all, human beings would have no choice between doing good and doing evil, because only one of the options would exist. Their conduct would be good by default rather than by decision, and the moral life would consist of taking the only path available. The same applies to the love of God. In a world with no alternative to God's goodness, omnipotence and benevolence, human beings would have no choice but to love him — not because the love was compelled by force, but because nothing else was on offer. On this argument that is not the same thing as being loved. A response given where no other response is possible tells you nothing about the one giving it, since it would have been given by anyone placed in the same position. What evil supplies, then, is the alternative that makes the choice real. By ordaining evil, God creates a world in which human beings choose good in the face of evil rather than in its absence, and in which turning toward him is one option among others that are genuinely open. A person who loves God under those conditions does so because they want to, and their love can be attributed to them rather than to the arrangement of their circumstances. That, on this account, is what an authentic relationship requires. Because God needs evil in order to have one with humanity, this theodicy holds, evil in the world is explained as the condition of a freely given love rather than as a failure of divine goodness.

Context

Without evil, humans would have no choice but to love God. Humans need a choice between good and bad to choose "good". Humans need to choose "good "to have an authentic relationship with God. Without evil, there would be no choice and no authentic relationship.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Evil also encompasses natural evil (caused by natural phenomena such as disease, earthquakes, and floods). This does not affect the quality of any relationship. People don’t “choose” their relationship with God. It is largely dependent on their upbringing, their parent’s religious choices, the influence of their peers, and the people they meet and interact with. Finally, if God ordained evil to establish an authentic relationship with humanity, how can we explain animal suffering and evil acts committed against animals? How can it explain suffering and evils committed against those that have not had the opportunity to choose to resist temptation? Children who die from diseases before they are able to choose to love God or choose to resist evil have had no opportunity to build an authentic relationship with God.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Most people who have a relationship with God did not choose God in any real sense. [Rejecting P3] Some people do evil things out of necessity, not choice.