The core fallacy of the argument and every worldview that would utilize it is that human beings possess an inherent righteousness or goodness within themselves, and that by their inherent worth or goodness; and that as such they cannot conceive that God would decree evil upon his human creation unless they first forfeited or earned his displeasure through evil of their own making.

The response to this argument has to be 'Go and read your Bible.' The OT particularly contains story after story of men, women, and children bearing the brunt of God's wrath against the sins of others. Think of the kids in Israel when they were taken captive by Babylon or the Assyrians. Or the children of the nations that Israel attacked? Or those firstborn Egyptian boys? If they are going to make the argument, they could dig up worse scenarios than an isolated child rape case and moreover, find them in the Bible!

It all seems beyond unfair, incomprehensible even, until you begin to see that men women and children are in fact without righteousness before God, without any kind of it, or any amount of it that he should recognize us and defer to our sense of well being. Absolutely Zero. We are nothing, less than nothing.

This is underscored to me by the fact that unredeemed sinners get lumped together with the devil and his angels at the judgment day; shows how much inherent righteousness people have apart from Christ.

I also want to respond to these folk that it is plain that for every instance of evil that God ordains in the world, they are each accompanied by a thousand mercies. Men are blind to them of course and do not recognize or give thanks for them.

I wonder if any of these folk have ever thought or said 'thank God it wasn't worse' because from their perspective that phrase shouldn't make any sense at all. Whereas we can say it at every instance of the day and marvel at God's multitude of restraining graces!