1. If God is omnipotent, He would have the power to stop evil.
2. If God is onmibenevolent, He would be willing to stop evil.
3. If God is omniscient, He would have foreseen the existence of evil and would have prevented it.
So if God is both willing and able to stop and prevent evil, why does evil exist? I am interested to hear your thoughts.
Note: the intent of this thread is to provoke a thoughtful discussion that would deepen our faith by challenging our presuppositions. We ought to be respectful. However, we should welcome honest criticism if we are to ever find truth and mature in our faith.
Delightful to talk with you, Delizzle,
Here is my answer. I did not read any of the follow-on posts, I am simply addressing your opening post.
THE THEODICE PROBLEM
If the evil in the world is intended by God he is not good. If it violates his intentions he is not almighty. God can't be both almighty and good.
I think David Hume is credited with initially formulating this paradox. But in actuality, this formulation was created by a pagan in an effort to refute the false gods of paganism. Hume may be the first to plagiarize it and attempt to apply it to the God of the Bible.
I think
theo (God)
dice (justice) refers to a good and almighty God allowing pain, suffering and death to exist.
In discussing this issue we first must confront the concept of evil. I could define evil as things that goes against my interests, but that would be logically invalid for the problem as framed above. But defining evil as things that go against the interests of God would fit logically into the problem as framed; so for the purpose of this discussion, evil will be so defined.
So the pain, suffering and death in our world that is consistent with the interests of God are not evil, even though some may consider them evil. To debate this point is a red herring because only the accepted definition establishes the problem as stated.
Therefore, the actual evil in the world is the creation of other somewhat autonomous entities, such as fallen angels and fallen mankind. God is ultimately responsible because he created the capacity for evil; but because His actions are consistent with His purposes, they are not evil.
Now lets turn our attention to the concept of goodness. Something that meets a need is good, something that falls short or is unusable is not good. Goodness must be defined in relation to mankind, but the problem arises in that what might be good for me might not be good for you. The concept that God is good does not require that all the actions of God are good for all people. Also, something might be good for me in the long term, but I would not recognize the need being met in the short term. So the pain, suffering and death in the world that is consistent with God’s purpose might not be seen as good for me during my lifetime, but in fact might be good for me or others long term. Clearly, those harmed by God to further His purpose would have a difficult time recognizing the goodness of their sacrifice! And again, to question the existence of the afterlife is a red herring, because the theodice problem turns on the ultimate justice of God.
So now lets turn to the crux of the problem. Evil, contrary to the will of God exists, and our all-powerful God allows it to exist. Therefore it appears that either God is not good or not almighty. But wait, there is more.
The purpose of the creation of mankind is the glorify God. In order for some of mankind to glorify God, we must choose to love and obey, to turn and to trust our savior and lord, Jesus Christ. Why would we choose God, rather than self love, if there was no pain, suffering and death in this life, and no potential to attain justice and peace in the next? Just as the law is a tutor to lead us to knowledge of the wrongness of our choices, our harsh environment is a tutor to lead us to knowledge of the consequences of our wrong choices. When God told Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, he said the consequence would be death. So the creation of the capacity to love God, or other stuff fulfills the purpose of creation. And with this capacity to be an evil-doer, to love other stuff, comes a price. In order for our logically consistent and all-powerful God to create mankind with the capacity to choose to glorify God, He must allow us to make our choices and live with both the short term and long term consequences. The outcome of our choices is not always good, but without that reality, we would not exist at all.
Conclusion of the Matter:
The Theodice problem is a non-problem, God is good but we are not, God is all-powerful but is staying His hand so that some may choose to glorify God. 
