But accepting the theory of evolution negates the original sin argument. How could natural evil be caused by original sin if animal pain and suffering predated the emergence of humans by hundreds of millions of years?
*puts on theologian hat *
Since God is omniscient and lives in eternity outside time, obviously he'd know what was going to happen and could, so to speak, get his retaliation in first, and punish all those cute little monotremes and pterodactyls for something that we were
going to do ...
Mysterious ways, eh?
How about we try Descartes' solution? Animals don't have souls, so they don't actually suffer any more than a machine does. That would fix it. Yes, it's absurd, but this
is theology.