Yes, you are right that my solution addresses only the moral evils of man. I have thought about "natural" evils as well. The problem with Augustine's solution is that it implies that every flood, earthquake, tsunami, etc. that destroys peoples' lives was caused or allowed by God in order to bring about a loving purpose or perhaps to punish the people who undergo such disasters. But are those people any more deserving of such punishment as those who live elsewhere where such disasters seldom or never occur?Greetings Brother Alan, you wrote:I think the first big short-coming with this solution is that it addresses only those evils that are caused by the choices of men, i.e., moral evils. But, the Problem of Evil deals with ALL evils, including those evils which are not caused by human beings. Thus, this proposed solution would not adequately respond to the evils which are caused by other things, eg., natural disasters, accidents in which no sin was involved, etc. Thus, for example, it does not appear that this proposed solution would give an adequate response as to why babies die at birth, or why thousands of people might die in an earthquake, or why a seemingly perfectly healthy and young father of one of my friends back in grade school tragically and suddenly died while playing basketball on a previously very joyful Thanksgiving Day, etc. The objection against the existence of an all-good, all-knowing, and all-loving God covers these sorts of evils, too, not just moral evils, for life is full of these sorts of evils. In fact, I would say that it is these sorts of evils—the NON-moral evils—which pose the biggest difficulty to holding to belief in a God who is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful (for, it would seem that if such a God exists, He would surely want to and be able to stop such evils from occurring). So, it appears that this proposed solution, since it does not seem to give any sort of response to these non-moral evils, has a rather large lacuna in it.
What I think may be the explanation for these disasters, is that when Adam and Eve chose their own way in the garden of Eden, and fell from God's protection, not only were their descendants all fallen as well, but also nature itself! Thus these damaging floods, earthquakes,tsunamis, etc. are examples of fallen nature.