Thanks, Jsisrl. A nonlinear mindset is what you get when you study the concepts of time paradoxes and the Nature of God simultaneously.
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If God is good, then why is there evil?
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Jesus Is Real
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Dryhtenes, I just hope to keep the 'mind of Christ' as is the Promise of God!
Take care!
Take care!
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I've always found an interesting answer to be one presented by Saint Augustine.
When we talk about cold, what we are really referring to is a lack of heat (chemistry actually kicking in!), cold itself doesn't exist except in terms of giving a name to a lack of heat. So let us look at evil not as evil, but as something lacking in good. God is all good, and all powerful, and everything has some amount of good within it -- but this can be a great amount, a great holiness, or it can be next to nothing yet and become what we constitute as 'evil'.
Just some thoughts I thought I'd throw out there.
When we talk about cold, what we are really referring to is a lack of heat (chemistry actually kicking in!), cold itself doesn't exist except in terms of giving a name to a lack of heat. So let us look at evil not as evil, but as something lacking in good. God is all good, and all powerful, and everything has some amount of good within it -- but this can be a great amount, a great holiness, or it can be next to nothing yet and become what we constitute as 'evil'.
Just some thoughts I thought I'd throw out there.
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Evil often disguises itself as 'Good'. That is why I think it is so hard to spot or openly talk about the real things that are evil. The spiritual battle that goes on all around us, we are often blind to.
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walkaways,
I find Augustine's view of evil (evil as "privation") interesting also. I do think Augustine is correct to point out that evil is parasitic on good. But it seems wrong that evil is merely nonbeing, the lack or privation of good. The Bible seems to see evil as being positively bad. Sin is not just a lack of following God's laws (though it certainly is that) - it is also a positive breaking of them. Our actions are not just lacking goodness when we sin; they are inclined in the opposite direction.
In any case, Augustine's idea of evil as privation makes no progress whatsoever in relieving the problem of evil. Even if evil is simply the lack of good, then it is a very painful lack indeed. And Augustine acknowledged (as I do) that the Bible everywhere holds God to be the ultimate cause of all things. If this is so, then God is also the ultimate cause of the painful "privations" which we call evil, and the question remains as to why God would have ordained such absences of goodness in His creation.
It is worth noting that Augustine's take on the problem of evil, despite his view of evil as privation, is quite Biblical in the end:
I find Augustine's view of evil (evil as "privation") interesting also. I do think Augustine is correct to point out that evil is parasitic on good. But it seems wrong that evil is merely nonbeing, the lack or privation of good. The Bible seems to see evil as being positively bad. Sin is not just a lack of following God's laws (though it certainly is that) - it is also a positive breaking of them. Our actions are not just lacking goodness when we sin; they are inclined in the opposite direction.
In any case, Augustine's idea of evil as privation makes no progress whatsoever in relieving the problem of evil. Even if evil is simply the lack of good, then it is a very painful lack indeed. And Augustine acknowledged (as I do) that the Bible everywhere holds God to be the ultimate cause of all things. If this is so, then God is also the ultimate cause of the painful "privations" which we call evil, and the question remains as to why God would have ordained such absences of goodness in His creation.
It is worth noting that Augustine's take on the problem of evil, despite his view of evil as privation, is quite Biblical in the end:
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FOMWatts<><
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walkaways said:
That is a GREAT explanation!!! Thanks for posting this!
Blessings,
FOM<><
P.S. Is that you in that picture???
You are very pretty if it is!
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Magisterium
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Perhaps I can answer the actual question which I think was "How did God, who is diametrically opposed to sin, create it?"
One may reasonably conclude that God indirectly (through man) created sin. However, though this appears reasonable at first, it is incorrect. The truth is, God's will, is all that is Good and True. However, as a function of His complete love, He created man with an ability to "make" independent choices. This is described as free will.
This free will is necessarilly completely separate from the creator. Particularly because Love is a choice. If the creator manipulates one's will, it is no longer that person's will, but that of the creator. Therefore, In order that man could indeed return the love the creator, he was created with the distinct ability to choose.
Unfortunately, with that ability, came the ability to disobey and not return the Love of the creator. Thus was born sin. Man's free will as we now see, actually allows him to literally "create" something. Creation is typically something reserved for God in which he makes "something" from "nothing". We can typically only re-shape and manipulate "existing" things to arrive at "new" things. Other than Sin, there is nothing else we can "create" from nothing.
One may reasonably conclude that God indirectly (through man) created sin. However, though this appears reasonable at first, it is incorrect. The truth is, God's will, is all that is Good and True. However, as a function of His complete love, He created man with an ability to "make" independent choices. This is described as free will.
This free will is necessarilly completely separate from the creator. Particularly because Love is a choice. If the creator manipulates one's will, it is no longer that person's will, but that of the creator. Therefore, In order that man could indeed return the love the creator, he was created with the distinct ability to choose.
Unfortunately, with that ability, came the ability to disobey and not return the Love of the creator. Thus was born sin. Man's free will as we now see, actually allows him to literally "create" something. Creation is typically something reserved for God in which he makes "something" from "nothing". We can typically only re-shape and manipulate "existing" things to arrive at "new" things. Other than Sin, there is nothing else we can "create" from nothing.
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St. Athanasius wrote "Against the Heathen" at age 19, and summed up rather well how sin came into being, in conflict with that which was created good. This man was a brilliant writer and man of God.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2801.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2801.htm
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Do not be so quick to give Satan the blame for evil. He might tempt us, but in the end it is OUR descicion to choose. We choose either good or bad. If I choose to for eg. shoot someone then it is my fault. I caused the evil.
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