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Discussion and Debate
Discussion and Debate
Ethics & Morality
Theodicy and the Holocaust
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<blockquote data-quote="Silmarien" data-source="post: 74360801" data-attributes="member: 395596"><p>I would start by seconding Quid's recommendation and saying that you ought to read <em>The Brothers Karamazov</em>. I think it's the best formulation of the Problem of Evil out there, and is definitely worth reading. (An easier read would be David Bentley Hart's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Doors-Sea-Where-Was-Tsunami/dp/0802866867" target="_blank">The Doors of the Sea</a>, which is similarly themed.)</p><p></p><p>I've always been more troubled by the problem of natural evil than human evil, probably because Dostoevsky made a serious impression upon me. The Holocaust was not a hurricane, the current refugee crisis is not a drought--we need to look at these sorts of events through the lens of corporate sin and recognize that we are reaping the results of what we sow. If people were truly selfless, could genuinely love their neighbor like themselves, then the world would look very different. We wouldn't flip out at the thought of wealth redistribution or turn a blind eye to the genocides that are still taking place.</p><p></p><p>I don't have a problem reconciling human evil with a benevolent God because we are the ones doing it. I also don't think you should view these sorts of issues outside of the larger Christian context, since a lot of it is transformed by the eschatological promise of future world where everything has been redeemed. This world is fallen, and the Incarnation presents a taste of what God intends to do with it, but for the moment it remains fallen. I think the only real question for theodicy is whether any future perfection can truly justify present suffering, but I don't think we have the information necessary to make that judgement at present.</p><p></p><p>All my pretensions of being a generic theist crashed and burned because of the Problem of Evil, because this is really a paradox that only exists in the Christian context. Christianity transformed the ancient world and introduced a new interpretation of justice that really strikes me as unique, and I think that the world is a significantly better place than it used to be because of it. So a more interesting question for me than "can God be just in a world with this much injustice?" would be "can slavery be unjust in a world without a just God?" I would say no, so I see the reality of divine justice simply in the steady improvement in our moral understanding over the past 2000 years. We are conforming to God's will, even if sometimes it's only by recognizing after the fact just how badly we messed up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silmarien, post: 74360801, member: 395596"] I would start by seconding Quid's recommendation and saying that you ought to read [I]The Brothers Karamazov[/I]. I think it's the best formulation of the Problem of Evil out there, and is definitely worth reading. (An easier read would be David Bentley Hart's [URL='https://www.amazon.com/Doors-Sea-Where-Was-Tsunami/dp/0802866867']The Doors of the Sea[/URL], which is similarly themed.) I've always been more troubled by the problem of natural evil than human evil, probably because Dostoevsky made a serious impression upon me. The Holocaust was not a hurricane, the current refugee crisis is not a drought--we need to look at these sorts of events through the lens of corporate sin and recognize that we are reaping the results of what we sow. If people were truly selfless, could genuinely love their neighbor like themselves, then the world would look very different. We wouldn't flip out at the thought of wealth redistribution or turn a blind eye to the genocides that are still taking place. I don't have a problem reconciling human evil with a benevolent God because we are the ones doing it. I also don't think you should view these sorts of issues outside of the larger Christian context, since a lot of it is transformed by the eschatological promise of future world where everything has been redeemed. This world is fallen, and the Incarnation presents a taste of what God intends to do with it, but for the moment it remains fallen. I think the only real question for theodicy is whether any future perfection can truly justify present suffering, but I don't think we have the information necessary to make that judgement at present. All my pretensions of being a generic theist crashed and burned because of the Problem of Evil, because this is really a paradox that only exists in the Christian context. Christianity transformed the ancient world and introduced a new interpretation of justice that really strikes me as unique, and I think that the world is a significantly better place than it used to be because of it. So a more interesting question for me than "can God be just in a world with this much injustice?" would be "can slavery be unjust in a world without a just God?" I would say no, so I see the reality of divine justice simply in the steady improvement in our moral understanding over the past 2000 years. We are conforming to God's will, even if sometimes it's only by recognizing after the fact just how badly we messed up. [/QUOTE]
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