I have come to believe part of the problem of "evil" is how we define evil and understand the Mystery Underlying Creation (whom we call "God"). If we consider the created order as somehow different than how a deity sitting outside of creation designed it, were going down a blind alley. Earthquakes are not evil - they are part of plate tectonics which recycles carbon into the earth's crust making life possible. Hurricanes are not evil, they are part of the mechanism to balance heat in the atmosphere. Carnivorous animals are not evil, even if they occasionally kill people, they are part of the ecological balance of the environment.
It is only when we conceptualize God as relationship (hence the notion of the Trinity) and the fact that higher primates (especially Homo Sapiens) have the innate ability and mental capacity to manipulate and break relationships do we begin to see sin and evil as negation of relationships.
Our relationships with God, ourselves and others (as well as our environment) become subject to the big capital I of our egos, and it is God, through the pattern of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who offers us a way through it. God invites us not only to the mountaintop of the transfiguration, but also to follow Jesus up the hill to Jerusalem where our precious egos are crucified, laid in the tomb and raised to new and everlasting life. As Robert Farrar Capon put it, "Jesus did not come to teach the teachable, reform the reformable or improve the improvable, he came to raise the dead".
As soon as I started reading your comment, I thought to myself, "I wonder if this fellow is familiar with the work of Robert Farrar Capon". And lo, my intuition was sound 🙂
The problem of evil is that we believe that evil exists in the same sense as good creation exists. John 1:3 "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."
Evil exists as a lie that when believed and acted on, affects all things that exist. The things that exist never cease to be good but evil curates its rumour of existence within good creation causing the good to act on evil. Evil is a metaphysical lie that causes us physical grief. In this sense, evil does not exist except as a perpetuated metaphysical lie. All things are created good, and remain good and if they were treated as such, there would be much less evil in the world, or perhaps much less evil in us and in our circle.
And then there’s Jesus crucified before the foundation of the world. It’s all a paradox that maybe we can’t solve. Maybe it’s where trust in God’s love comes in.
The Lutheran liturgy at my church says we are by nature sinful and unclean in the confession. If I am paying attention I go silent. It also says we are justly deserving of eternal punishment….silent then too. Those doctrines did damage to me as a kid. It’s been a long walk to apprehend original blessing. When you look it’s stunning to see Gods glory in the world and people.
I feel like God says to us, “ You want to die? Then you get to die. But I will die with you. Even better I will swallow death and bring you to life, good, tears wiped away life.”
God does this a LOT in the scriptures. He allows things but comes along behind and makes them a polemic. "You want ABC? You will have it, and then I will embody it and you will realise that ABC come from me."
Amen and amen - not worth letting go in order to solve the problem of evil. I think this is why I've never fully jumped into the Process Theology camp. There's just some things not worth letting go in order to solve the problem of evil.
Augustine was wrong! Start from that position and he is easy to understand. He was a bipolar theologian. He had a loving wife and betrayed her. He constructed a fantasy in his head of some golden age in the past and an equally fantastical view of his present and then again a fantasy of the future he could neither see or understand. He infected theologians since with his fantasy. I recommend his Christmas sermons (with gentle caveats) but on the rest he is better understood as mentally ill, struggling to find comfort and making up fantasies to suit.
I have come to believe part of the problem of "evil" is how we define evil and understand the Mystery Underlying Creation (whom we call "God"). If we consider the created order as somehow different than how a deity sitting outside of creation designed it, were going down a blind alley. Earthquakes are not evil - they are part of plate tectonics which recycles carbon into the earth's crust making life possible. Hurricanes are not evil, they are part of the mechanism to balance heat in the atmosphere. Carnivorous animals are not evil, even if they occasionally kill people, they are part of the ecological balance of the environment.
It is only when we conceptualize God as relationship (hence the notion of the Trinity) and the fact that higher primates (especially Homo Sapiens) have the innate ability and mental capacity to manipulate and break relationships do we begin to see sin and evil as negation of relationships.
Our relationships with God, ourselves and others (as well as our environment) become subject to the big capital I of our egos, and it is God, through the pattern of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who offers us a way through it. God invites us not only to the mountaintop of the transfiguration, but also to follow Jesus up the hill to Jerusalem where our precious egos are crucified, laid in the tomb and raised to new and everlasting life. As Robert Farrar Capon put it, "Jesus did not come to teach the teachable, reform the reformable or improve the improvable, he came to raise the dead".
As soon as I started reading your comment, I thought to myself, "I wonder if this fellow is familiar with the work of Robert Farrar Capon". And lo, my intuition was sound 🙂
👍
The problem of evil is that we believe that evil exists in the same sense as good creation exists. John 1:3 "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."
Evil exists as a lie that when believed and acted on, affects all things that exist. The things that exist never cease to be good but evil curates its rumour of existence within good creation causing the good to act on evil. Evil is a metaphysical lie that causes us physical grief. In this sense, evil does not exist except as a perpetuated metaphysical lie. All things are created good, and remain good and if they were treated as such, there would be much less evil in the world, or perhaps much less evil in us and in our circle.
I like Bruxy Cavey’s comment that Creation is beautiful and broken. That revelation brought everything into focus for me.
And then there’s Jesus crucified before the foundation of the world. It’s all a paradox that maybe we can’t solve. Maybe it’s where trust in God’s love comes in.
The Lutheran liturgy at my church says we are by nature sinful and unclean in the confession. If I am paying attention I go silent. It also says we are justly deserving of eternal punishment….silent then too. Those doctrines did damage to me as a kid. It’s been a long walk to apprehend original blessing. When you look it’s stunning to see Gods glory in the world and people.
Terry LeBlanc says that Evangelical theology starts Genesis at Ch 3, with the fall.
We should start the story at Ch 1, with the original blessing.
Yes absolutely.
I feel like God says to us, “ You want to die? Then you get to die. But I will die with you. Even better I will swallow death and bring you to life, good, tears wiped away life.”
God does this a LOT in the scriptures. He allows things but comes along behind and makes them a polemic. "You want ABC? You will have it, and then I will embody it and you will realise that ABC come from me."
Yes
Still wading through MacIntyre's flotsam and jetsam...
Amen and amen - not worth letting go in order to solve the problem of evil. I think this is why I've never fully jumped into the Process Theology camp. There's just some things not worth letting go in order to solve the problem of evil.
Augustine was wrong! Start from that position and he is easy to understand. He was a bipolar theologian. He had a loving wife and betrayed her. He constructed a fantasy in his head of some golden age in the past and an equally fantastical view of his present and then again a fantasy of the future he could neither see or understand. He infected theologians since with his fantasy. I recommend his Christmas sermons (with gentle caveats) but on the rest he is better understood as mentally ill, struggling to find comfort and making up fantasies to suit.