I was recently in a conversation about the problem of evil and shared some of the ideas from Karen Kilby's article "Evil and the Limits of Theology." I reflected on this essay a few years ago, but it bears revisiting.
I have to confess that a great chasm lies between my belief in God, which for me is the unity of being, life, mind, wisdom and love, and my refusal to believe that God knowingly creates a child who will be thrown alive into an oven in a Nazi concentration camp, or be shot to pieces in her second grade class room. Many believers solve this problem for themselves by taking the position that God purposely refuses to see the future. But for myself, a God who lives, creates, knows and loves only in the present speaks better for God. As far as the presence of evil itself, love being the greatest of all things needs free will...if it is not free will, it is not love. That means that evil is the vacuum left by the refusal and absence of love. Finally, as to the question of how we respond to those who have suffered, and I know the suffering of losing a child, simple presence and love transforms a truthful, "I don't know" into a sacred answer.
Within my own spiritual journey, when confronted with the personal horrors of suffering and loss, the Paraclete has responded essentially in those very three ways that Kirby has described. But not in the order and manner in which my small mind would have preferred. To me, all three are not conflated or askew, but spring from the same root and are in effect ‘The three-fold cord’ found in Ecclesiastes. Intellectual, Moral and Pastoral Responses like [Faith, Tradition and Reason] must be held in a very difficult balance and in tension. An over reliance on any one mode or method, can lead to the perpetuation of isolation and continued suffering. Joy and growth occur in deep worship and fellowship, and when blended with intellectual acuity, together they can open up pathways of understand and healing for ourselves first, and then others.
The apparent incoherent and spiritual impalpability that a ‘Free Will Theodicy’ seems to offer, is not easily reconciled with an Omniscient & Loving God who appears complacent to the ongoing horrific nihilism of mankind. But in balance, [and it is the hardest balance to ever embrace intellectually] it is that the same Free Will granted to those who chose “Evil”, that is afforded to me as well; that I might chose the “Good”. The ‘chain of causality’ behind both, in any one person’s life, is not micromanaged and controlled by God, and if it were to be, it would be a Farcical Universe where True Self-Sacrificial Love did not exist, nor our ultimate redemption as created entities. But Love is who He is, and it is what He does [a-temporally], thus His ultimate answer to our pain, suffering and self-destructive predatory nihilism, is ‘The Cross’ [The Incarnation, His Death & Resurrection – [and ultimately OUR Resurrection!] It is not only our resurrection as individuals, but our resurrection as a ‘Species’ as well, intended to reflect His glory and spread His love into this universe and beyond. In and of ourselves, we cannot escape our own biology and the existential angst that comes along with it. Only when we are united with the Divine in Jesus, will any of us ever escape that trap.
Great distinction. What are the tropes and tools (or building blocks) of an emotional answer to suffering/death look like? What are the positive things a pastor or friend can say or do in the case of being a friend to those grieving the diagnosis or death of a loved one?
The problem of evil stops many believing in a God that is wholly good. Even for many Christians this problem leads them to see evil, and its personification in Satan, as somehow on a par with God. This is Manicheanism: the belief in a split Godhead: good and evil battling each other eternally.
But in this reality of time and space nothing exists except by virtue of its opposite. If the universe is essentially good, then evil must exist also. Given the fact of free-will, we are not bound to follow the correct path, we can fall into error, wander astray, or be led astray. We are here to freely choose to serve God, to give our life and the best of who we are back to where they come from, to give the credit where it is due, to dedicate every act and every creation to the source of all inspiration. It is in this way that the source is augmented, increasing its manifestation ‘here below’. Existence is a love story and love cannot be forced.
When we wander off course, when we err, there must be (if the universe is essentially good) an effect which warns us of our error, and it is this which we call conscience, which is to feel the same regard for another as you do for yourself. There are no victimless crimes and every crime carries its specific punishment in its train. There is no avoiding karma for the laws of cause and effect hold for the psyche as much as they do the material world, because the material world is a manifestation of the psyche.
For those that deny their conscience the punishment is oft subtle and/or delayed, for there may be a higher reason for their evil (ie unconscious) acts. Normally, the longer the person denies or overrules their conscience, the sicklier they will become. The only way to avoid this is magic, black magic, which is what Oscar Wilde was writing about in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. Dorian completely overrides his conscience but remains angelic looking, for he has transferred the consequences of his actions onto a very lifelike painting of himself which becomes more and more grotesque looking as he sinks deeper and deeper into depravity. Eventually it is this painting – his own spiritual reflection – which torments him and leads him to destroy it, and in so doing he breaks the spell, killing himself also.
Evil destroys itself. One does not need to fight evil, just call it out for what it is and remain apart from it. We are not to hate the evildoer, but we are to condemn the evil. We are to love the evildoer, which doesn’t mean liking them. Loving the enemy means that our intention is directed not at condemning them but in praying for their awakening….praying that they can rise above the unconscious forces which control them. (cont in link)
I have to confess that a great chasm lies between my belief in God, which for me is the unity of being, life, mind, wisdom and love, and my refusal to believe that God knowingly creates a child who will be thrown alive into an oven in a Nazi concentration camp, or be shot to pieces in her second grade class room. Many believers solve this problem for themselves by taking the position that God purposely refuses to see the future. But for myself, a God who lives, creates, knows and loves only in the present speaks better for God. As far as the presence of evil itself, love being the greatest of all things needs free will...if it is not free will, it is not love. That means that evil is the vacuum left by the refusal and absence of love. Finally, as to the question of how we respond to those who have suffered, and I know the suffering of losing a child, simple presence and love transforms a truthful, "I don't know" into a sacred answer.
💗
Within my own spiritual journey, when confronted with the personal horrors of suffering and loss, the Paraclete has responded essentially in those very three ways that Kirby has described. But not in the order and manner in which my small mind would have preferred. To me, all three are not conflated or askew, but spring from the same root and are in effect ‘The three-fold cord’ found in Ecclesiastes. Intellectual, Moral and Pastoral Responses like [Faith, Tradition and Reason] must be held in a very difficult balance and in tension. An over reliance on any one mode or method, can lead to the perpetuation of isolation and continued suffering. Joy and growth occur in deep worship and fellowship, and when blended with intellectual acuity, together they can open up pathways of understand and healing for ourselves first, and then others.
The apparent incoherent and spiritual impalpability that a ‘Free Will Theodicy’ seems to offer, is not easily reconciled with an Omniscient & Loving God who appears complacent to the ongoing horrific nihilism of mankind. But in balance, [and it is the hardest balance to ever embrace intellectually] it is that the same Free Will granted to those who chose “Evil”, that is afforded to me as well; that I might chose the “Good”. The ‘chain of causality’ behind both, in any one person’s life, is not micromanaged and controlled by God, and if it were to be, it would be a Farcical Universe where True Self-Sacrificial Love did not exist, nor our ultimate redemption as created entities. But Love is who He is, and it is what He does [a-temporally], thus His ultimate answer to our pain, suffering and self-destructive predatory nihilism, is ‘The Cross’ [The Incarnation, His Death & Resurrection – [and ultimately OUR Resurrection!] It is not only our resurrection as individuals, but our resurrection as a ‘Species’ as well, intended to reflect His glory and spread His love into this universe and beyond. In and of ourselves, we cannot escape our own biology and the existential angst that comes along with it. Only when we are united with the Divine in Jesus, will any of us ever escape that trap.
Great distinction. What are the tropes and tools (or building blocks) of an emotional answer to suffering/death look like? What are the positive things a pastor or friend can say or do in the case of being a friend to those grieving the diagnosis or death of a loved one?
Very helpful. Thank you.
https://hermetrix.wordpress.com/the-holy-war/
The problem of evil stops many believing in a God that is wholly good. Even for many Christians this problem leads them to see evil, and its personification in Satan, as somehow on a par with God. This is Manicheanism: the belief in a split Godhead: good and evil battling each other eternally.
But in this reality of time and space nothing exists except by virtue of its opposite. If the universe is essentially good, then evil must exist also. Given the fact of free-will, we are not bound to follow the correct path, we can fall into error, wander astray, or be led astray. We are here to freely choose to serve God, to give our life and the best of who we are back to where they come from, to give the credit where it is due, to dedicate every act and every creation to the source of all inspiration. It is in this way that the source is augmented, increasing its manifestation ‘here below’. Existence is a love story and love cannot be forced.
When we wander off course, when we err, there must be (if the universe is essentially good) an effect which warns us of our error, and it is this which we call conscience, which is to feel the same regard for another as you do for yourself. There are no victimless crimes and every crime carries its specific punishment in its train. There is no avoiding karma for the laws of cause and effect hold for the psyche as much as they do the material world, because the material world is a manifestation of the psyche.
For those that deny their conscience the punishment is oft subtle and/or delayed, for there may be a higher reason for their evil (ie unconscious) acts. Normally, the longer the person denies or overrules their conscience, the sicklier they will become. The only way to avoid this is magic, black magic, which is what Oscar Wilde was writing about in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. Dorian completely overrides his conscience but remains angelic looking, for he has transferred the consequences of his actions onto a very lifelike painting of himself which becomes more and more grotesque looking as he sinks deeper and deeper into depravity. Eventually it is this painting – his own spiritual reflection – which torments him and leads him to destroy it, and in so doing he breaks the spell, killing himself also.
Evil destroys itself. One does not need to fight evil, just call it out for what it is and remain apart from it. We are not to hate the evildoer, but we are to condemn the evil. We are to love the evildoer, which doesn’t mean liking them. Loving the enemy means that our intention is directed not at condemning them but in praying for their awakening….praying that they can rise above the unconscious forces which control them. (cont in link)