September 19, 2019
Dear Eric,
Why would God create a universe with evil?
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." Isaiah 45:7
What place in the cosmos does evil have in the plan of a loving God? Could not God have schemed otherwise? "Oh, but evil is simply a consequence of free will" you might say. But could not a loving God then simply create a universe in which free will could be demonstrated without the execution of further evil? "But how could we reject God without doing evil? Is not the very denial of God's gift evil itself?" Why not then simply define evil as the rejection of God and nothing else, and create humans with no more capacity to perform harm that to simply turn away from their creator? Would not free will then remain intact? Would not the test still be valid? Why grant us the further capacity to inflict suffering upon one another without hope of heavenly intervention or immediate consequence? It's as though God either wanted his experiment of free will to play out this way "I create evil" or he simply does not exist, and our conception of God is our own weak explanation for phenomenon we cannot otherwise tolerate or understand.
Would you found heaven upon the suffering of a single child? I would not. I suspect you would not. I expect nobody would. Then why does God? "Oh, but his ways are mysterious." But could God not have created a universe without this puzzle? What value in making us doubt?
"For God is not the author of confusion." Corinthians 14:33
"But the devil is the author of confusion. It is he who confounds, and his devils which prompt us to evil." Then why make or allow the devil? What need of such a being in the heavenly plan of loving salvation? Who would found heaven upon the suffering of a single child? Not I, nor you, nor anyone...nor God Himself.
Evil is an opinion of the Homunculus, written in chalk above the seat of reason. It never really exists beyond our thought and discussion. Evil is nowhere in the universe outside our thinking and the agreement we reach with others. There is no evil in the stars, or blowing with the sand, or in an empty cemetery, or before or beyond life. We decide evil. We perform evil. We are both the authors and executors of our every evil act.
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.
#War #Death #Reason #Good #Virtue #Nature #Maturity #Justice #Indifference #Sin #Oblivion #Philosophy #Arena #Pirate