God and Evil
April 24, 2003 (Last modification: June 14, 2003)
Let me say thanks to Lauren and two people in a Spanish Christian chatroom for helping me realize this and setting me rightside up.
I have come to my final conclusion about the issue of the absence and prevalence of evil. Ever since I wrote that first entry about God and Evil, it kept at the back of my mind like something was wrong. I thought about it; my logic and the steps from the beginning to end seemed irrefutable. However, something was wrong. I had people tell me it was both true and false. I attempted to pray about it, but still didn't seem to find an answer.
I have come to this conclusion: I have absolutely no clue what evil is. And am thinking that this is fine. I do not need to know the answer for something so complex; some things are better left unthought, unsaid, and unanswered. I did, however, find the fallibility in my original argument. God loves everyone--the sinners, the Christians, the in-betweeners. God's mercy keeps someone from being truly evil so there is no way to categorize evil esp. when dealing with people. So then how do we know there is evil? What would you define evil as? I can only think of one thing: disobedience. I am thinking that that is how we know evil exists-- because evil tempts us to disobey God. Thank God for His mercy so that we can repent and overcome evil! So those are my conclusions about evil and people. I'm going to end it at that. If you want to ask me about it, feel free, but I'm done with this discussion. No.. think...anymore...
Through this whole discussion I have also come to a conclusion about myself. I think in absolute terms too much, sometimes too much mind and not enough heart. It was either evil or not evil; an attempt to make something black and white that is in actuality gray. In fact, I was looking back on an e-mail written to me from my Lit teacher about some topic over Society or something that seemed unjust. He responded by saying "I try to think in less absolute terms". I guess that should have rung a bell when I first read it. However, now I realize this potential fault, and perhaps I will be able to deal with it better in the future. BUT this will not stop the search for the answer!
Love,
Lemme