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The Beginning of Understanding


I've been thinking a lot. I know - big surprise.

But I think I'm starting to understand something.

God is good.

No brainer, right?

Well, hang with me a moment:

There is a quandary that some philosophical types like to engage in regarding the nature of God. they start out with the following premise:

1. God exists.
2. God is all-powerful.
3. God is good.

Seems OK so far, right?

Well, the problem comes in the following:

1. Evil exists.
2. God is opposed to evil.
3. Yet evil persists.
4. Therefore, either God is not all-powerful, or God is not good.
5. Therefore, there is no God (God is not God).

This line of thinking is fairly ancient. Epicurus was perhaps the first to widely articulate/promulgate the paradox which currently bears his name. It's disappointing that something so inane and simplistic could come from an otherwise fairly good mind... I think that many people have had similar problems with evil.

So I would (humbly) suggest the following:

There is no evil.

Yep, I said it. But I want to clarify.

The only real evil is failure to progress. All real evil is rooted in repression - of freedom, of individuals, of enlightenment (which is real freedom).

How can I make such an assertion, when so many terrible things are perpetrated on a regular basis, things which are clearly not desirable, detrimental, or destructive? And what about those seemingly random, natural things that happen that are so harmful?

Well, what about them?

This is the realm of faith. Faith is belief or confidence in things that are not seen. Faith can be only correctly placed in true or correct principles. Faith is NOT knowledge - it is a willful and conscientious suspension of knowledge in an effort to gain further understanding and peace.

People - even in secular realms - exercise faith all the time. Reading a textbook, listening to a lecture, or engaging someone in conversation is all an exercise of faith. If one did not have faith in the veracity of the claims being made in the textbook, in the credentials of the professor/instructor, or in the integrity of the person with whom one is conversing, one could have no confidence and logically would not engage their faculties in said exercises. Yet these things happen all the time. Faith is required for all action, all learning, all exploration. If one did not first believe one could DO SOMETHING, one would never endeavor.

What does this have to do with evil?

Faith in God is rooted in two of the guiding principles by which the universe are bound - namely, justice and mercy. God is just. God is merciful. How can these two disparate qualities exist in the same being?

When I make a mistake - when I sin - I have offended justice. According to the demands of justice, I must immediately be destroyed because of my action. Yet I am not. This demonstrates the mercy of God. God has granted to people - to all of us - a time to learn before experiencing the full weight of offended justice. This delayed justice comes at a price - a price which has been paid. In full.

By the Savior.

The atonement is that which grants this space - a time for me to make my mistakes and learn from them, making myself better and stronger for having experienced what I have. Thus, even my mistakes can be turned to my benefit.

Thus, there is no evil, except that which I allow to persist in my life, in my soul.

There are terrible things that happen - things which no one would want. Families are torn apart. Natural disasters happen. Wars, pestilence, disease, famine - all very real and all very destructive. Yet all things combine to give individual and collective experience. The worst thing that can happen to someone, then, is NOT physical death - which is guaranteed for everyone anyway. The worst thing that can happen is a failure to learn from one's own mistakes. For me, that is the only real evil.

The adversary achieves this evil through several means, ranging from lying to us that our sins will not be known to lying to us that our sins are so great that there is no amount of repentance that would be sufficient to compensate. I can think of only one sin that is so grievous - that is murder. Everything (!) else falls under the dominion of the Lord of our souls. Christ has paid the price for my sins.

The only real evil I can do is to NOT lay claim on that gift, the gift which cost the blood of the Master Himself.

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