The understanding of evil comes from how Creation is viewed

[Pugsly]

Where did evil come from?

Most people, understandably, have a serious problem with evil in a place created by a good God. Having read a lot of confused posts over the year…I know that there is a number of people who are caught up on this question.

I believe that everything about our understanding of “evil” hinges on how we view the act of creation. There is one way of viewing creation (I believe it is the correct way) wherein a good and holy and pure God ALLOWS light/good to shine out of darkness/evil. The key word is ALLOWS.

For example, let’s pretend you are God…unlimited good…but the reason you are an eternal God is because you always follow a certain way of doing things…eg…Wisdom. However, via your imagination, you visit a dark place of limited good…wherein you imagine people (Wisdom delighted in the sons of men)…and you want to “rescue” them.

[Note…Did evil always exist in God’s imagination…yes…but only as a potential…“The Fear of the Lord is eternal”…God told us that He Himself knew of the potentials of evil and death in the Garden…“The day you eat of it you will surely die”.]

Now, God portrays for us this potential evil as a vast, dark sea of chaos in the begining of the Bible…Why a “vast” sea? Because, like a sea, it seems to us that potential evil is almost unlimited…but not life giving like fresh water. Why “dark”…because He was not actually there yet. (This is a theological BIGGIE that most people just pass by)
Now, let’s further pretend that you want to rescue ALL limited good from that sea of chaos…How could you do it without contaminating your own goodness?

The short answer is that you freely choose only perfect goodness…(your Perfect Act of Mercy–Jesus)…knowing that all things will come crashing into being…like proud waves that God restrains…and you can then rescue the limited good within the larger choice of perfect goodness.

Hence a Perfect God ALLOWS his Perfect Son to travel through the dark sea of chaos…(picture Moses at the Red sea…or Noah…or the Jordan crossing…or baptism…etc) which “momentarily” brings existence to the non-existent. Those temporarily existent beings can complain and moan about the dark chaos of their neighborhood (evil) or they can cry out to the Lord of Life–Jesus as he passes along the path of Wisdom.
“Today is the day of salvation.”

 

[ellzeena]

Where did evil come from?

Most people, understandably, have a serious problem with evil in a place created by a good God. Having read a lot of confused posts over the year…I know that there is a number of people who are caught up on this question.

I believe that everything about our understanding of “evil” hinges on how we view the act of creation. There is one way of viewing creation (I believe it is the correct way) wherein a good and holy and pure God ALLOWS light/good to shine out of darkness/evil. The key word is ALLOWS.

For example, let’s pretend you are God…unlimited good…but the reason you are an eternal God is because you always follow a certain way of doing things…eg…Wisdom. However, via your imagination, you visit a dark place of limited good…wherein you imagine people (Wisdom delighted in the sons of men)…and you want to “rescue” them.

[Note…Did evil always exist in God’s imagination…yes…but only as a potential…“The Fear of the Lord is eternal”…God told us that He Himself knew of the potentials of evil and death in the Garden…“The day you eat of it you will surely die”.]

Now, God portrays for us this potential evil as a vast, dark sea of chaos in the begining of the Bible…Why a “vast” sea? Because, like a sea, it seems to us that potential evil is almost unlimited…but not life giving like fresh water. Why “dark”…because He was not actually there yet. (This is a theological BIGGIE that most people just pass by)
Now, let’s further pretend that you want to rescue ALL limited good from that sea of chaos…How could you do it without contaminating your own goodness?

The short answer is that you freely choose only perfect goodness…(your Perfect Act of Mercy–Jesus)…knowing that all things will come crashing into being…like proud waves that God restrains…and you can then rescue the limited good within the larger choice of perfect goodness.

Hence a Perfect God ALLOWS his Perfect Son to travel through the dark sea of chaos…(picture Moses at the Red sea…or Noah…or the Jordan crossing…or baptism…etc) which “momentarily” brings existence to the non-existent. Those temporarily existent beings can complain and moan about the dark chaos of their neighborhood (evil) or they can cry out to the Lord of Life–Jesus as he passes along the path of Wisdom.
“Today is the day of salvation.”

Have you ever read about “tsimtsum”?

Rationality is part of the human ability so it must be part of God in some way. Rational thought tells us that where there is a “thesis”, there is an “antithesis”: light/dark, etc. This is all bound in creation which, is in itself, in time and space. God is outside of time and space. He allows certain things because He created free will (and not just in humans, it exists in nature, also). There are things he doesn’t allow (as in, miraculous events that stop something awful). It appears to me, after great reflection and years of prayer and study, that God’s creation is intended to be a “mirror image” of Himself and He is, slowly but surely, bringing that to fruition.