J
Joyousguard
Guest
First and foremeost, evil is the absence of good, not good is the absence of evil for good existed before evil and thus evil must be defined by good rather than good defined by evil. Before there was evil there was only good and good alone. Evil is the absence of good or evil is the absence of God because of tolerance not inaction.
There is a difference here and it is between inaction, tolerance, absence and allowing. (a little leadway on the definitions if I may have it) Inaction is doing nothing one way or the other. Tolerance is knowing that there is evil but realizing that it must be tolerated to a certain extent beacuse trying to confront and destroy it would cause more evil. Absence is not being involved in the action at all. Allowing is giving ones permission to do something or even offering help in an act. Allowing something to occur is being present in that action regardless of the culpability.
God is not a being of inaction or allwoance when it comes to evil but instead is one of tolerance. He is absent in His presence of an evil action because of tolerating the decision we have made using our own freedom of choice rather than Him allowing such actions or simple inaction on His part. God may observe all actions, even evil ones, but that does not mean mean He allows evil actions to happen nor does it mean He is present in those actions. God tolerates evil actions and allows for us to reject His presence in that action we know as sin. Again this does not mean that He allows evil to happen or even that He is present in that evil action but that He merely tolerates evil as the result of freedom of choice that He himself gave us. Evil is a creation that results when we succumb to temptation and choose to reject the presence of God in our actions.
This is a different understanding than how humans would judge the allowance, inaction or tolerance of the actions of other humans. We did not give humanity this freedom to choose and we are not all powerful and all knowing so it becomes a bit difficult in certain regards for comparrison. Since God Himself gave us freedom of choice, we have the freedom to accept or reject His presence in our actions. God’s action was to give us the freedom of choice, but we are allowed to choose if we want His presence or if we do not want His presence (sin) in our actions. God gave us the freedom to choose. Our choices can lead us to reject His presence, which in turn leads to His absence from our actions as a result of His tolerance for our God given right to choose, not His allowance of evil or any inaction on His part.
For humanity the choices are different. We can allow and choose evil like Hitler did the holocaust. We can tolerate evil like the Church did slavery The Church tolerated slavery for generations yet they had no presence in that action. We can choose inaction like Switzerland. Since we humans, or at least most of us
, are not superman or divine in someway, we are not judged by the same criteria as God or the actions of God.Well the key difference here is that although God created both those who cause good and evil only one action can be said to be a reflection of His nature. All men seek the good. A christian seeks to help others, a chef seeks his own restaurant etc. etc…you get the point. Now some seek the false good; money, sex, power the list becomes obvious, but the question is “why”. People seek wealth because they see it as a false good and perhaps a satiation of their desired happiness. People seek sex because it is pleasureable and offers them an escape. People seek power because they want control etc. etc. Murderers even seek the good when they murder. This is a false good but none the less they seek the good but are uable to distinguish between what is a false good and what is an actual good.
- God is their Place
This God is not “separate from” creatures; such a God, or rather god, is not the “Holy, Holy, Holy” God of Isaiah & St. John.