Monday, September 22, 2008

Might I have been on to something?

Back in Philosophy 1110, our professor challenged us with the question of why does evil exist and how does that fit with a God who is believed to be all powerful, all knowing, and all good?

I found myself remembring the discussion while i was studying for my intercultural communication class. What reminded me is that within our western point of view we have a dualistic view of things, we see good, we see evil, but the two are separate, in our own way of thinking.

In Africa, they view such thinking in terms of oneness, inseparable. If there's death then there must have been life for something to die. They see death and life, tied together, such as the day and the night, a cycle, in which one defines the other.

Back in philosophy i proposed the question, "Could it be that we have to have evil to know what good is? To be able to recognize God's love in the contrast of the present evils?"

Light has shadow, darkness. Without the blackness of space how would the stars stand out? Without the work of the devil that God allows, how would we see and define His goodness? His love?

Just some deep thoughts I've begun to ponder

2 comments:

  1. Interesting thoughts, Josh. I think that God allows evil, because He wants to see His children at work. How can active Christians, in fact, be active if they haven't got something to do? Here was something that I thought you might enjoy: while reading James 2, I happened upon faith expresssing itself through actions. James, under God's inspiration, gave the example of a Christian helping the poor as one that displays his faith through actions. Why not preaching? Why not evanglizing? Why not discussion and confessions and sermons? Maybe because our lives are supposed to be all of that...maybe if we helped others more and more, our lives would actually do that for us...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Evil is the absence of God--people have Satan because God is not in their lives. Just as darkness is the absence of light. Neither truly exist--it's just the absence of the greater.

    Good stuff Josh

    ReplyDelete