Black Woman Thinks posted this quote from Epicurus today which I both love and dislike as it shows so much narrowness in our definitions of ${DEITY} and how it works.
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?“
My response is thus:
God is the watchmaker; we are simply a cog in the works as is everything. To have evil present and not mitigated is not malevolent, it is simply allowing the watch to tick as it must, for without evil, the watch cannot run.
On this Monday, when much evil can and will be present in all sorts of forms, what is your response to this puzzle, dear reader?
It’s a rigged question. God allows evil to happen, because we, as humans, refuse to allow Him absolute, total control of our lives.
The classic example is that of Job, who suffered great loss as a test of his faith towards God. God did not inflict the evil, but allowed it to happen so that He might be glorified because of the outcome.
Every day, almost every single moment even, we are faced with questions and dilemmas. Should we speed so that we’re not late to work? Let the car waiting to get out, pull out in front of us, delaying us just a tad more? Cut off someone in traffic because they’re going too slow?
Regardless of our decisions, the outcome can be swayed to the glory of God. Christian rocker Jeremy Camp and wife Adie learned today that she had miscarried. Even in this darkest of times, God is with them and they recognize His will and influence in their lives. They don’t know why this happened, except that it will be worked to His glory. (http://jeremycamp.typepad.com/) See Romans 8:28,29 (for more, Romans 8:26-39). “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
Finally, I would submit this thought: Much of what we take for evil is not Evil, but perceived evil. We get cut off in traffic by some moron. Except that he was trying to get to the hospital before event X happened, and genuinely didn’t see us. Some idiot customer flew off the handle and cussed us out. Not good, not right, but a result of his own butt being in a sling over the outage/problem, and 6 of his own bosses coming down on him.
A look, a word, a lack of a look or a word. Much of what we take as evil is the result of our own perceptions. We look for a slight, and we find it. This seems to be especially true of todays under ~25 crowd, and even more so for todays teenagers.