This has been a persistent question that people throughout the ages have had regarding the nature of the world. This particular question serves as the primary stumbling block for many myriads of people trying to fully comprehend Christianity. How can a loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing (as claimed by Christians) God allow horrific things like the Holocaust to happen?
After years of contemplation, I have arrived at an answer to the question of "Why does God allow evil in the world?" He allows evil to exist in the world because loves us.
"WHAT!?", you say; that is absurd!
It is not so absurd if you think about it. What is love but the ultimate and active respect for another being's existence; and in order for us to be capable of loving God in return, He must, by necessity, give humanity free will to be able to love Him. Now, free will is a double-edge sword. If we have the free will to be capable of love, then we also, by nature, possess free will to do other more vile things. To stop or eliminate evil in the world, God would be required to destroy a person's free will, thereby destroying their ability to love Him and nullifying His ultimate goal for the world: to convince humanity to love Him as He loves us... freely and without direct incentive.
For those of you more inclined with Christianity, you may say, "But this violates the sovereignty of God!"
I would say that it does not. God is still sovereign, of that there is no doubt. Yet, He chooses not to do certain things (such as override our free will) such that He can guarantee that a path to His ultimate goal of humanity loving Him can be extant.
You may find this answer very unsatisfactory, but it is the best one that I have found that fulfills most of the obligations to doctrine, logic, and the nature of the world as I have experienced it.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Videos of Life, Pt 1
http://vimeo.com/32397612
I am posting this here to have easy access to this masterful movie. It is a melancholic expose on the modern economic crisis, at least in my mind anyway.
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