What does it all have to do with evil and suffering in human life? Actually all people consider suffering, pain , torture , war as evil and all this evil is done by man. To a great extent this creates the misery of living together in the society of sinners and it takes away the certainty and stability of life. The suffering coming from the natural causes like diseases, old age, sickness and death are also part of the evil confronting man after his fall and rebellion against God. It all has to be accepted as part of growing in this life towards complete absolute trust in God no matter what happens. Only this strong faith in God in spite of misery and tragedy will make man strong enough and acceptable to God who is love Itself.
Leo Tolstoy one of the most talented Russian writer in his fifties experienced a deep doubt about the meaning of life and felt a growing desire to commit suicide . He was hiding any guns and knifes visible around afraid that he will kill himself . He says that the desire for ending his life became more powerful than his joy of living. He learnt from the simple peasants who lived in poverty but were happy to exist and live. Tolstoy concluded that life no matter how difficult must be meaningful.
Man according to Christianity has an immortal principle (soul) and therefore death is not really such a great tragedy and horror as it may appear in the eyes of an atheist. For a Christian death is a transition from this life in space-time, into eternity.
The Judgment implies not only eternal salvation in heaven but also the possibility of hell. One cannot say much about the judgment of God. All knowledge about it comes from the teaching of Christ who very often mentioned the reality of judgment and man’s eternal destiny. For many there appears the difficulty to reconcile the loving and forgiving God with existence of hell . Hell is existence in complete isolation from God and others in eternity without possibility of any change. This seems to many absolutely unacceptable and too cruel, it seems ridicules and absurd part of Christian teaching. How can God who is love and who wants salvation of all men throw someone into hell knowing human limitations and mistakes even when the sinfulness is clear like deliberate murder, torture , exploitation of others and even intended extermination of millions of innocent people. After all when Christ was dying on the cross did He not pray to the Father: “… forgive them for they don’t know what they do?.. All this is true. However one should not approach the problem of hell on emotional level only but try to see facts as they are. Suffering is the very center of the human condition in a world of fractures, conflicts, dichotomies and tragedies. Suffering is therefore inscribed into the very core of human existence. This fact is recognized by most religions of the world and also stressed by the ancient writers like Sophocles in the story of The Blinding of Oedipus. In Buddhism, which some consider a religion, life is suffering and the human soul is gradually liberating itself from it through a number of reincarnations until it attains the state of complete bliss in Nirvana.
In Christianity man’s condition is infected with evil mainly of man’s own doing. Man is a person and therefore responsible before God for his acts. The objection against existence of hell is based on the unimaginable decision : I want to go to hell and be eternally miserable ! Nobody consciously would make such a decision because he would have to be his own enemy and in love with misery rather than happiness . However every day hundreds of small decisions are made. Those decisions accumulate through a lifetime and they form the character of the person and the direction of life. If therefore man is completely dedicated to the values hostile to the commandments of God and lives in this way for longer time he becomes completely alienated from God. When a person dies in a state of hostility towards God there is a possibility of eternal loneliness and that is hell.
Christ, the Son God became man to show human beings how to live in such a way as not to end in this final rejection. People do not willingly choose to go to hell but man cannot escape from decision making for to decide not to make a decision is a decision also. God respects human freedom even when it becomes evil. The following Christ’s parables illustrate possibility of hell
1.The parable of the dragnet, 2. The parable of the great feast and 3. The parable of the last judgment ( which is not only a parable but a description of fact).
The dragnet catches all kinds of fish, and the fishermen make a selection. The bad fish are thrown away .
In the story about the great banquet a rich man sends his servants to his friends with an invitation to come. But all of them find excuses not to come. One says that he bought a piece of land and he has to inspect it. The other says he bought a pair of oxen and must try them and the third one says he just got married and therefore he cannot come. The Lord of the banquet gets angry and tells his servants to invite anyone and everyone so that his place will be filled with guests. However when the Lord of the banquet observes one who is not dressed properly for the feast he orders his servants to throw him out. There is nothing wrong in buying a piece of land, a pair of oxen or to get married. The excuses however show that the invited friends do not value much the invitation nor do they show respect for the Lord of the banquet. The usual activities of the day are more important for them.
In the story of the last judgment ( Mt. 25) the judge , Christ himself ,divides all people into two groups. The group of “ sheep” on the right. Christ turning to those on the right says : come you blessed of my Father and inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from all eternity – for I was hungry and you fed me , I was naked and you clothed me , I was in prison and you came to me. And the people ask: “ Lord when did we feed you, or clothed you or visited you in prison? Christ answers : ? “...Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did it to me....”
Those on the left are rejected.
They did not show any love or concern for others and when they asked the same question : When did they not do service to Him? They receive the same answer: “Whatever you did not do to my brethren you did not do to me.”
The services mentioned by Christ are
not necessarily very spiritual in nature
: food and clothing are very material services and it does not matter to whom one serves them. One simply helps the
person in need without any gain for oneself.
It does not matter who the person
is or what position he has in the
society.
In the parable of the compassioned Samaritan
the same truth is stressed. The merchant did not know the wounded man
lying in the ditch . It was not his relative, but on the contrary as a Samaritan he was an enemy. He not only
took care of him but
he took him on his beast and
brought him to the innkeeper , paid money for the care of him and promised
that additional expenses he will pay on his return. .
God is always ready
to accept anyone if he honestly
and sincerely tries to turn away from evil.
The father of the prodigal son was waiting day by day and
searching with his eyes the horizon until one day he saw still far away the
son coming slowly back to him.
He did not say anything but full of joy
embraced his son and told servants
to give him the new robe, sandals and a ring on his finger. There was feasting
and singing. The older son who was in the fields heard the music
and asked what is going on. He
was told that his brother returned and
father was extremely happy to have him back. The father knew only one thing : This son was lost and
he is found again, he was dead but is alive. It is proper to celebrate such a
joyous event. To the proud
Pharisees thinking
themselves to be very good people and
having God’s favor already, Christ said that publicans,
tax collector and prostitutes will be first in heaven. Why ? Because they repented of their sins and
therefore the first will be last and the
last will be the first. God’s judgment
is not very much like human
judgment.
Man therefore is his own quasi-creator of his own future
and destiny . Imprisoned in his sinful
attitudes man needs help and
liberation from his condition. This is
salvation brought by the incarnation of the Word becoming Man. Christ calls Himself often The
Son of Man, because He suffered as the Son of Man and was identified
with humans. He became the Savior and Liberator from human bandage and slavery. Every action of God towards man
is always a gift of freedom in
some form or another
.
Evil is
always parasitic on good . Every
being is
good because it is being and evil
is always some reduction of being. Evil does not have any meaning by itself. It is always a
limitation of good required by the
nature of the being involved. That is why
Thomas Aquinas calls evil: privation of good . Human life from the Christian view point is a great opportunity to learn to
know God and strife
towards Him within a difficult
human situation infected with evil. The
personal God in Christ became
identical with human beings in
all except sin and lifted
sinful man to the level of
childhood in relation to God.
That is why the most important
prayer in Christianity begins with the sentence : Our Father who art in heaven… A Christian
does not pray
for himself only but always for
his brethren. Suffering and evil are part of
the human fallen condition but they also
can be meritorious, conciliatory
and saving as long as they are accepted
in faith and loving obedience to God. Humans live in an unpredictable and dangerous universe .
There are many tragic accidents, sudden reversals, diseases aging and
dying. This is not a static and quiet universe.
Christ never promised an easy life
for those who will decide to follow Him,
neither did He promise that all
people will accept His offer of salvation. That is why Christ
stressed that anyone who decides to be His disciple would have to carry his own
cross in life.
The parable of the sower makes it clear
that the word of God is
very often falling on an unfruitful
ground : on a shallow ground
where there are no conditions for strong roots and the
word is wasted. In many situations the word is
neglected or simply forgotten.
(a) There is mental laziness some people
are so lazy that they refuse to think.
Socrates found this out. He wanted to
make man think , and he went about the
streets of Athens with his questions until man
thought of him as an nasty gad-fly and because they did not want to
think they sentenced him to death.
Tennyson in the poem the Lotus Eaters tells
the story of the sailor’s Ulysses who came to the island where the Lotus flower grew , Who ever ate that flower never wished anymore to make any
effort but desired only to lay and sleep. In that land there was always afternoon.
But we are thinking creatures and
not to think is to shut the mind to
God’s truth.
(b)
There is mental arrogance: the man who thinks he knows everything already
and he has nothing to learn it’s attitude of the Pharisees who believed they knew already all and they did not listen to the message of
Christ
(c) There is mental fear. It is the
attitude of those who deny the existence
of God not because they are convinced that God does not exist
but they don’t want him to exist . In Christianity it is always necessary to think things out. It is not easy to be a
Christian but unless we go on to think
things out, whenever some storm comes
our faith will collapse.
Jesus was telling
man to count the cost of following
Him. Mathew Chapter 10 describes what does it mean to be a disciple . The good
ground on which the word falls is the person who (a) understand the
word that is he not only hears what is said but tries to comprehend it’s meaning . (b)
the good ground is the person who accepts the word and keeps it . It
becomes a part of his thoughts and life
and (c) the good listener holds to the word.
Nevertheless when the word falls on a
good ground it produces fruit thirty,
sixty, or hundred percent. The good
ground is the person who develops strong belief and
incorporates the meaning of the word into everyday life. Such person
becomes the light of the world
and the salt of the earth. The
basic vocation of the new man in Christ is to be a witness ready to pay any price in any situation in life no matter how hard
it may be. Physical death loses it’s
sting because for the Christian death is a transition
from the life in space and time ,
suffering and frustration into
eternal presence of God.
Christianity
is a religion of resurrection
which is the central promise of Christ for all those who decide to follow His
teaching . The destiny of man is eternal life
as participation in the life of the
Holly Trinity.
When Christ was teaching, his
brothers and mother wanted to talk to Him. Christ refused and
said those who listen to the word
of God are His brothers , sisters and mother. The Son of Man completely
identified himself with humans
Conclusion
The answer to the problem of existence of evil and the good God can be
summarized as follows: God is the Creator of the universe which is
precisely constructed, and in the process of which life , consciousness , personality and humans
as moral agents appeared. All this was good, there was no evil at the beginning (compare the first chapter
of Genesis.) Human beings
were given God’s directions for their
lives. However they were
free to choose obedience and loving relationship to God or to choose their own way and
their own destiny .
Humans
rebelled against the plan of God.
Evil , deception, lies and murder entered the history of humanity. This
evil gradually became part of the nature of man
who became literally a slave of
evil and hostile to God and His fellow humans.
God
did not change the plan for man and gradually
in different times and circumstances liberated man from physical slavery ( the Egyptian slavery of
the Jews) and spiritual degradation and
emptiness.
In proper time
God became human in the person of Christ of Nazareth, who as
Son of God, and also Son of Man through His complete loving obedience to God, the Father reconciled the fallen humanity with God and offered through His suffering
and death a new possibility of eternal life for man as a glorified image of His Maker . Christ’s
sacrifice proved that God is Love.
Man
is free and can reject
the offer of eternal happiness given freely to him by God. God respects human freedom even when man
rejects Him definitely for eternity. Man after Christ’s coming has
the power and the ability to conquer
evil thoughts , intentions and
actions. However he does not have to .
The evil which man produces by his hostility to God and other humans is
existentially final. The
above is addressed to
people who are passionately
interested in truth and have the
courage to face reality no matter what
and are also ready to pay the cost of being witnesses to God’s love.
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