The usual explanation for evil in a world that is (according to standard explanations) created-from-nothing by a wholly-good God - is that it is a consequence of God having given Men free will; then Men choose to do evil.
This explanation doesn't make sense to me; because I don't see where the evil is supposed to have come from. If creation is the product of a wholly good God, then I would assume it had 'no evil in it'. If freedom is given to a good creature (a creature created by a wholly good God) then how could that creature do evil? There is no evil for it to do!
A creature made by a wholly good God and living in a wholly good world... Where would such a creature even get the idea of anything evil? Both the creature and its environment were made by God, and both are wholly good...
The same would apply to Satan and the demons - how could such evil creatures exist in a wholly-good world? That they have free will makes no difference...
As I say, this standard theological explanation does not make sense to me.
Which is why I believe something else that does make sense of God the creator being wholly good, the free will of Men being real; and evil is also real.
I can't buy potatoes if there are no potatoes for me to buy. I can't boil water if there is no water for me to boil. But on the other hand, I can make a fuss, cause trouble, sow confusion, even if there was no fuss, trouble, or confusion whatsoever before I came along.
ReplyDelete@Karl - Indeed - but how would you know to do it if everything (yourself and everything around you) was wholly good? That's what makes no sense to me.
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