I have to make sure that I do this post--or at least start it before I leave out (because on Sundays I go out)
But this interesting thought came to my head the other day, and it is one that Christians are often asked when talking to someone who is struggling with their faith or even a random person who does not have the same piety as you. And it is one question that I have not yet heard a solid answer to, so I hope this interests you in the slightest.
That question is:
"If God is real, then why is there so much evil in the world?"
People often support disbelief in God because of the supporting facts:
- "If God truly loved us, then why do people die?"
- "If God truly loved us, then why is there so much injustice, death, and disease in the world?"
- "If God is this all-powerful being, then why does he not make all of the evil go away?"
Which are...poignant (I hope I'm using that word correctly) questions, and I do not begrudge anyone who asks these questions. In all honesty I think everyone, both religious or unreligious deserves to ask this question; it is a great example of how theology meets philosophy, which is part of how people can go very in-depth in the scripture and become more adept at speaking about or interpreting the Word of God.
Now here is my answer...An incomplete answer at best, but one that I hope can be supplemented by another theory or better yet biblical support.
And that answer is two-fold.
1-"Because evil is ever-present, and God has the power to control both."
2-"Because man rejected God in the garden of Eden and the world's evil is a consequence of such."
The second point of that answer seems a bit more direct, but normally if I tell someone that they'd simply retort with something like
"Then God is *insert bad word or phrase* for doing that to us."
And at that point opinions get mixed into the conversation, and then its hard to help someone build faith after such a direct statement.
But the reason why this post is called the "Theory of Reflection" is because I used to have this thought that God controlled good and evil, and the way God works is that he most move evil and good to do his work. Just a theory, mind you, but let me explain:
Although the Bible never directly says "Before God created the world there was immense darkness permeating throughout" but from what I've recollected, most Christians (without trying to say "all) were taught to believe that. And even scientists believe that. So that darkness can be considered the cold, unforgiving mass of space that we know as the universe (before stars and planets ever existed).
Even in Gen. 1 v. 3 says
"Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." (4)"And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day' and the darkness 'night.'"
The reason I bolded that portion of verse 4 is because previously there was not a biblical mentioning of this mass of darkness that God had to separate from light. Yet in many Christian songs, namely "Our God is an awesome God" we say that God turned darkness into light and separated them.
This is where my old theory of how God controlled good and evil in order to move. Because for all the good that God is, we've also heard sayings such as "God is a jealous God" and other biblical instances of God destroying, killing, or disabling people as a consequence or for a grander purpose.
I used to think "How can God be jealous if jealousy is a sin against God." but now I theorize that whatever God does, whether it be something as constructive as building the entire Earth or destroying the tower of Babel, it can only be good because it comes from God, because without God there is no light because he has control over the two.
Run back and coincide with the 1st point of my answer, that man rejected God in the garden of Eden, I had a previous theory (which I had never addressed before) that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a sort of seal and that when Adam and Eve took of the fruit in an attempt to "be like God" they broke a seal and released darkness upon the world.
Even when God tells them in Gen. 3 verses 17-20 (not going to recite it, just look it up if you have to) about the curses of the ground and birth pangs and whatnot it speaks more on how they made their choice and must suffer the consequences. In fact, the only time God ever says that He puts punishments on anyone was when he spoke to Eve directly about birth pangs and control and such.
At least from one of the translations I have, it may differ in other versions, but the context of reading the bible leads me to believe that because they disobeyed God, they tampered with evil and let it run across the world.
HOWEVER, since the Bible is ages old, I would encourage anyone who reads the bible to not only read it, but read it in its original languages, find the contexts of the original words used (because definitions and connotations of words change over time and tend to misconstrue meanings--*cough cough* I'm looking at you, Tower of Babel *cough cough*) and to also read the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Apocrypha, which are extensions to the bible that have been cut out and are not mainly used in everyday churches--at least not in America, which is the perspective I hold.
I say all of this not to scare people, because talking about religion can be scary, but to hopefully influence someone to try to understand God before they start getting shaky in their faith because the world will lie and deceive to conflict and confuse people out of their belief in God. So maybe, just maybe, instead of freaking out and feeling guilty in the face of spiritual questions and confusions, anyone who has these problems can turn to the Word, because its here for a reason. So we could at least have an understanding while we are still here on this Earth.
With all of that being said, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
Love y'all
-TDE
