12/04/2005—
I’ve been giving some thought to the problem of evil. How can a perfect, all-powerful God create, or allow, evil suffering?
It’s his power that allows him to be perfect, for by being infinitely powerful, he is also all-knowing, and so would know himself perfectly; and being infinitely powerful, he could sustain indefinitely his own perfection. Prior to the Fall, God completely supported the entirety of creation. That is, his creation, as he designed it in it’s original perfection, had to be supported by a certain amount, maybe an endless amount, of energy. As part of the Curse, he withdrew some of his original presence.
How was it that Satan, then the demons, then Adam and Eve chose sin? What is the nature of good? If only God existed, would evil exist? If so, does this mean evil exists apart from God? Can one find an answer to the problem of evil that will give solace to someone in a time of suffering?
Like cold being the absence of heat, isn’t evil the absence of good? If good and evil both existed as forces, like two sides in a battle, then you could claim at the least that evil existed alongside God since before the beginning. But, if you see it as the absence of something, than it becomes easier to resolve with the notion of a perfect, all-powerful God. Before the beginning, God probably was all there was (perhaps there were other creations of his, too). I don’t know if he has infinite physical dimensions. Probably does. But one way or the other, there’s no room for anything else.
So, it makes sense to say that Satan didn’t acquire evil. Rather, he pushed out what was good. But, what gave him that very first impetus to dwell on himself for the briefest of additional seconds, rather than focus entirely on God? First, let’s remember that Lucifer and the other angels who followed him were limited creations, infinitely perfect, infinitely powerful beings. They didn’t know all, they couldn’t do all. That may have led some to making assumptions about themselves and God that were irrational, illogical, or unreasonable.
The same thing might have happened to Adam and Eve.