Introduction
A central question for many Christians is "how can I resist evil?" Often, such a question gets answered with a passage from Scripture such as this one, from Paul's letter to the Ephesians:
"Put on the armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." -- Eph 6: 11-12
Such passages are all too frequently taken at literal face-value, and the result is one of the most common conceptions of "good vs. evil" in popular theology: the explanation of suffering and "evil" in the world as being the result of a great spiritual war between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness, with each "side" led by a personal, anthropomorphic being. Granted, most Christians are careful to avoid the heresy of dualism by further explaining that the leader of the forces of Darkness, the Devil, is not equal-and-opposite to God, that all things at least started out as part of God's creation. But even so, this explanation is dissatisfying, at best.
Such an "us vs. them" theology is problematic on several levels. To begin with, it is far too simplistic to give us any real understanding of why things happen the way they do in our lives and in our world. Moreover, it focuses our personal struggles against evil on outside agents, rather than on our true, inner selves. And most importantly, it creates the classic dilemma of western philosophy -- the so-called "problem of evil": if God is both all-powerful and all good, why does (or better, how can) He allow evil to continue to exist in His creation?
Obviously, one of those points must give if we are to construct a coherent, consistent, and tenable position. Thus, some folks conclude that God cannot be all-powerful, if evil exists in God's creation; others deduce that God must not be all good (at least not according to our human understanding of the concept of "good"). Few people seem to question the third point, however -- the notion that there is in fact evil in this world, marring God's creation.
But if we are to examine this apparent conundrum from a Christian perspective, we must first look to those basic elements which define our spiritual lives as Christians, and first among those essential elements is our relationship with God through Christ Jesus.
On the nature and purpose of our relationship with God
What kind of God would create a Hitler? Or an Osama bin Laden? Or a Jeffery Dahmer? Do we limit God's omnipotence and say that, since He gives us free will, He is utterly powerless to prevent the evil some of us choose to do? Or do we modify our understanding of God and say that perhaps He isn't entirely benign? Both of those options are theologically repugnant. There has to be some way of reconciling our experiences within God's creation, including all the suffering we see around us, with our understanding of God as almighty and perfect in His love for us.
Perhaps what we need is a better way to frame the discussion. As I mentioned above, the essence of the Christian faith is the covenant relationship between God and us, His children. We are called into that relationship, and whenever we stray from it (which is a good way to understand "sin"), we are called to return to it. And we are given to know that God will always welcome us, as the father welcomes the prodigal son returned home. In fact, one of the best ways to picture our relationship with God is in terms of family: God is the parent, and we are all His children.
Now, would a good parent ever wish for his or her child to suffer? Absolutely not, by definition. On the other hand, though, would that good parent want for his or her child to remain a child forever? Isn't it the parent's purpose, the parent's very reason for being, to help the child grow and mature into the fullness of adulthood? Of course it is. It is the relationship with his or her parents which guides the child through the life experiences which eventually transform that child into an adult. And a good parent wants his or her child to have those experiences, and for that reason--so the child will have the opportunity to learn and grow and develop into a wise and capable adult.
Likewise, living in relationship with God is inherently transformative, as that relationship guides and shapes our understanding of, and our reactions and responses to, the inevitable life experiences we all face in this world. Being in relationship with God does not allow us to remain static and unchanging. On the contrary, it requires -- demands -- that we learn from each experience, whether positive or negative, whether pleasurable or painful, demands that we constantly examine and reevaluate ourselves, our souls, and that we make continuous adjustments in order to live more fully and completely into that relationship with Him. God is always teaching, and in relationship with Him, we are always learning.
Unfortunately, some lessons can only be learned the hard way, through difficult and sometimes painful personal experiences. Consider the hypothetical example of a teenager who gets arrested for shoplifting. The teen's parent has, of course, instructed this child many times over that stealing is wrong. We may assume that the parent has attempted every possible method of conveying the lesson of "thou shalt not steal" to the child. But the child has chosen to steal anyway. Now that act, that choice, cannot stop the parent from loving the child; moreover, as previously mentioned, no truly devoted parent would wish his or her child to suffer, even if the child has been disobedient. But perhaps this parent decides not to bail the child out of jail until the following morning. From the child's point of view, such a decision would be perceived as a punishment -- being forced to pay a penalty for disobeying an order. But from the parent's perspective, we can see that this is likely a necessary experience for this child to have, since the child still (apparently) has not learned that stealing is wrong and ought to be avoided. The parent feels a need to protect the child from suffering (after all, this is a good parent), and will never let the child come to true harm. (God never gives us more than we can handle, even when we're convinced that we can't handle it.) But the need to help the child grow morally and ethically and spiritually is greater, sometimes, than the need to protect the child from
all suffering.
So it is in the world of God's creation. Our Lord is not some Divine Punisher who exists solely to enforce some abstract and esoteric penal code upon us and to exact penalties whenever we break an arbitrary rule. Our Lord is rather our loving, nurturing spiritual parent, who loves us so much that He is willing to suffer with us, to ensure that we learn and grow and mature into the fullness of what He made us to become, rather than rob us of the wisdom which can come from difficult experiences by shielding us from all that we perceive as suffering.
All of humanity is God's child, and there are lessons we must learn as a race, as a species, if humanity is ever to outgrow its infancy. One of the most important is that we are all One, regardless of race or ethnicity. At the time when Hitler came to power in Europe, it was actually quite common for many people, including political leaders, to think in racial, racist terms. Different ethnic groups were presumed to have distinct and (biologically) inherent natures, virtues, and flaws. Hitler took that philosophy to an obscene extreme and applied it as the justification for state-conducted, systematic genocide. In time, and indeed we must admit it took way too long, the world, confronted at last with the atrocities to which such a philosophy (taken to its extreme conclusion) led, reacted decisively against such madness, finally and correctly labeling it as "evil."
Does that mean that we must acknowledge Hitler as a good and noble soul? Of course not! But it does underscore the oft-overlooked fact that there is nothing which is outside of God. The entire world learned an indispensible lesson at the bloody hands of Hitler, and though there was much, much suffering, our humanity is a little older and a little wiser for it. It grieves me to a profound depth to consider that we had (and still have) so many chances, so many opportunities, to learn such lessons peacefully, without strife, without bloodshed, yet so often we ignore those opportunities, preferring instead the harsh road of suffering and pain -- for we will learn the things we are here to learn ... if not the easy way, then the hard way.
Taken as a complete whole, God's entire creation is indeed good and beautiful. There is a Greater Plan for us at work within and behind this beautiful creation, a Plan whose purpose is the development, the evolution, if you will, of our very souls. If we see what seems (to us) like ugliness in God's world, it is rather like discovering an apparent contradiction in Scripture: it does not invalidate the goodness of the whole; rather, it calls us to look deeper, beneath the surface appearance of things, to see the true beauty of God's work and the true Wisdom in His teachings.
That is not to suggest that suffering is not "real"; it certainly is. To the contrary, it is to suggest that suffering, pain, loss, violence, conflict ~ anything which we would call "evil" or "sin" and rightly condemn as wrong ~ stand not as evidence that God is absent from creation, but as evidence that, from our human perspective, creation is still in progress. The great work is still, for us, unfolding, often in ways that seem confusing, frightening, painful, even pointless at times, and our confusion, our fear, our pain, and all too often our despair are very real. As people of faith, we are called to see these apsects of this world as opportunities for God to manifest in the world through us, for our hands to become the healing hands of Christ reaching out to those who hurt, suffer, fear, and despair.
The good news is that, from the perspective of Heaven, the great wonder of creation is complete: God spoke, and we know how the story ends, with God's pronouncement that "it is good." May God grant us the grace and courage to grow into the full measure of spiritual life for which He made us, that we, too, may see the full glory of His work.
Peace,
Chris
P.S. Tune in next time for reflections on the concept of a personal "devil" ...
