A common idea in Christianity is the philosophical notation that evil is an absence of goodness or a perversion of goodness. I suppose this idea is fine and I cannot see that it leads to anything in and of itself, but I also cannot see that it is true.
I believe that it is the sort of the idea that if we dismiss the teaching of God on the devil and demonic realm we feel tempted to believe.
It also leads the other way our definition of evil can tempt us to dismiss the demonic world.
Evil at its worst seeks to destroy. I cannot see how we can say the devil is in any sense lacking in goodness or perverted in goodness in his attempt to destroy Job.
None of this is very key, but I do think that by refusing to allow evil to have a seperate class or category than good we fail to grasp the seriousness of the problems of the world.
There must be some good end or aim in an action or perversion of good if evil is an absence of good. It seems of use to allow evil to be its own entity rather than to grasp it is some sort of perversion of good.
It seems that along with the categorization of evil as a subset of good often comes the denial or spiritualization of demonic forces. Such slippage of knowledge opens the door to all sorts of problems.
I have only met truly penetrating evil and work of the devil in places where people see the demonic world as some sort of allegory of scripture. And here is the problem with the definition we cannot carry its implications through scripture without risk.
This would suggest the definition is in fact wrong. If we hold to the definition anyhow we must be careful to not allow man made definition to override clear scriptural teaching as has at times been done.
Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Friday, September 20, 2013
A faithful Church
A faithful church is to a degree always a critic of society. The church often confuses this with becoming a political force.
The difference is that the church is to be a critique of the way society is. A critic of what is wrong with society.
The bible deals with the problems of the heart so if offers solutions for what is wrong with the heart of humanity. Thus the church can potentially improve society by showing where society has fallen short.
The church however does not function nearly as well as a critic of politics. Often the church has fallen sort because it feels that legislation can change morality.
Possibly legislation can improve society at times, but he issue with humanity is not that there are not enough rules. In fact man lived sinlessly when he had only 1 rule – to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Actually mankind is at his best when he lives with only one thought. To follow Christ.
Augustine said that we should love God and do what we please. The reality of this is true if we do act out of love toward God we need only one rule or one thought to govern our entire existence.
All the time we see many rules get in the way of moral living. We cannot make an exception the to rules at any time. We cannot have wisdom to realize when the rules are not applicable.
In life it is important to follow God. When Satan tempted Jesus he attempted to place multiple rules in scripture against each other.
The error of course is that many rules function at time more like guideposts to direct faithful living rather than absolutes.
Some rules are more absolute than others, but most of the law in scripture has exceptions.
David when he was on the run ate of food of the temple which was forbidden and the punishment was death. He did what was right and we can see that the law was always a principle and never an absolute.
The principle was of the upmost importance but the reality is the will of God cannot be made into a absolute set of rules.
I used to be frustrated how vague the law of God was at times. But the reality is that life creates many unique situations.
A too tight set of rules produces extreme difficulties. This is why scripture has far more principles than rules.
Few people see this. Scripture is all rules, but the reality is most of the rules are more principles which are pointing directionally than absolutes.
The difference is that the church is to be a critique of the way society is. A critic of what is wrong with society.
The bible deals with the problems of the heart so if offers solutions for what is wrong with the heart of humanity. Thus the church can potentially improve society by showing where society has fallen short.
The church however does not function nearly as well as a critic of politics. Often the church has fallen sort because it feels that legislation can change morality.
Possibly legislation can improve society at times, but he issue with humanity is not that there are not enough rules. In fact man lived sinlessly when he had only 1 rule – to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Actually mankind is at his best when he lives with only one thought. To follow Christ.
Augustine said that we should love God and do what we please. The reality of this is true if we do act out of love toward God we need only one rule or one thought to govern our entire existence.
All the time we see many rules get in the way of moral living. We cannot make an exception the to rules at any time. We cannot have wisdom to realize when the rules are not applicable.
In life it is important to follow God. When Satan tempted Jesus he attempted to place multiple rules in scripture against each other.
The error of course is that many rules function at time more like guideposts to direct faithful living rather than absolutes.
Some rules are more absolute than others, but most of the law in scripture has exceptions.
David when he was on the run ate of food of the temple which was forbidden and the punishment was death. He did what was right and we can see that the law was always a principle and never an absolute.
The principle was of the upmost importance but the reality is the will of God cannot be made into a absolute set of rules.
I used to be frustrated how vague the law of God was at times. But the reality is that life creates many unique situations.
A too tight set of rules produces extreme difficulties. This is why scripture has far more principles than rules.
Few people see this. Scripture is all rules, but the reality is most of the rules are more principles which are pointing directionally than absolutes.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Right Living not based on Knowledge
A large portion of the American educational mindset is that morality can be taught simply by making people aware of what is right or wrong. This stands in stark contrast to the bible.
Actually mankind lived perfectly before he had any knowledge of right or wrong (pre-fall). The knowledge of good and evil did not make man good.
The reality is that telling people what is right and wrong is of limited use. For young children there is often benefit, but most of the time the problem of the darkness within is not lack of education but a bad heart.
Sociologist do note that poverty increases crime and education reduces poverty. There is value in helping society through education as it makes people good citizens, but it does not make people good people.
Only through right relation to Jesus are people made good. It is not something which comes from within, since within is full of darkness. Instead we need a righteousness which comes only through faith.
Actually mankind lived perfectly before he had any knowledge of right or wrong (pre-fall). The knowledge of good and evil did not make man good.
The reality is that telling people what is right and wrong is of limited use. For young children there is often benefit, but most of the time the problem of the darkness within is not lack of education but a bad heart.
Sociologist do note that poverty increases crime and education reduces poverty. There is value in helping society through education as it makes people good citizens, but it does not make people good people.
Only through right relation to Jesus are people made good. It is not something which comes from within, since within is full of darkness. Instead we need a righteousness which comes only through faith.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Eloquence Which is Evil
There is a certain eloquence which is evil. Some men will hide in places where they do not belong and disguise their words by using phrases which confuse others.
Maybe they will refer to Justification, but by the term mean Works. Maybe they will lead their audience down the wrong patch by simply saying things which they do not understand.
There is often an eloquence in speech which is ugly. It is ugly because it is not meant to bring the truth out into the light, but to rather bury the truth into darkness.
The truth always shines best in the light. If one has a belief then state it plainly. Maybe there are times for diplomatic answers, but frequently much damage is done simply because people refuse to speak plainly.
Another great irony of the related to this eloquence is those signing their name to beliefs they do not hold. They sign their names that they hold beliefs and then proceed to use eloquence so that many people are not aware of what they do in fact believe.
We should be honest about our belief. If God is for us will he not provide? Must we stoop to dishonesty to protect ourselves?
Abraham the great man of faith sometimes stooped to dishonesty to try to protect himself. In the end those attempts always seemed to cause more trouble then they averted.
In fact God was behind Abraham so he should have never feared. If God is for us then who can be against us?
The answer is plainly no one. If God is truly for us he can bring us through any fire.
Post: Endless Questions
Maybe they will refer to Justification, but by the term mean Works. Maybe they will lead their audience down the wrong patch by simply saying things which they do not understand.
There is often an eloquence in speech which is ugly. It is ugly because it is not meant to bring the truth out into the light, but to rather bury the truth into darkness.
The truth always shines best in the light. If one has a belief then state it plainly. Maybe there are times for diplomatic answers, but frequently much damage is done simply because people refuse to speak plainly.
Another great irony of the related to this eloquence is those signing their name to beliefs they do not hold. They sign their names that they hold beliefs and then proceed to use eloquence so that many people are not aware of what they do in fact believe.
We should be honest about our belief. If God is for us will he not provide? Must we stoop to dishonesty to protect ourselves?
Abraham the great man of faith sometimes stooped to dishonesty to try to protect himself. In the end those attempts always seemed to cause more trouble then they averted.
In fact God was behind Abraham so he should have never feared. If God is for us then who can be against us?
The answer is plainly no one. If God is truly for us he can bring us through any fire.
Post: Endless Questions
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Problem of Evil
The problem of Evil is roughly, “Why do bad things happen to good people.”
The difficulty with the problem of evil is that it rests on a false presupposition namely that there are “good people.”
Jesus said, “No one is good—except God alone.” Luke 18:19
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;” Romans 3:10
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray” Isaiah 53:6
Once we accept that as Jesus says that only God is good i.e. man is not good then the problem of evil looses its teeth. The problem of evil is properly stated, “Why do bad things happen to bad people.” It is not that terrible things do not happen to people. But there is no one with no guilt save Christ alone. We all deserve hell because we have all sinned – the real question is why do sinners who deserve only condemnation sometimes receive undeserved grace.
The difficulty with the problem of evil is that it rests on a false presupposition namely that there are “good people.”
Jesus said, “No one is good—except God alone.” Luke 18:19
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;” Romans 3:10
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray” Isaiah 53:6
Once we accept that as Jesus says that only God is good i.e. man is not good then the problem of evil looses its teeth. The problem of evil is properly stated, “Why do bad things happen to bad people.” It is not that terrible things do not happen to people. But there is no one with no guilt save Christ alone. We all deserve hell because we have all sinned – the real question is why do sinners who deserve only condemnation sometimes receive undeserved grace.
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