Thought for Today
Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
2 Samuel 12:9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Romans 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
Greta and I renewed one of our favorite unresolvable discussions this morning, “Why does evil exist?” Whenever the topic of evil arises, my first response is inevitably to mention the Leibnitzian Dilemma. I learned about that dilemma in my first Systematic Theology course and have used it often ever since. Leibnitz worded it much more elegantly than I learned it, but in essence, the idea is that it is not possible to reconcile our omnipotent God, our loving God and the existence of evil. Every time Greta and I discuss the topic of evil, we both inevitably come to ask, “Why does evil exist?” “Why does God allow evil to continue”
Our ancestors-in-the-faith have asked those same questions and similar questions for thousands of years. Genesis 2:9 is the first appearance of the word evil. If one reads the first Creation narrative in Genesis chapter 1, the creation of evil, its origin, is never mentioned. Looking at the world around us, it is tempting to consider evil as an inevitable consequence of the creation of humanity on the sixth day. That, of course, leads to our pondering whether evil is a fundamental aspect of humanity. Yet, Genesis also tells us that “2:7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” If life itself arises from the very breath of God, how can evil be a fundamental aspect of human life? Curses, foiled once again by Leibnitz.
Did David deliberately set out to do evil? Or, did David merely succumb to his own senses of lust and desire and thereby do evil? Where did the evil originate? Certainly, David did not despise the word of the Lord, David’s entire life was based on his faithfulness to the word of the Lord.
As a Christian, it is hard for me to imagine that anyone actually sets out to deliberately do evil. Yet, as I look at the world around me, there is a great deal of evil being done. Some of it does appear deliberate, purposely planned and executed. I believe much of it, however, is representative of those words above from Romans. At times, I have asked myself that same question, “why do I not do the good I want, but do the evil I do not want?”
When I look for answers, I think about the essence of what constitutes evil. What is evil? My Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms tells me that evil is, “That which opposes the will of God. It is both personal and structured oppression that takes shape in societies. It has been defined as ‘the absence of good’ (Augustine). Distinctions are made between physical and moral evil, natural and intrinsic evil.” (pg. 97)
Regrettably, that dictionary definition does not help me resolve the question of evil itself, why does it exist, where did evil come from? Neither does that definition help me resolve the dilemma posed by Leibnitz.
As we discussed this issue this morning, Greta said, “Sometimes you just have to have faith.” Ultimately, that is the answer to so many unanswered questions. Sometimes all of us just have to have faith. My favorite definition of faith is not the one in that dictionary. I prefer, “Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is our only bulwark against the evils around us, be they physical, moral, natural or intrinsic.
A part of our Christian faith is the assurance that we will ultimately attain that for which we so often pray, that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We do not see that now, we are assured that it will come about, we have that conviction that it will someday be seen. While we wait for its fulfillment, we work to bring it to fruition. We heed Paul’s words to Timothy, “1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
Stay safe, fight the good fight, trust God,
Pastor Ray