The Problem of Evil.

 

 

The Problem of Evil: A Response in Light of Current Events.

Of course, we all know of events that are of evil or purposes that are evil. While that is perfectly true, knowing that is only a portion of the recognition and understanding of the presence of evil. Are we able to solve evil after we have reached an understanding of it? Perhaps. 

Although I wire- frame an approach to understanding evil, I do not hope to summarize nor really contribute anything new to it.

I hope to accomplish a little  with these few words in this post. You may have wrestled, recently in the light of recent events, with this very topic.

On your bed, with friends, in reading, online or on TV, sharing your  ideas and thoughts about the recent event of former President Trump assassination attempt in the USA. So controversial and unfailingly political, even generally clear yet to many turbid from conspiracy theorists to unanswered questions from the populace; the assassination attempt 'event' clearly divided.the western world It .has even come to light that Big tech Giants waded in  “mistakenly” censoring news of the event.

Though you may not agree with it, evil is a valid subject of philosophy and beyond. Whatever your worldview, you are debating with yourself or others.Afterall you want answers. Well I may provide a  tenous framework (only) with my thoughts underlying the "event.'

 Suffice to say an honest debate needs to be presented clearly and disclosed to all.

 

With that I present a  view on evil.

Wrestling with the problem of evil, Augustine defined evil in purely negative terms. Evil is a lack (or negation) of the good.

 

Only that which was first good can become evil. Evil is defined against the backdrop of the prior concept of the good. Evil depends on the good for its very definition. We speak of evil in terms of unlawful, injustice and lawlessness. As a parasite depends on its host for its existence, so evil depends on the good for its existence. If anything were wholly or purely evil, it could not exist. Why? Evil is not a substance or a thing. It is a lack (or negation) of the good.

 

At this, Augustine seems to define evil in purely ontological terms. If this were the case, Augustine would have to say that evil is a necessary consequence of finitude. God cannot create a “perfect” being. To do so would be to create another God. Even God cannot create another God, because the second God would be, by definition, a creature.

 

To avoid the ontological necessity of evil, Augustine turned to free will. God created man with free will in which he also enjoyed perfect freedom. Man had the faculty of choosing what he wanted. He could sin and had the ability not to sin. He could choose evil or not. But he freely chose to sin out of his inclination that leans to sin but is not sin.

 

As a result of the first sin, ( disobedient evil ) he lost his freedom but not his free will. He was plunged, as a divine punishment, into a corrupt state known as original sin, losing the ability to incline himself to the things of God.

 This resulted in man’s absolute dependence on a work of divine grace in his soul (the core of the heart, mind,emotions and feelings) if he were ever to move toward God. 

Fallen man is in bondage to sin. He still has the faculty of choosing, a will free from coercion, but he now is free only to sin, because his desires are inclined only toward sin and away from God. Now the ability not to sin, is lost and in its place is the inability not to sin. 

With this view Augustine and others combated those who argue and deny original sin. Many argued that first sin affected Adam alone and that all people have the ability to live perfect  lives. 

Of course this view is  fundamentally opposed to reality. Man is unable to live free from evil or sin. But the Eternal One has provided a way back toward good. He did so by sending His Son to rescue humankind from their evil state. By paying for the penalty of evil disobedience himself to make upright, the wretched. He paves the way to wholeness, peace,love,and healing for the individual receiving with the availability of Heaven.

Thanks for your patience. All errors are mine.

 

Based initially on the book Ideas Have Consequences by R C Sproul.

Your views and comments are most welcome, whether for or against or to amplify.

 

HolyWould ?

 Holy Would ?

 

You don't need to stop the show, you only need to pause it.

(DA)

Nearing the Day?

What do You think?

Rising from the Shadows: Russia? Iran?

 

 This assault by the Media on the event of the Trump assassination attempt is one that most of the empathic Western world don't believe that some persons could not be sympathetic or simply don't care. The unthinkable might have occurred and one could (tragically) believe that some people wished the bullet had hit.

One's belief is another's toxic beliefs. 

 

If one believes what most Media outlets have hated to report favourably, then I have and like You realise that not everything is as it seems. This  ensuing chaos is rightly thought of as ' organised ' mischief. 

But I don't wish to play the devil's advocate. 

There are forces of Light and forces of darkness. There is a brutal death- wish of the forces of darkness that is contrary to that which is good and right. These evil elements of wrong do what they do because of the silent,  temporarily hidden ways of devilishly attuned beings. Of course you do not believe what I just said! 

What? 

Some even go further than others would by saying

"The devil's triumph in the post-modern world is characteristically presenting himself as a red- clothed being with a long tail and pitchfork!"

Either cartoonist or non-existent.

While the Bible paints him as a being or fallen angel of Light though kicked out of Heaven. What God judges, we should call out... and mobilise against.

 Laughter like a waterfall gushing over rocks. What? How? When? Has this writer lost his marbles? Please give him some pills, somebody, anybody!

You are rightly aware that there is more than what touches the senses of our humanity.

Ultimately, you and I are here by the grace of God.

 One's belief is another's toxic beliefs.

I paraphrase  William Booth's thought poorly, as I wish to lift humanity out of misery into the Light of the Heavenly Paradise.

 

What some would freely express, some freely censor. That is a mutual burden.  But one I freely consider.

 

Opposing views are welcome.

Comments, pros and cons are always welcome. 

 

I thank a small number of people who rightly have given of themselves in forming my humanity and my exclusive views to the contrary.

 

 

 

Trumps Speech!

In Trump's Speech at the RNC in the USA among so many other good and quotable lines.

He said, 

Every Moment of life is a Gift of God.

Faith = Knowledge ?

 

Faith, the Precursor to knowledge?

 

Faith, says Augustine, is an essential ingredient of knowledge. Augustine does not restrict his notion of faith to what we typically refer to as religious faith. Faith also involves a provisional belief in things before we can validate them through demonstration. He adopted the famous motto Credo ut intelligam, “I believe in order to understand.”

In this sense faith is prior to reason. All knowledge begins in faith. As children we accept what we are taught by faith. We believe our parents and teachers until we can test what they say for ourselves. We may doubt our parents’ warning that the stove is hot, but we demonstrate its truth by touching the stove ourselves.

---

 R. C. Sproul, The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts That Shaped Our World

 

God intervened

 An Act of God-- True insurance.

Australia. Are We messed up? ( Reworked )

 

 

Australia? Are we Messed up? 2.

 

We are surrounded by malicious attempts to bypass natural laws and traditional conventions and pander to hostile interests at home and abroad. Where there should be decisive and enlightened leadership, there are domestic and international lies that compromise the Western world.

Where there should be policies that promote prosperity, social infrastructure and political harmonies, there is instead inflation, stifled GDP growth, anti-capitalist sentiments, neo -techno-fascism, anti-nuclear Family movements, anti-Semitism, growing Genderism, Marxist-Islamic attitudes, anti- Age policies and the like.   Bold enemies who seek to destroy the international order of free, sovereign nation-states, such as America and Australia, are running almost unopposed.

Our Island Continent, nestled in the Grand Pacific Ocean, is being assailed by ideologies aiming for long-term benefits, but not ours. Our youth is deceived and diverted to other nefarious causes in this divergent struggle. Though damaged, they are not destroyed.

There is a diminishing of respect for our veterans and their families of 4 vastly significant conflicts. Lest We Forget is our promise to them. They won and consolidated our freedoms, such as the freedom to vote, protest, free assembly, free speech, free association, and other vital liberties. These precious values enable freedom for entities such as Facebook, Tik Tok, and X (formerly Twitter) to operate with almost no regulation—beside honour and common sense. These freedoms are available for or bestowed to all kinds of Media in Australia and around the Western World. This geo-social situation is accorded to our allies and our enemies, too. So without these ‘rules of engagement,’ they would not be able to operate freely to our harm-- day in and day out.

While our enemies have different ideological climates, our allies have diverse opinions. This does not transform our friendly countries but alters our enemies’ attitudes to wield Western Media for their propaganda purposes. Though this is true, the puzzling attitude is that this awareness is not the prevailing Western sentiment. So, Western Nations are mostly ambivalent about their approach to Islamic ideology and Marxist ideals. This is no more evident than in their treatment of war–tools. Countries once opposed to the West are now friendly and vice-versa.

 

Many surveillance products made by nefarious countries are available for use and implementation by virtually anyone. Many tools are free to download on the Internet.
 Virtually used unfettered by autocrats as in some countries, where they censor all communication that would oppose their ways and means of rule. Other bad actors use them as well.
 Many more sophisticated surveillance products made by other countries are available for use and implementation by virtually any, where Money is the broker.

 

The housing crisis, dwindling disposable income, rising prices,rising energy costs and threatening food insecurity are desperate topics for solutions. War-threatened suppliers, mounting global unrest and political tensions dog the Western world. All are impacting our nation’s cities ensnared in vice-like opportunism motivated by decades-long Culture war.

  Something dangerous is happening that is threatening the very fabric of our society. We cannot afford to be complacent. It’s not good enough to remember and we should shoulder the burden. Our older folk are being pushed aside while our youth are adverse- influenced by  biased social media, gender fluidity and other unfortunate nonsense. Precious truths, mature beliefs and shared core values are being redefined. At the same time, conversations that should be had are deleted from public spaces. Puzzling attitudes are grasping us by the throat when forces use post-modern techniques to cease valid concern and manipulate many with Freudian and ‘ blue book’  mythology to set each gender against the other.

But there is more than a gleam of hope for us. Without this, the free love of life would be chained by a few enemies who would seek to rule many. Independent forces are working to free us from such an enslaved existence. Who has not realised that there are spectators cum activists ruining our freedoms?

Where, you ask?

It’s a breath away, a heartbeat hammer and sunset clauses exist.

 

Psalm Eighty Eight.

Psalm 88 (abridged) 

 

 

 Like those whom you remember no more for they are  cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me  and you overwhelm me. You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow.

 

 I call upon you, O LORD;  I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Is your steadfast love declared in the grave or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

 

 But I, O LORD, cry to you in the morning my prayer comes before you. LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?  I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long: You have caused my beloved and my friends to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

 

BUT I WILL SING OF THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD. 

This portion of Holy Scripture seemed to relate to me, especially so, in the previous two years.It expressed exactly how I thought a-n-d felt now. 

 

It caused me to tremble with the thought of its overall meaning. I was humbled again by his ( God's ) heavy hand, enough to cause me to cry out for Mercy.I wanted to run from his correction, but i knew that that was impossible. 

 

Although this song (Psalm 88) is in the Older portion of the Bible and was probably written more than 25 centuries ago, it  totally jumped out of the page at me full of  personal meaning. This is truly another example of the Bible bridging the gap or span of time, culture and geography. Reaching out to me across the divide and blowing me away with its relevance,acuity and feedback. It zeroed into my heart and mind  deeper than a burning laser.

You, my reader, may be astounded as I was or you may just wonder what the Psalm 88 and I am talking about. If you were amazed,as I was let me know and post your thoughts. If you were not, let your comments be my guide for feedback.

Memes

 

 

 /Everywhere/

 

I am confronted by Richard Dawkins' theory of memes. Those are mental units: thoughts, ideas, gestures, notions, songs, beliefs, rhymes, ideals, poems, teachings, sayings, phrases, articles, clippings, emails, quotes, prophecies, inscriptions, testimonies, audio messages, texts, movies, videos, bits and clichés that move from mind to mind as genes move from body to body. After a lifetime of reading, writing, thinking and unhappily torturing people with my tales, I will leave more helpful memories behind than a few.

 

Puzzled ?

 

Baffled!

 

I am baffled or puzzled by those who do things differently based on the ancient principle of love!

 

Yet, Yet, Yet,

 

I ask you, would you NOT have it any other way?

 

It's only relatively easy to be reminded.

 

I don't think that I am a narcissist. Besides, isn't everyone a potential candidate for narcissism or narcissistic behaviours?

 

Of course, the world loves itself and the so-called Me Generation. 

 

Everything is determined by individual choice of individual preferences!

 

There is no authentic God out there. He or she does not exist. That means we are all the Gods on the planet. In our reality, we are the ultimate measure of right and wrong. Everything is Man and Man is everything!

 

Morals, norms, and standards are only agreed upon by every man and woman. 

 

All people who agree with that are a significant society; thus, they can enact and enforce the rules, and no rules ultimately rule. Except there are no rules.

 

Ethics and morals are only agreed upon widely known conventions. 

 

Conventions are convenient rules.

That guides and shapes our decisions as we learn and act upon the rules we perceive in the reality we all step into. We don't start from scratch each time we are born.

 

No! We all are raised in a world that consists of more than a toss of the die or dice. This world has laws, rules and norms that are written ( and unwritten ) into the very fabric of our social order. Much is already based on what has been decided long ago. However, some forces have set themselves against the prevailing social order and attempt to reshape the establishment according to their knowledge and opportunities. If they succeed a new social order is created.

 

An excellent example of value reshaping on this planet is a simple lifestyle that could develop, like the following.

 

So, as long as everyone agrees that since sex is good, it is widely and wisely known that limiting good things is wrong.

Therefore, limiting sex is terrible! ( Because all things are good, like sex)

 

So anything that is sexy is good, not wrong.

 

So, since sex sells

Selling sex is saleable or worthwhile.

 

Thus, sexy people can sell sex-- very well.

 

The sexier a person is, the more sellable or worthy that person is; therefore, the more valuable they are.

 

Of course, if we take those notions to their most straightforward conclusions, we have anarchy and chaos—a return to earlier times. Therefore, everywhere might is right. Remember that there are no absolutes or right and wrong.

 

Whatever you or I choose ...is right or wrong for you and me. But remember, it has already been stated that there is no ultimate truth or virtue.

 

Since true, citizens are right or wrong as their preferences dictate and if all rules are invalid or false they are only conventions or noted customs. It follows citizens

make their own decisions about what customs or conventions they obey.

 It's been said that everything is relatively true but not absolutely true. This hypothesis is based on the unconditional truth that nothing exists except perception.  Perception is reality. Reality is perception.  Each person has different experiences internal and external, which are differently perceived. Nothing exists outside of the mind. Minds see everything differently because you and I are unique. 

 

Individuals are Individuals. Therefore, truth is not absolute but relative. Individual truth is not absolute truth; therefore, individual truth is relative.

However, someone may counter that if truth is not absolute,  virtue is not absolute and, therefore, dead. If virtue is dead, that means that civilization is dead. 

 

If civilization is dead, then without truth and virtue, the only end will be barbarism or chaos.

 

Of course, civilisations would become impossible without rules and virtues.

 

Do you follow what I am saying?

 

This kind of thinking happens every day, everywhere and they think we can throw away our lives as enslaved people except for the elite few! Who are mighty enough behind a fortune, pleasant fortresses and personal mercenaries. 

 

See Earlier post, Titanic Clash ? ( to learn more)