Here's Poet's Husband Again:
I haven't been following the discussion, but in my own conversations with my wife I was told that my thoughts might be useful. So here they are:
Concerns about whether God is on our side.
Concerns about how God could let this happen.
Concerns about how religion might be an evil in the long run, considering the horrors committed in the name of God over the centuries.
But were those horrors God's fault or ours?
There is this thing called the problem of evil: Given God is all knowing, good and powerful, how can evil exist? Billy Graham addressed this issue in his sermon last week in front of five presidents, describing it as a mystery while he then moved on to other more pressing issues. Smart man, tough question. This is how I've dealt with it:
God's gift to us is free will. We can decide to do whatever we want, even though God knows what choices we will make. This of course might not make much sense, but read on.
Kant explained that to be truly good, our choices to do good must be free and uncoerced. This makes sense. If I help some invalid cross the street only because he agreed to pay me ten bucks or threatened to whack me if I didn't, what kind of person would I be? Reward and punishment pollutes our freedom and, consequently our morality. Morality and freedom are the same. Evil and slavery are the same.
God gave us free will in order that the good that we do would have genuine value. If God was totally in control, forcing us to be good, our actions would be worthless. This is a wonderful gift and the only one that gives true meaning to our lives as we struggle to understand and take care of each other as we take care of ourselves. The price we pay is the possibility, often realized, of evil. But to the extent that we make progress in our spiritual lives, evil will evaporate. And that's God's plan -- that we will, some day, of our own free will, come to our senses. |
