Whether or not one believes in God, it would be hard to believe that the CEO of the creative department of existence would choose to create evil. Does a true creator want to create anything that destroys? God was not Oppenheimer – or was He?
The story goes that Lucifer challenged God’s authority and power. God tossed Lucifer out of the heavenly manor but not out of the Garden of Eden.
The truth is, before the apple thing, Lucifer didn’t have any power. There’s no indication he was actually evil. Genesis indicates he was definitely miffed with the Alimighty, but not much more. In this context and by implication, God did not create evil.
The fruit of knowledge changed everything including Lucifer. The trigger was disobedience. It may be that Adam and Eve created evil by tasting knowledge. Many have asked: why the tree?
What was (is) God’s relationship to the tree? Did (does) all existence depend on the tree? Was (Is) the tree is linked to God in the same way that knowledge and existence are linked? What IS the nature of God’s existence? Of God’s faith? Of God’s plan? Of God’s wrath?
We know God will reject and even punish those who challenge His love. Lucifer is evidence of that. But the story of Noah is the first evidence of God’s destructive capabilities. At least that’s how we interpret the flood – as a destructive act of God.
In a divine context, it may not have been defined as a destructive act. From God’s point of view, it may have been nothing more than severe punishment. Perhaps there is a divine cycle we are unaware of wherein we are remade, reshaped, reCREATED, over time – God’s time. This suggests that we’ve got it all wrong. We’ve misinterpreted the meaning of creation, destruction, good and evil.
Our more familiar understanding of God is embraced in the ideas that God is the power that invoked the universe; God is driven by the will to create; God has the answers to all the questions. These are the divine factoids that the faithful hope and believe are true.
Maybe we should try bending the meanings a little. We took a chance with the apple; look where it got us. So, let’s try again.
The existence of evil (evil as we define it) may be an inevitable consequence of God’s pursuit to create perfection. Perfection is absolute balance. This implies that, to maximize creativity, the forces of destruction play an equal or, at the very least, substantial role.
But, at the best of times, perfection is imperfection at work.
It’s a riddle. Like “666″ is a riddle. If we are to destroy evil, we may have to focus on creativity to do it. God could easily destroy Lucifer. He chooses not to. Why? Most philosophers and theologians will tell you that it is against God’s nature to destroy what he creates. Fair enough.
If God destroys something he created, God invalidates his own existence. There must be a consequence to that – even for God.
It’s safe to say that our understanding of the world (seen and unseen) is limited. Our faith might be exponential, but that’s about it.
Like most people, I have a hard time trying to accept the fact that the universe is infinite. I grew up in a world where there are beginnings, middles, ends, life, puberty, mid life crisis and – ugh -death.
My son once found a phrase in a book – dereavaun seraun – Gaelic, I believe, for “at the end of pleasure there is a pain”.
Maybe pain is a wonderful thing because it verifies physical existence. Maybe ‘up’ is really ‘down’. Perhaps there is no death as such. According to Jesus, there is everlasting life to those who CHOOSE the path of salvation through Him.
Life happens at some rate that only God can measure. Perhaps the only reason life keeps happening is because it is being willed into existence at the rate God wills it to exist. For God, the context of evil may be far different than ours.
But in our own very small brains, evil is amplfied. We celebrate it, exalt it, perpetuate it. It has a 1-800 number, a 1-900 number, and a web site address. It kills children in the name of God. We’ve certainly given evil a home. We might consider showing evil the door. We have the tools. We have the capability. We just don’t make the choice.
Maybe we don’t have enough faith in a world without evil. If it is true that by choosing to disobey God, we created evil, then we cannot destroy that which we created – just like God cannot choose to destroy what he created.
It’s an interesting conundrum. It hangs out there, like an apple on a tree.
