To have gravity, we must be able to fall off a cliff. To have an antidote, we must have a poison. To have freedom, we must have slavery, and to have good there must be evil. In order to know what good is, we must have an understanding of what evil can do, I think. It would seem that one extreme cannot live without the other. To say there is no evil among men, no seed of sin planted in every heart, is to say there is no goodness in men. If there is no initial entity, that how can we label what would have been the opposing faction? For good to exist, so must evil. Is evil is quite literately, a necessary evil.
I’ve been trying to imagine a world with no evil. No natural evils such as leukemia, cancer, birth defects, death, suffering, and pain. No moral evils such as murder, revenge, hate, or vengeance. I’ve been trying to imagine a world with no way to hurt, or to be hurt. Where you would walk off a cliff and simply float to the ground. Where you would never get cut or bruised and hearts would hold no scars. Trying to imagine a world where sadness was an incomprehensible concept.
Would such a world truly be perfect? Would such a world be good? Would I know it was good? If there were no evil of any sort, what would I describe as good? How could I know what good if there was no bad for me to compare it to? If I had never seen any “evil” in my life, would I be able to see the good in my life? If I had never seen anyone die, would I still value life the same way I do now? If I didn’t know how fragile life was, would I protect it so dearly? If knives couldn’t cut me, if I was in a world incapable of containing hurt, what would keep me from trying to juggle knives? Mothers tell their children not to play with knives, matches, and other dangerous things because they realize the dangerous potential. Parents can see the natural evils that could befall their children. If there were no poor, consequences how would I know how to make the right choice? Can there be right choices if there are no bad ones? When we make decisions we weight the good consequences with the bad ones. We weigh the results of our actions and choose the one with the least harmful repercussions. If I could smoke what ever I wanted and not get cancer, if I could drink whatever I wanted and not be in danger of destroying my liver, why wouldn’t I smoke and drink? (Don’t worry, I’m not going to smoke or drink J ) If there were no bad consequences to define what a bad choice was, then how would I determine the bad choices from the good ones? If no matter what one did, there were no harmful results, why would one choose only the morally “good” choice?
I wonder which actions I would choose if there were no consequences. If there were no right or wrong, no good or evil, would I do things the same way I do now? Would I make the same decisions I make now? It scares me to think that the only thing keeping me from making bad/wrong/immoral decisions, is the possibility of having to face the consequences of my decisions. That it’s really the fear of what could happen that makes me chose to do what’s right. Not because I truly seek to do the right thing on my own, but that I don’t want to have to deal with the consequences of my own actions. Am I really that selfish? Do I really try and do what’s right simply because I’m afraid?
Still, here I sit, trying to imagine a world with no evil, and no good. Imagine a world with no negative consequences for actions, and with basically no responsibility. In such a world, I would have no need for God. If I never sinner, and would never die, then why would I need a savior? Why would I need God? If I didn’t need God, who would give me, hope? If I couldn’t die and couldn’t sin why would I need God? Why would I live under the rules and regulations of Christianity if I could live under the lack of rules an atheist lives under? If I could do no wrong and have no bad/evil happen to me, why in the world would I acknowledge good? How could I acknowledge good? If all my life I had only known what we call “good” things, then wouldn’t there be no good things? If there wasn’t good and there wasn’t bad how would I tell them apart? I wouldn’t be able to identify on from the other because there wasn’t two separate identities with which to identify anything. If good is just what normality is made of, then its not good it’s just normality. In order for me to know good, and to see my need for a good God in my life I need to have the evil influences as well. If I were always good, why would I need a good God to save me? God has been the one thing that has consistently offered me hope in my life. I have experienced many different forms of evils. From family friends killing themselves, the 6-year-old daughter of a friend being murdered by her uncle, to the death of my own infant brother. I know that suffering is. I have seen what evil in the world. I know the pain and heartache evil causes. Still, I could not wish for a world without it. I could not wish for a world where good and evil do not exist, and actions have no meaning.
When life is meaningless, there is no true life. I want a life where I have meaning and a purpose designed by God. I want a God who clearly shows me what is right and what is wrong. I want to have to take responsibility for my actions, and to have the freedom to choose the right or even the wrong thing. To take evil out of the world is to take God out of the world and I need God right where he is. I need God to hold the center together and keep me on the right path. Without his goodness, I could not see the evil around me, I could not see my own
If our world were without evil, then we would not know good. If we did not know good, then we could never now God. It is only because there is evil in our world, that we see how much we need God. It is only because of the pain and suffering, that we can see how much we need something good. No matter how hard we may try, we can never be good, and that is the delight of finding God. Only when we see our own sin and God’s lack of sin, can we see hope. A world with no natural evils such as cancer, death, and pain, or moral evils such as hate, murder, and revenge, is a world with no hope, goodness, compassion, love, generosity, and no God. A world where my actions don’t matter and my choices are meaningless. A world with where there is no personal responsibility and no purpose. If my world had no evil, there would be no good either. I think maybe the world needs both good and evil. There cannot be one without the other. Here I sit, feeling as If I’ve come to some conclusion, but realizing that I’ve thought nothing new. I’ve simply wrestled with the same thoughts as the millions of humans before me. I’ve seen good and I’ve seen evil. I’ve wrestled with their coexistence. I’ve seen my own sin, and seen Gods perfection. I can say that now I honestly know why we have evil. Evil is, so that God’s goodness may be proven. Evil is so that we see what binds us and be set free. Evil is, because good is. Good is because God is. I am, because God is. God is because, well, he’s God. He just is. I am finally content to say that Evil exists, and knowing full well that someday God will vanquish the evil in the world. Someday when earth is free of evil and sin, maybe I’ll understand a world with no evil. As for right now, I am once again content to stay a bit confused.
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