Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The Specter Of Evil


Yesterday's post dealt with doubt and faith in a positive sense. I wasn't really satisfied with it. In fact, I wrote and rewrote it several times and edited it many more times. It's hard to say something when you don't exactly know what you are trying to say. I find myself a part of a cosmos - that is, and orderly, harmonious system - and in possession of a mind capable of analyzing it. Purpose or accident? Is there a grand mind behind it all or is it all just a lucky accident? I can't say for sure. But I hope.
 
Then last night before bed I was reading a book that contained many stories of people's lives and beliefs. I randomly turned to the story of a woman who survived the Holocaust. Telling her story many years later (the book was published in 1990), she told of how her faith in God was damaged by all she experienced and saw while imprisoned at Auschwitz. She said she tries to have faith in God but that it is difficult. She is haunted by the specter of evil.
 
The feeling that washed over me as I read, like black waves crashing against a crumbling shore, took me back to the troubling years when I first seriously allowed myself to question my youthful, faithful worldview. I began to read every book I could get my hands on concerning the problem of why God would allow so much suffering in the world. As if to underscore the doubts I was already experiencing back then, I met while in college a young lady - who became a close friend for many years before she moved away and out of my life - who, along with her two younger sisters and their baby brother, had been sexually and mentally abused by her father.
 
She used to tell me stories of the abuse. It was therapeutic for her. But for me, it further eroded my faith in an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God. The anger against a person I didn't know at all would burn inside me. But also, it burned towards a God who would part a sea in order to allow a bedraggled band of his chosen people to escape an angry Pharaoh and his army, but would do nothing to aide helpless little children. It made no sense to me.
 
I came into possession of The Pessimists' Guide to History, which collected account after account of "catastrophes, barbarities, massacres and mayhem" down through the centuries. I still have that book and dip into it every now and then in order to keep perspective. I am haunted by the specter of evil.
 
My thoughts about the possibility of a Supreme Mind behind the cosmos are conflicted because of the very real, very palpable existence of extreme evil therein. Both the beauty of the cosmos and the ugliness of aspects of it pull at me from opposite directions. I can sit here in the comfort of my home, situated in a relatively safe and secure land of plenty, and think "life is great." But when I lift my gaze beyond, it is more difficult to think that. At least that view tempers those feelings.
 
There seems to be no simple and certainly no completely satisfying answers. The problem of evil is real and it can be devastating.

14 comments:

  1. You likely know Stephen Laws argument. A summary (not enough to do justice to the scope of his thought) is something like this: A benevolent deity is unlikely because of the amount of suffering we see - and a malevolent deity is unlikely because of the amount of happiness we see. The 'problem of evil' is a 'problem' only if you are trying to see a deity. No deity, no problem. What is, is - period. Don't know why, but the very question of asking why contains buried within the assumption there must be a why, or perhaps causative purpose, ah - a Purposer!

    Other items that I consider big problems for theism: hiddenness and scale. To this latter, I thought this relevant to mention, though you have probably seen it:

    http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm.

    I know you are still on dial up, but it is worth waiting for this to load.

    Ah, such deep problems. And such a small cranial capacity. I am getting dizzy!

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    1. For me there is a real tension here between the idea of design and the problem of evil. For now I'm willing to live with that tension even as I explore ways my conception of a Supreme Mind can be tweaked to at least make more sense of the problem of evil. As you know, I don't bind myself to the popular Abrahamic concept of God.

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  2. Sorry about defective link. Copy it without the period at the end and it will work.

    Your 'prove you are not a robot' feature is keeping me out despite repeatedly entering correct input. I am leaving the page and coming back to see if that helps. I remember the spam comments on the old blog that prompted this feature, but it sometimes fails to work properly and is a real pain. I am not telling you this to advocate for change, merely for the sake of you being informed about what is happening and perhaps why there are fewer comments than there used to be.

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    1. Yeah, I was wondering about that link. I'm sorry my readers are having problems getting their comments posted. I will try it without that word verification feature, at least for a while, and see if that's better. Spam is frustrating, but not nearly as frustrating as losing touch with my cyber friends would be.

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    2. I have experienced similar problems as well. My frustration threshold is far too limited.

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    3. Don, I didn't realize it had been causing a problem. I hope things are better now because I really love hearing from all of my friends here.

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  3. Hi Doug. I have tried to comment several times but It kept locking up. I'm trying now under anonymous to see if it works.

    Love this post. Suffering and evil are one of the reasons I no longer hold the same beliefs I once held. Thanks for your thoughts on the subject and thank you exrelayman for your comments. Exrelayman you should write a blog. I would love to read it.

    I have been reading a blog "Jericho Brisance". I think you and your readers would enjoy it. If you do check it out go to his journey category and read it. It is pretty long but well worth the time. Sylvia.

    Thanks again Doug.

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    1. Hi, Sylvia, I can't tell you how glad I am to hear from you again. I've missed you and was afraid something might be wrong. I'm turning off the word verification feature. See if that makes commenting easier. If not, feel free to post anonymously and sign your name. Oh, and I'm with you. I think exrelayman should start a blog of his own. In fact, I've suggested that to him a time or two myself. And thanks, too, for the suggestion that we check out Jericho Brisance. I will do that when I have a little more time.

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  4. Just to chime in, I have Jericho's blog in my blogroll if you'd like easy access to check it out. It's under my list of Wordpress blogs I follow.

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    1. Thanks for chiming in. You know I love it when you do. When I have a little more time I plan on reading some of Jericho's blog. It looks interesting from the brief glance I took through it just a while ago.

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  5. Hi Doug. Thanks for the concern. I have been reading your blog faithfully but I have just been silent. Hopoe you understand. Sylvia

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    1. I do, and that's fine. Just so glad you are okay.

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  6. Hi Doug,
    I have had some pretty horrible things happen to me but I still have the faith, because had those things not happen to me, I fell like I would not be the person I am today. I believe that our destiny is determined the moment we are born. Now what that is, I have no idea nor do I question why or what. Things that have happened to me in my life have given an understanding so that if a problem arises, I have the mental tools to deal with it and perhaps help someone else who may not have those tools to deal. God only gives you the tools to work with, It is up to you as to whether you use it for good or evil.
    Thanks, Kathy

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    1. Hi Kathy! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I think you speak for a lot of religious seekers. If what you say about mental tools is headed in the right direction, I certainly want to use any I have for the good.

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