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asaris · 04-01-2004, 04:27 PM

OshnSoul -- I think I understand the point you're trying to make; bad things happen to us so that we can grow from them. I'm not sure what you mean by 'our souls will them', but I don't think that affects the point I'm about to make.

I think that evil is bad. There are things that happen which are not justified by any good that might possibly come out of them. I think that the denial of this is the sign of a weak soul that needs to believe that, somehow, everything has a meaning, where the strong soul realizes that the world is just an evil place, and so evil happens. I think it trivializes the evil that befalls people to believe that it happens as a 'growing experience'. Evil is here, and its real, and I don't think you need to be a Christian to see it.

And this is precisely why I'm a Christian -- because I believe in the reality of evil. The only way I can stand evil, stand against evil, is because I know there is a Good Person who is much stronger than it. He, and far too rarely Him working though me, makes good out of the evil. This doesn't justify evil, doesn't give it a meaning, or anything trite like that, but it's the only way to make things even a little bit better. I have faith in a God that will make all things new, create a new world where there will be no 'growing experiences'. This is the center of my faith, that though there is evil and pain in this world, there is also a God. Not a God who is some mysterious energy force or some entity blind to our sufferings, but a God who walked with us, who knows all the suffering that we suffer, and so a God who suffers with us.

04-01-2004, 04:27 PM	#20 (permalink)
asaris Mad Philosopher Location: Washington, DC	OshnSoul -- I think I understand the point you're trying to make; bad things happen to us so that we can grow from them. I'm not sure what you mean by 'our souls will them', but I don't think that affects the point I'm about to make. I think that evil is bad. There are things that happen which are not justified by any good that might possibly come out of them. I think that the denial of this is the sign of a weak soul that needs to believe that, somehow, everything has a meaning, where the strong soul realizes that the world is just an evil place, and so evil happens. I think it trivializes the evil that befalls people to believe that it happens as a 'growing experience'. Evil is here, and its real, and I don't think you need to be a Christian to see it. And this is precisely why I'm a Christian -- because I believe in the reality of evil. The only way I can stand evil, stand against evil, is because I know there is a Good Person who is much stronger than it. He, and far too rarely Him working though me, makes good out of the evil. This doesn't justify evil, doesn't give it a meaning, or anything trite like that, but it's the only way to make things even a little bit better. I have faith in a God that will make all things new, create a new world where there will be no 'growing experiences'. This is the center of my faith, that though there is evil and pain in this world, there is also a God. Not a God who is some mysterious energy force or some entity blind to our sufferings, but a God who walked with us, who knows all the suffering that we suffer, and so a God who suffers with us. __________________ "Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht." "The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm." -- Friedrich Nietzsche