Loved this. These are things I have often thought about, and you discuss them in ways that respect both God and the human spirit.
There are two basic kinds of evil in the world, human caused and natural. Why God wanted free will beings is a mystery, but free will beings have to be capable of good or evil by definition. We cannot conceive of ourselves as human unless we possess free will. That is why we refer to slavery as dehumanizing. The slave’s very humanness is taken away by force.
If we accept that human beings possess free will, then human caused evil must necessarily exist. The question is, why is it so huge of a problem? Perhaps because we are becoming more and more physically powerful. I have often wondered if God is observing this with the consideration that we have have to survive the attainment of God-like power in order to become fit companions for God, thus bringing about the Kingdom of God on Earth. But God cannot force this because then we would be less than human. Because of the nature of free will and of this, God’s overall project, God watches it play out, all the while praying.
Who or what does God pray to?
Natural evil is necessary for the human species to develop God-like power. Otherwise we would not have sufficient motivation. We would remain blissful infants in The Garden. We would never grow.
Thank you for your thought provoking article. I keep meaning to get back to my church’s Bible study sessions but I’m such a heretic. But then again one of my besties says I should, for precisely that reason.
Before I go, shameless self promotion. You might like my “Hi, I’m God” series. It’s not finished yet but I have 6 chapters. #7 is getting there.
