Evil is one of those embarrassing intellectual problems that philosophers and theologians have spent countless hours wrestling with over the millennia. I've read some of their thoughts about it. Today I had one of my own. Not a new thought, but very much my own:
If God exists, God is evil. Some people suffer terribly and may even have their lives snuffed out way, way short of having even a single opportunity to seek God. I was driving to the garbage dump, my dog Wally in the backseat as usual taking a ride in the car with Papa. And God's evil (if God exists) struck me with profound clarity, such that people's attempt to rationalize God's benevolence seemed to me the height of self-delusion.
Harold Bloom, the author of Jesus and Yahweh, said last year in an interview on PBS that he has nightmares about Yahweh. I wonder if I'll dream tonight?
Okay, so you're not a flaming believer. Still, this post is a bit unlike you. Did you run over a skunk on the way to the dump or did something else bad happen? Hope not.
ReplyDeleteTom, I'm glad you stopped by. No, nothing bad had happened to me. It did occur to me later, though, that people who say things like that usually do so because of a personal tragedy. "If God exists, how could He have taken my child?" Such experiences sorely test believers' faith.
ReplyDeleteNo, my own experiences have for the most part been not only benign, but rather good. But I've also realized, in thinking about this, that that is largely due to my attitude, my ability to reframe things in a positive way. No doubt, if my attitude had been more neutral (or even pessimistic) I would be able to remember a lot of "bad things" that have happened to me.
So why was I dwelling on bad stuff? You may recall that I recently had occasion to speak of the food chain, in connection with my remembering some dogs I have known. And I am reminded of mortality everyday, if not by my own aging then by the faster aging of my beloved dog. (Plus, I recently read a book titled Corpse, about forensic scientists' research into determining time of death, and I had just returned from a forensics conference in San Antonio where I had occasion to meet the odontologist who testified in the trial of serial killer Ted Bundy.) Anyway, stuff has been on my mind, even if "only" stuff that has happened to other people or animals. But I take seriouly (as my mother did) that other creatures are as deserving as I am, so bad stuff happening to other people can affect me as much as its happening to me.
And I've started to read the Quran, and I've been meditating on believers' general tendency to make out that everything is real swell with God, and I'm frankly annoyed at that attitude, which sort of strikes me as being blinkered and pollyannaish.
The "profound clarity" of my sense of God's being at least as evil as God is good (if God exists) seemed, in my wide-eyed sobriety, to be patently obvious.
I only regret that I didn't think to balance the statement with a word about the goodness of God—particularly because I discovered this evening that someone on another blog had cited my post as some sort of evidence as to what a bastard God is. But I have decided that it would be foolish to worry about that.
A friend commented privately:
ReplyDelete"On the concept of 'Evil God' I had sensed like Tom did, in your post, you were just pushing the envelope further than what you really believed. Surely you see the beauty and effects of His Mercy/Compassion all around you. There is a saying that goes 'I am as my servant thinks I am.' It's interesting because it goes into perception and how the way we perceive the universe/Maker tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. There's plenty of examples of cold hearted cruetly out there; as there are of beauty/compassion/etc. A pessimist has as much fodder as an optimist does...."
I share the comment here in order to point out that in my reply to Tom, I regretted not balancing my post with equal time for "God is good."
My point, trying to minimize the "see what you want to see" effect, was that we have evidence for God's being capable of extreme cruelty as well as of extreme beneficence.
It just struck me, that day on the way to the dump, that much (perhaps most) theological thought may be elaborate rationalization for explaining away the negative stuff so the theologians can end up with that totally beneficent God they really want to believe in (and feel safe because God's not really evil at all).
I meant to contrast my "wide-eyed sobriety" with a person's typical wistfulness when it comes to God (and to most everything else important); that is, we typically believe what we want to believe.
I'm trying to shed that tendency and see with utter clarity. I admit that the attempt seems to have turned me into a somber-looking guy. At least, I've gotten a few concerned questions from friends whether I'm okay.
I've sifted through some old threads yesterday, seeking to cull and cobble some into posts. They sometimes adapt pretty well, instead of composing to nobody in particular in front of an aseptic computer screen.
ReplyDeleteThus I came across this statement of yours from the post Some Demographics Relative to Religion (12/18): "Finding incredible your statement that "the Bible teaches that humans...were created to live indefinitely," I'm going to have to check into that...." Have you done that? IMO, that is key.
Essentially, what prompts your current post is disillusionment over the fruitless search regarding why God (if he exists) permits suffering and evil. You've not come up with an answer and so you are bummed, as might be expected of any sensitive person.
I don't think there is an answer as long as you maintain the common model that life is meant to be 80 years, and that God built us on that model, or at least that he is okay with it. What options does that view leave one? You can learn not to ask that question, perhaps by immersing yourself in dogma that crowds out everything else. Or maybe by learning Zen-like to go with the flow. Or maybe figure we have no right to an answer just now....we simply must "do our time" and hopefully find out when we die. Or just shut down spiritually and devote ourselves to fun and frolic. None of these choices appeal to me, and apparently not to you.
"The Bible teaches that humans...were created to live indefinitely," I truly do think that is key. And so do you, if I may infer from another comment of yours in the same thread: “I harbor a deep suspicion that the main source of religious belief is its use as a crutch to remove the unbearable sadness of a person's anticipated demise.”
But change your perspective to "God did not create humans to die, but to live indefinitely" and all can fall into place. One can find reasonable and satisfying answers to those greatest questions of all time: Why suffering and evil, and why old age and death?
To my knowledge, only the Bible offers this perspective and, while it is easily demonstrable, only JWs discern it there. I realize this sounds most farfetched, but if you can find another source for this perspective, let me know. Yes, I know you are turned off at the prospect of "Bible study," but it's just found no other place. Or, at least I, like you, haven't come across it elsewhere. I sort of stumbled across this during college years, when I was not consciously searching, but I latched onto if firmly, recognizing it as absolutely unique.
So I'm curious. "I'm going to have to check into that...." Have you done so?
Tom, Alas, I have not checked into it. I think I haven't done so because I don't know how to.
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting that not only humans but also those other suffering animals (the gazelles eaten by lions, the lions themselves, for example) are also intended to live forever and that their suffering (as well as our own suffering and deaths) are illusory and negligible in view of the coming resurrection? Frankly, I find that so far-fetched that I must suppose I have another, more powerful reason for not having checked into it (even though I probably intended sincerely to do so at the time I said that): checking would be a waste of time.
However, it does strike me as a nice fantasy. If I could believe that, I might be able to get all happy again.
Actually, maybe this particular "fantasy" is to be found elsewhere, in Buddhism, Hinduism? One of the two or both, I think. At least, the concept that what we experience in this terrestrial sphere is illusory.
Notice, Tom, that I put "fantasy" in quotation marks that last time, out of respect for you and in acknowledgment that it's just me saying so and I may be wrong.