Pio's Proverb 161: EVIL: Why does God allow it?

All brances of Theology are related to or touch on that one question: How can an ALL knowing God, an ALL powerful God, and an ALL loving God allow evil to exist? Only an INFINITELY CREATIVE, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving GOD can bring GOOD out of evil.

St. Thomas Aquinas says that if there are two infinite opposing things, the one will negate the other: philosphically and ontologically. So for sure God and Evil are not in any way equal. Actually they are the very opposite. They are mutually exclusive. Then how does an all knowing, all powerful and all loving God allow evil to exist at all. Did God create evil?  God cannot create evil because evil is the absence of good. But Jesus said it all when He said: "Without Me you can do nothing!"  Evil is the "nothing" - hole in being. Evil is the lack of being. Evil is the nothing we can do without God. God - the Creator of the cosmos - had absolutely no part in Adam and Eve's sin. He in fact warned them not to sin. Man by having a free will can choose to do the nothing: sin. But Jesus was free and Our Lady was free on this earth. They did NOT choose sin - ever!
So, just because we have free will does not mean we have to choose evil. But the Father warned Adam and Eve NOT to choose evil because evil would cause them to die - spiritually and physically. But Adam and Eve chose to listen to satan and not to God. Satan is the father of lies; and God is the Father of all the goodness in the universe. Why they listened to satan is a mystery. Satan is such an accomplished liar that he believed his own lies that he did not have to serve God but could be totally indepent of God so that saten could be his own god. Being one's own god is breaking of the First Commandment: "Thou shall love the Lord, Thy God and worship Him alone."  Satan wanted to be a god and worship himself and wanted to get others to worship him, too. Satan told Jesus, "All these kingdoms of the world are mine and I will give them to you if you would bow down and worship me." Satan is very badly mistaken about who he is. He is merely a creature. The gap between a creature and the Creator is infinite! But, nonetheless, satan had to try to get Adam and Eve to do the same as he did and get them to worship himself by getting Adam and Eve to disobey God by just lying to them and presenting the eating of the fruit as a "good".  But evil can never be good. Adam and Eve sinned by by wanting to decide for themselves what is "good" and "evil".

Pro-choice people do that 4,000 times a day when they kill babies in the womb so that women can decide for themselves what is "good" and "evil".  That is over half the casualties of 9/11 every day. But there is no national monument to these casualties of the United States Supreme Court. But in fact, women say that they have a "right to abortion" which is not documented anywhere in American History. Roe was only granted the right to privacy not abortion.

President Obama made this statement which I heard with my own ears: "We must protect women's right to abortion1"  By saying that he uttered a lie because no women have the right to kill another innocent human being. What refutes the President most powerfully is what he swore on his innaugeration to uphold: the United States Constitution that say in its 14th Amendment - which is very opposite of the evil of abortion:

"...no state shall deprive any person of the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and property without due process of law.." 

So, President Obama and all Pro-choice woman say the very opposite of the U.S. Constitution and the 5th Commandment: "Thou shalt not kill!"  The rights of the unborn child - little women  in the case at least half of the abortions -  is not granted to the child by women who say they have the right to  abortion. They do not grant "liberty" nor "life" to others - but only to themselves. This inconsistency is the greatest EVIL on the planet because it kills babies in the name of women's free choice. They are free to choose for sure; but that choice is an EVIL one. President Obama commits a "social sin" which means that he makes it difficult for society to practice the virtues of protecting innocent life. Hitler did the very same social sin: he killed Jews because he felt they did not have a right to life.

But President Obama and Hitler should listen to the phrase that the Fathers of this Country put into the Constitution that we "have inalienable rights endowed by the Creator to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."  "ENDOWED BY THE CREATOR" was a belief and concept and an utter convinction that came from the very hearts of the framers of the Constitution who also said: "We hold these truths to be self evident!"  But these truths are not evident to the President or Pro-choice women because they promulgate and promote the "gospel of death" - that is they deny the right to life that is endowed by the Creator.  It is not very interesting that President Obama in 5 different speeches when quoting the Constitution said to the nation that there are "..inalienable rights......to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."  But when he said these words quoting from the Constitution, he consistently and purposely omitted "endowed by the Creator." Evil is the absence of good. Obama with malice omitted the words "endowed by the Creator" because the "right to life" is defined by the Creator as in the very nature of man's being human and in the very Nature of God: to share His very life with us. Thus our lives - especially the littlest of humans in the womb - are SACRED to God because our lives reflect God: "Let us make man in our own image and likeness..male and female He created them." Genesis. God never created death; He never created abortion; He never created "choice" as an evil; but President Obama and Pro-choice (pro-choice to kill) have taken the gift of free will and use it to choose evil for others: 4,000 babies a day killed. The President and these women and pro-choice doctors have made their own interpretation of "right" to mean "right to abortion" - contrary to God's own Word and the words of the US Constitution. Hitler did the same: so how could God allow the President of the United States and the furer of Germany declare some select people to have no rights to life? Hitler used this phrase to kill Jews: "The final soluton!"  President Obama and women who feel they have a right to abortion say: "Pro-choice". Please notice that both of these phrases sound like a "good" - satan is still at work.

And why does God allow abortion at all in the world?  China has in the last 30 years aborted 400 million babies. America has since Roe v. Wade aborted 53 million babies: more than all the casualties of war in American history. Does this not bring up the question that if there is a God, then He is not all knowing, not all powerful and not all loving. Let's talk about that:

1 All knowing God:

Knowing and causing are not the same thing. I know - I believe - the sun will come up tomorrow. But I have no cause or say in it. So, God's knowledge of sin in the world - abuse of free will - does not cause sin to take place. If God were the cause of sin, He would not be God. God cannot choose evil: that would be totally a contradiction to His very nature of infinite Goodness. Infinite Good cannot have a speck of evil. If even a minutest sliver of evil were in God, then His very nature would be non-existent. But God called Him by name: "I AM WHO AM!"  God is by His very nature Life, itself, and Life that in infinte and personal and communicative and sharing. "bonum est diffusivum sui" - "Goodness has a tendency to go out if itself." No evil can come from God nor be implicated in any evil. To be implicated is would mean that God is not God. God is impeccable: not capable of any sin.

2) All powerful God:

Well, then if God cannot sin and cannot be implicated in any evil, then how can His allowing of evil not implicate Him in that evil? 

When God allowed evil to happen to Job, God did not send that evil but only allowed that evil to come into Job's life to bring out a greater good. Job lost his wife, children, home, farm animals and reputation because many came to taunt him by saying that Job must have done something evil and now is being punished by God. But Job said: "My vindicator lives!" But I am bringing up Job because in all of the O.T. history, he seems to have suffered the most evil. And what is more, God seems to have allowed it. Is God implicated in that evil? Remember, it was NOT God's idea to send evil into Job's life. It was satan again who did this. Satan just is insanely jealous of good people and wants to destroy them. Envy operates on the delusion that is someone who is beautiful is detroyed, then I will be the most beautiful one left. [note the evil queen in Snow White who says: "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all." When the mirror says that Snow White is fairer than she, she then plots to kill Snow White and even becomes a hideous witch - her true self manifested - to present the poison apple of death.  Even in this story, more good comes out of the story than without the witch. In all literature, the dark of evil only make the goodness of good become the brigther.] But let us get back to Job: the most perfect example ever of good bring drawn from evil. Satan tells God that Job is good - [note that satan tries to tarnish the good of Job to make satan look better: almost a type of Cain and Able] - only because God is blessing Job. But that God would allow satan to test him, then God will see that Job will only curse God. God explicitely tells satan to not kill Job but can test him. All the evil that comes to Job from satan comes from the mind of satan not God.  Job is so sorely tried that he prays to die and wishes he had never been born; still Job does still praise God and does not waver in his loyalty and love of God. HOWEVER, Job does QUESTION GOD why God is allowing all this to happen? Job has not a doubt but rather a theological question that is at the very foundation of his being...and actually the very foundation of our own being down the centuries. Job is all of us...asking God "Why?"

God answers Job by taking him on a tour of the cosmos: God asks Job a question instead: "Where were you when I created the universe, when I laid the foundations of the world, when I formed the seas..." So, God - a God of Dialogue (true prayer) - answers Job's univeral question for Job and all of us with a question of His own: Where were we when God created everything: the Universe and all the life on this planet and all planets? What is God saying? God is trying to enlarge our minds and expand our thinking to encompass the totality of all His Creation - the totality of all of God's Wisdom. God does not think small and does not want us to think small. In the end, God restores Job everything more than double. So, before being tested, Job was content. But God rewards Job for his love and loyalty by restoring to Job ten times or more what he had before being tested by satan. Of course, when satan got back home with his literal tail between his legs, he "caught hell" from all his fallen angels.

In all literature, it is the dark pitted agains the light that makes for a great novel or a great evil. When I saw the first time showing of Star Wars, I was amazed at the sophistication of evil (the dark side of the force) and the great power of good (the light side of the force).  The conflict between good and evil brings about a greater good.  And in the end, the good so triumphs over evil that even Darth Vade, the evil father of Luke, converts to the good side of the force.  Even in this saga, is good and evil equal powers? Absolutely not. Evil has within itself, its own self destruction. It is Darth Vade - who is converted to the light side of the Force by the courage and sacrifice of his son, Luke, who tells his dad that there is much good in his dad and that Luke has seen it! O now, is not this interesting: Luke faith in his dad's goodness brings out the goodness in Darth Vader who is turn throws the "the satanic-like-lord-of-the-underworld-emporer" down into the fires of hell as the lighting emits from the emporer all the way down and causes an explosion - the destruction of evil. Notice the George Lukas is a reader of the Gospels because this image of the emporer is taken directly from the words of Jesus who said: "I saw satan like lightning fall from heaven." Satan was in heaven called "lucifer" - light bearer - because he was so bright and beautiful. God made him so. But Lucifer chose to become Satan and fell from heaven still streaking across the sky.  Lucifer was so bright that his light did not completely go out on the way down. But by the time he got to hell, he was the Prince of Darkness! When Judas left the last supper and went out to betray Jesus, the gospel writer says: "It was night."  Yes, Darkness is the only day-time that evil exists in: darkness of mind, darkness of will, darkness of heart and darkness of faith.

Therefore, God bids us to look at the whole picture - the whole plan of salvation - the whole way that God's forgives us and brings good out of evil. The greatest evil ever done by man was to crucify the Word of  God, Jesus. And how does Jesus turn around this evil? Jesus says: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." Jesus excuses them. His shed Precious Blood buys the forgiveness and resurrection of all humans who have lived and who will live...on this planet and even on other planets we have not found yet...Jesus died for all living intelligent life - now and forever. Now that is a great good coming out of the cruicifixion.  But even Jesus asks the Father: "Why have you forsaken me?"  Thus Jesus become not only the new Adam but now the new Job as well.  And how does God the Father answer Jesus?  God the Father who said: "This is My Beloved Son, listen to Him!" answers Jesus in just 33 hours later: by raising up His Son from the dead and restoring Jesus' Kingship on this earth and in Heaven...and His Kingdom will last forever!! and ever...just as Handel's Alleluia Chorus wonderfully expresse it. This great compositon of Handel was heard by Jesus before it was composed....The angels - over a million voices strong - sang it to Jesus upon His Resurrection! When we hear that composition, we stand up because our Salvation has come!

So, in this cosmos, God the Father is like a Great Artist: He paints beautifully the Beauty He alone can see in its fullest. Our eyes cannot span the billions of years since he created the Big Bang. His finger touched the nothingness and made it somethingness. We were not there. We do not see His Infinite Wisdom and Beauty. But even the Hubble and Keppler telecopes seek to see the universe by the contrast of light and dark.

Jesus is the Light of the World and of the Universe. Without the fall of Adam and Eve, there would not have been a need for Jesus. The Word of God would have just comfortably in the Bosom of the Father with the Holy Spirit. But "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotton Son...so that whoever would believe in Him would have eternal life."  God did not will or plan the original sin -- and there may be world that have never sinned -- but God's Greatest Creativity is KNOWING how to bring GOOD our of EVIL!
God is go great that in restoring the world to JUSTICE, the end state of the World will be greater and better and more beautiful than if Adam and Eve had never sinned at all. Why? Because God is Good - All knowing and All powerful and All Loving"!

3) All loving God:

If God is all knowing, all powerful and all loving, then why did He create anything at all since He knew that some of His creatures would rebel against Him and some would even choose to not love Him ..for all eternity?

Why do parents give their children tricycles and bicycles? Parent know that their kids will  fall off their little bikes and get a skinned knee. Some may even break a leg. I have 6 children; and I gave them all bikes. But I did forbid my boys to buy motorcycles. Why? Because cars do not see motorcycles and motorcyclist get killed. So even parents have limits to their gifts to their kids. But the things parents give to their kids is a kind of typology for why God gives gifts to us: gifts like freedom, life, pursuit of happiness.  Well, let us look at the Godspel where Jesus explains this to us: Jesus says: "If your child asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? If your child asks for an egg, would you give him a scorpian?  If you who are sinful know how to give your children good gifts, how much more will Your Father give you the Holy Spirit if you ask Him." Scripture also says: "All good gifts and all perfect gifts comes down from heaven, from the Father of Lights!"  Notice that God NEVER gives us a BAD gift. Unhappiness, disease, wars, murders, envy, lust, avarice - all - do not come from God. He does not give these. All those things are created by humans. God's plan was to give us paradise here until He took us home to heaven body and soul after we had learned to love and take care of one another. But we messed up!  And God came down! It is called REDEMPTION.

But still, if God knew that we would mess up, why did He create intelligent life on earth. Why did He not leave it all the the dinasours who could not choose to rebel or sin?  The answer is that God wanted to create that was finite but the best possible creature He could even imagine. That creature was man and woman. These creatures are so humanly perfect that they are said to have been made in the very "image and likeness of God," Himself.  That is the best God could do after He created angels that do not have bodies - pure spirits. But humans have matter to them and live in a material universe. Matter is good. To be is good.
Humans are simply the most perfect creatures God could come up with. He is perfect and likes to create perfectly. If we are so perfect, then how did we fall?  We freely - without coercion - fell. If we were not free to love God or not, then we would not be perfect. God has placed us in the garden of this world to choose life and Him since He was so good and kind to create us in the first place.  Before we were born, say, in the Renaissance period, (1500's) where were we; and did we know we were not existing?   We have no memory that we did not exist before we were in the womb. This is an example that shows that God has always known that we would exist - has always loved us from all eternity - and has loved us INTO existence. He knew all our bad choice from all eternity. He also knew how to bring good out of them and bring us home to Heaven. The Prodigal Son story told by Jesus is the most perfect example of this thought:
The boy had left home to find happiness apart from his father's care and estate. The boy gathered his share of the estate and went off to find happiness is riotous living..making new friends...loving a lot of women. But after the boy did not find happiness and was starving for peace and true joy, the lad decides to go home to his dad because he knows his dad is good and kind. The boy does not know that his father's love for him is so great that the father goes out to the road every day to see if his son is coming home or not. But one day, "the father caught sight of his son from a far way off and ran to his son, embraced and kissed him..."  The father after ordering his servants to have a great party and celebration with roasting of the fatted calf, he tells the other good son who did not leave: "We had to celebrate because your brother was lost and is now found...was dead and has now come back to life." That is SO GREAT!  That tell is all...how and why created both the good and prodigal son. The Father could have just had a peaceful house of servants who are good and loyal (angels)...but God the Father loves to create sons and daughter whom He loves..Even if these sons and daughers go away from Him...He will still wait and look for us. The prodigal son - after feeling the Father's embrace and kiss - would never leave home again...and would remain with the Father forever!

So, you see, The whole thing is this: It is ALL ABOUT A TRUE LOVE STORY.

It is about the Father's love for us and about our coming home to Him and loving Hiim and one another for him. Heaven will be a billion billion billion souls all love God and one another!  Now that is a good ending for all God's creation: the True Love Story that God the Father is telling us..even now as the Holy Spirit speaks to us in His Word, in His grace to us, in His detonating the experiences of our lives to show us His Love. He is the Author of all our Epiphanies. (Please see Proverb #142, "Epiphany..")   

And as far as those who choose not to come home:  satan, his angels, and souls who do not choose God -what about them! If God is so loving and good, why doesn't he just destroy hell and bring all those spirits and souls back to Himself?  Well  -- given God's infinite CREATIVITY and LOVE of God, let us wait and see how He brings GOOD out of all their evil. Will He forgive them all? He would glady forgive them if they would come home. But you see, their sin is the refusal of the Holy Spirit's calling them to come home. They refuse the mercy and forgiveness of God the Father. God is still there. He's there always. He did not run away from them; they ran away from Him. He hasn't moved. He would gladly embrace and kiss them all if they would accept His love and mercy and forgiveness; but God cannot force them to come home. That would then not respect their freedom. If He forces them, then they would not be loving God. God does not treat humans like animals...keeping them on a leash. If they even now chose Him and His loving forgiveness, He would bring them home. The Father in the Prodigal Son story did not run after his son when the boy left home...but He did run to meet him after seeing coming home. The Father respects the freedom of his son both in leavening and in returning. So, when satan and his angels and bad souls do not come home and refuse the Holy Spirit's Mercy; they commit an eternal sin: the sin agaisnt the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Love of the Father for the Son; and the Son's love for the Father. To refuse the Holy Spirit is to refuse the Love of God.  These souls' and spirits' refusal of the Love of God does not make God unloving.  God is all love. "God is love; and wherever there is Love, there is God."  In hell, there is no love for God or anyone else; so God is not there in their hearts. But are they in God's heart?  Please see my Proverb 147: "Those in hell: does God love them?" for a fuller answer. God does love them.

I remember what my own dear and sweet day said to me once: "No matter how bad things get out there in the world, no matter what trouble you may see....remember this: the door is open. You can always COME HOME!"

God is all love...all kindness...all affectionate for us. He is not to be blamed for the evil in the world. He made man free. If man were not free - and just on a leash - then man would not be like God Who is able to know and love. That is how we are in the "image and likeness of God."

Dearest Father, please send us the Holy Spirit when we leave home to find happiness apart from You. Please look for us and run to us and hug and kiss us so that we can be with You now and forever. In Jesus's Name through Mary, we humbly ask. Amen.


Peace and love,

Pio