Nov 12, 2007

One persons interpretation of Good and evil

The text below was taken from a post that I came upon in The Hartford Courant readers Forum section. Someone wrote in on a post that the brutality of the Petit family crimes were proof that god doesn't exist, especially because the Petits were an avidly spiritual and religious family and so involved with the church and good works in their community. This makes the question of ' where was god ?' (when they were being so harmed and their lives snuffed out so senselessly), even more glaring and cruel.
I find this to be a a very sound and valid question and one that I have personally wrestled with a great deal when terrible things like this happen to such good people.

A beautiful answer came from a 'jm Kelley" and it truly moved me. It was the first time that someone made such good sense to me in addressing the whole notion of evil and God- IE his apparent lack of intervention on behalf of the innocents that fall prey to some of mans worst kind of cruelty.
In these times it may lend much needed solace to many of us who have been so deeply affected by the tragedies, such as befell the Petit family. Have a read...


QUOTED FROM "jmKelley" in the Hartford Courant Readers forum entitled " Drug testing negative for Petit family killers..."


But you ask, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Philosophers and theologians have written volumes on this question for millennial. Anything I can say will sound trite. It begins with the fact that we are the only animal with a conscience and free will -- the abilities to know right from wrong, and to significantly change our environment.
God created us to love, and love can only be fully expressed through free will, not through the automated instincts of lower animals. Our capacity to love through free will stems from the fact that we are made “in the image and likeness of God.” We are meant to be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1), “sharers in His very divinity” (St. Thomas Aquinas).
God so loved the world that He gives us a conscience and free will, intending for us to choose love. The flip side of this is that some people reject conscience and choose evil. But God does not choose bad things, people do.
So where was God on the morning of July 23 when this innocent family was being tortured and slaughtered?
During those hours, He was crucified on a Cross, suffering with the innocent the darkest pains of the human condition. Christ was not crucified just to appease some angry god for a long list of sins. Christ entered with us into our own deepest sufferings and pathologies, to demonstrate His full presence with us, and to then achieve victory over death, suffering, and evil. Christ doesn’t just talk the talk. He walks the walk with us, right into hell itself, and then out of hell.
Where is God now in the wake of this horrific massacre?
God is in all the healing love surrounding the Petit family. He is working through all the friends, neighbors, and healers who are helping the family and others to recover. God is working through parents who are becoming extra vigilant, through our public safety officers who are redoubling their efforts to protect us, and through all who demand justice and legal reform in response to this.
Whether or not all these people believe in God, God is still working through them because our impulse to do good, to love, is implanted in us by God who is Love.
God is also working in mysterious ways that we can’t now comprehend. Joseph of Egypt said to his brothers who had sold him into slavery, “Even though you meant harm to me, God used it for good, to achieve His present end, the survival of many people. Therefore, have no fear” (Gen 50: 15-21). God will always try to achieve some good, even from a bad situation.
God is the living Source of all Good and Love. He does not cause bad things. But He wants each of us to work with Him to achieve His ends of Good and Love in our world.[/QUOTE]

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