Evil II

Before the meeting proper got under way, Don shared with us the very sad news that Alice and her family have suffered another tragedy, in the discovery of brain tumors in Alice’s daughter Fay.

Don noted that this kind of evil —  a natural evil, not one caused by an evil human being —  always seems to be laid at God’s door. We ask: Why does God allow it? Does he actually underwrite evil? Is he not powerful enough to stop it? Is he indifferent to it? This issue of natural evil, and such experiences as Alice is going through, may be at the root of much atheism and agnosticism.

David said that this was one reason he was drawn to process theology, which posits the odd theory that God is both a Being and a Becoming. It has the ring of quantum mechanics – it is not necessarily unscientific. In his Becoming aspect, God is not in a position to fully control evil.

Don: So you are saying that the elimination of evil comes through the completion of Becoming? An argument against that would be that to be God he must necessarily be complete.

David: You counter that by turning to the other aspect of the divine duality:  the Being of God, in which he oversees the process of his own Becoming.

Jay: Perhaps it would explain the apparently different gods of the Old and New Testaments – the same God, but at different stages of completion.

David: Natural evil is just the way nature is. But on balance, would we not agree there is more good in the world than evil; that God is more evident that Satan?

Don: I rarely hear the question: “Why is there good in the world?” The question is always “Why is there evil?” as if our foundational understanding is that good is the natural state and evil doesn’t belong. This brings us to our topic…

The Parable of the Weeds – Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

…

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Don: Some of the questions to be answered are: Who is responsible for the weeds having been sown in the field? Is it the sleeping men, or is it the enemy? There is a slight implication in the response of the sleeping men that they feel responsible. On the other hand, sleep is a natural phenomenon, and we are not responsible for our behavior while we are asleep. In any event, the workers are told they cannot clean up the mess; that it takes divine labor to do it.

In our recent meetings, Alice has suggested that the parable may be about us as individuals, rather than about two different groups of people, and that it is ultimately about cleansing the evil (the weeds) out of us (the wheat) and the world. In Romans, Paul makes an almost bi-polar (as it were) explanation of what is happening inside him, which bears out much of Alice’s interpretation:

Romans 7:14-25; 8:1-2

The Conflict of Two Natures

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Deliverance from Bondage

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

In Paul, then, we see a picture of the wheat and the tares co-existing. Recognizing that this brings into his life a great deal of conflict, his solution is in that first line of chapter 8: That there is a forgiving process.

Jay: It seems as though Paul is conflicted because he wants to have free will in order to do what he wants; but in the end, he is willing to surrender his free will to God.

[Postscript to Jay: Would it be helpful to distinguish between “will” and “free will”? To me, God does not want us to have no free will. Indeed, I have argued elsewhere (based on Fr. Raymond Smullyan’s argument) that God can neither bestow nor take away free will, even if he wanted to—which he does not. What he wants is that we make our will subservient to his. Without the free will that enables us to choose to do that, then the gesture would be meaningless. Even having accepted God’s will—having put it ahead of our own—we still have our free will intact. We retain the freedom to withdraw our acceptance at any time—isn’t that what happened at The Fall from the Garden of Eden? – David]

Don: The consequences that befell Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden reflect the message that you can no longer stay in paradise, with God, if you exercise your will. It is troubling and perplexing that what we have always thought of as the core principle of Christian theological understanding – the notion that you were given free will in order that you could make the right choices for God, and in so doing be saved  – may be wrong. Paul brings up a different notion, as do the Wheat and Tares in Alice’s interpretation. You still have the choice. Paul’s inner conflict is a war between what one does and what one thinks. “The Devil made me do it” excuse seems almost anti-Christian in drawing into question whether we must make good and rightful choices.

David: The reference in Romans 7:22 to “the inner man” is interesting. It seems to relate to what we think of as the inner light, the God within us. If so, it confirms that our acceptance of God-in-us and giving up our will [but not our free will!] to God is the way forward. The Daoist book known as the Tao Te Ching describes the Dao (the Way) as something that resides in all of us. The book says we all know the Way, but it is a matter of acceptance. We cannot fight it, we cannot influence it. It simply Is, and the sage submits to it [while the foolish follow dead ends]. Translating between the cultural imagery, the Way—the Dao—is God. So even across cultures, the notion of “Thy Will Be Done” is understood by all [albeit accepted/rejected at various levels.] That understanding of the Way is critical and helpful in times of great stress. If one accepts the Way, it is said to be extremely liberating [and enlightening.]

[Here’s chapter 10 of the Tao Te Ching:

Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child’s?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?

Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.

— David]

Don: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26) says to God: “Your will be done.” So the ultimate solution to sin, the way forward out of evil, requires the giving up of your will to God. As Jay has said, it seems almost evil just to possess free will. Christians tend to think this is the central part of what we are about, yet it seems to be the reverse of that.

Jay: Note that after Jesus gave up his free will, his life turned truly horrifying. Giving up one’s free will only guarantees alignment with God; it does not guarantee an easy life.

David: It does not guarantee happiness of the flesh, but it guarantees inner peace. That Alice’s daughter has accepted the evil of her cancer negates that evil. All the pain and suffering that, we know, is going to happen because of the cancer, really doesn’t matter. What matters is her acceptance that what is happening is God’s will; which is acceptance of God; which is accepting the promise of the Kingdom. Surely there is nothing more joyful and uplifting to have inside one, especially if one is dying. It is a wonderful thing, and it makes the cancer a trivial thing, a little devil’s toy that at the end of the day doesn’t matter.

Don: It strips the power from it. It eliminates the power of evil by elevating the power of good. But it is not personally un-painful.

David: The flesh still has to bear the pain, but how much more easily is that pain borne, if one has that inner support—that inner God—inside one. I have not been in such pain, but I believe that if I were and if I were to accept God’s will it would enable me to handle pain. This would perhaps explain how Paul was able to carry on, despite his sufferings, because of the strength he received from his submission to God’s will.

Robin: Death itself is evil, or the result of evil, we are taught. It is evil that every mortal is going to die. But death is just a symptom of something much bigger in the overall plan. It is brief. The real victory follows that brief interruption: We are raised from the dead. Our mortal death is not the end, it is not a victory for evil: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

1 Corinthians 1:50-57

Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don: The most that evil can do is to temporarily interrupt our overall existence.

Robin: We still grieve, when it happens to our loved ones. Even Jesus grieved over the death of Lazarus.

Don: Tears are a natural human phenomenon. Death is physically and emotionally painful. But it is not enduring. It is temporary.

David: This seems to be a principle that all mankind knows anyway. The saints are people who practice to the max the principle of submission of their will to God’s will, and we admire them for it. But all cultures have their equivalent of our saints. All of mankind can identify people who have the inner light, who know the Way.

Don: The message in Corinthians is the same message as Paul gave in Romans. So there is a sense in which the evil we all wrestle with, and which sometimes wins, is perishable, and is in contradistinction to the element of goodness inside us.

Robin: Here is an example of Jesus’ feeling towards a mother in Matthew 15:22-28:

And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

Alice: And yet… Jesus came to save souls, not bodies. It seems a slight thing, in this view, that people get sick or are tortured. God can help [the flesh] if he wants or if he sees fit to do so for a bigger purpose, such as salvation. That gives me peace. When I am calm I know all these things.

Don: In our finest moments, it all unfolds in the true light and we see God’s hand; but in the next minute we can see things in a different light. This seems to be what Paul is talking about. It seems to be in the very nature of the human soul.

Jay: It’s the battle of free will; whether or not to put it into God’s hands. Tragic experiences bring us closer, open our eyes to the will of the inner light, and then bring us great peace that enables us to bear the pain.

David: Jesus’ cry on the cross: “O God, why hast thou forsaken me?” seems to show Jesus being at his lowest point. Do we have to go through that nadir to get to the other side—from the side of denial to the side of acceptance? Or can we get to the other side while avoiding that Pit of Despond?

Jay: His cry shows that Jesus was not immune to the battle of free will. It shows that this battle is not easily won, and is not without pain. Just because we accept God’s will, it does not mean that things will be fine and dandy, that tragedy will be averted. But acceptance puts us in a place where we can know God and have the comfort of knowing that we know. [Jay I am extrapolating a bit here – tell me if I’ve gone too far.]

Don: We’ll return to this topic next week.

The meeting ended with a prayer for Alice, for the difficult time she is going through. Her faith is strong, and yet it can be so easy to lose faith from moment to moment. Don asked us all to think of Alice as we go through the week, and to offer such help as we can give it and as she wishes it. Some people in pain want to have family and friends around them. Others just want to be left alone. It has a lot to do with personality. It is sometimes difficult to know how to interact with a person in pain; whether to approach or to withdraw. It is in our nature to approach, to offer help and sympathy, but we should understand there are those who prefer to be left alone. This is an aspect that Alice herself is having to deal with inside the family.

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