The Problem of Problems: Free Fallen

photo courtesy of velton

How did evil enter the world?

The answer is in the Book of Genesis, where we find the story of our first parents, Adam and Eve. God originally bestowed upon them sanctifying grace and other special gifts, such as constant state of happiness and freedom from pain and suffering. These gifts were theirs to keep (and pass on to us, their descendants) on one condition: they must prove their love for God by not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. But alas, tempted and seduced by the serpent’s lies (“you will become like gods” – Genesis 3:5), they disobeyed God’s commandment. Adam, the appointed ambassador of the entire human race, committed this grave act we now call “Original Sin” and by thus, death came into the world.

In the novel Don Quixote, we read that: "true love…must be voluntary and not compelled”. Indeed, love must be a deliberate act; it cannot be forced. For this reason, God gave man free will. We can freely decide to love God, believe in Him and submit to His will; or we can freely elect to hate, doubt and rebel against our Creator. Adam and Eve chose to do the latter. And so, it can be said that pain and suffering in this life is due to man’s misuse of free will.

Free will is the basis for justice, for no one can be justly held accountable for their actions unless they are truly free. It gives man the freedom to become saints or sinners; to do what is right or wrong. While a world sans free will is one without evil, sadness or tears, neither can it have goodness, joy, nor laughter. Therefore, a world without free will would be of humans devoid of humanity; a benevolent God would never create one as such. Free will is a gift; we just often choose to make it a curse.

The special gifts God gave Adam and Eve, like freedom from pain and suffering, were privileges; it was not theirs by right. These were gifts from a loving Father who wants to give what is best for His children. These were gifts we would have inherited from our first parents. But unfortunately, these were gifts they freely chose to reject through their sin. To make matters worse, instead of admitting guilt and asking for forgiveness, Adam put the blame on God (Genesis 3:11-12)! But do we, Adam’s descendants, know any better? Don’t we also often fault God for miseries of our own doing?

Free will is not just a fancy term. We are free to choose our own destiny. God loves us so much that He even allows us to choose over Him! However, we must always keep in mind that we are accountable for our actions and that our choices do have consequences. After all, justice is not just a fancy term either.

1. Introduction
2. Mystery of Misery
3. Good Job
4. Of Evil and "Non-things"
5. Free Fallen
6. Non Serviam

The Problem of Problems: Of Evil and "Non-things"

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“God saw all that he made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

As Christians, we believe that God is the creator of all things. Does this mean God created evil? 

To answer this question, we turn to St. Augustine of Hippo who tells us that evil is not a thing, but is rather a privation or loss of good. Make no mistake - evil is real, but it cannot exist by itself apart from good. Take, for instance, light and darkness. We can measure the properties of light (e.g., intensity, speed, etc.), but we cannot quantify darkness. The reason for this is that darkness has no existence of its own; it is merely the absence of light. In the same vein, we can say that sin is the privation of God’s will; blindness is the loss of sight; death is the absence of life; and so on. Therefore, God created all things, but not “non-things”, such as evil. 

1. Introduction

2. Mystery of Misery
3. Good Job

4. Of Evil and "Non-things"
5. Free Fallen
6. Non Serviam