Thursday, June 23, 2005

Good vs. Evil?

I was just watching a PBS show "The Question of God." The forum was locked or so big it didn't seem worth posting there, so here I am. Jeremy Fraiberg: Hold on — this free will argument is really flawed in a number of ways. First of all, free will addressed only the third of the list of three things that Freud listed as being sources of pain — namely, the things that people do to other people. It says nothing at all about the decay of our bodies — people suffer horrible diseases, terrible pain, that has nothing to do with free will. Natural disasters, earthquakes, volcanoes, what does that have to do with free will? I think we're missing what pain is. Pain is not evil, it is a natural thing. Pain informs us there is something causing damage to our body. Diseases may possibly be a result of our not understanding what our body needs. What if disease attacks our system successfully because we have not treated our body as well as possible. I had a friend who had prostate cancer which is a terrible disease. By changing what he put into his system physically and the way he directed energy through his body, he or his body, was healed. Maybe it is practically impossible for us to treat our bodies well enough to prevent all disease, but the point is that disease is an imperfection, not an evil causing pain just to cause pain. Point is, perhaps there is some choice we, or those taking care of us, are making, even completely unaware, that opens the door for the potiential of disease. THIS IS NOT TO GIVE ANYONE BLAME FOR DISEASE! I know someone might say that this is completely wrong because we're not responsible for the diseases that kill our children or we catch ourselves. I know that it is important for some to absolve everyone of all responsibility, and I will reiterate that no one could be expected to make "all the right choices." In fact, I would apologize for saying this and take it back except as an abstract point of argument. Anyway, I would say that disease and "natural disasters" may cause pain, but are not evil. What we call natural disasters are really nature balancing out itself but we get in the way. Hurricanes have been blowing across the seas and lands for a lot longer than we have built cabanas in Florida. Now we have moved into that area and there is a conflict, which causes pain. This is not evil, it is cause and effect. Jeremy Fraiberg: How can you believe in a Christian God when there are things in this world like little girls getting abducted, sexually tortured repeatedly and then hacked up into pieces. That just happened in Toronto, where I come from. I mean, this is unspeakably evil. And awful. And how could a good God let that happen? I can really get in trouble here by suggesting that God doesn't let these things happen, we do. We let this happen by not caring for the little boy or girl that is hurt and grows up to hurt someone else. If every "Christian" went out and helped other people like Jesus said we should, just maybe we could put a cap on child abuse or gangs or lawyers (just kidding; but maybe we wouldn't need nearly as many lawyers.) Why should we blame God for hurting people? Why not blame ourselves? If you do not believe in God, who do you blame? Do you think these things "just happen?" I think there is a cause for every effect. I think we should decide to hold ourselves accountable for our lack of action. God acts through us as we choose to act. That's free will and why there is "evil."

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