Good and Evil Part 1

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

It's important to have hope. Scripture offers hope and comfort, but sometimes we still wonder about evil. Just watch the news, that will have you scurrying to find a bit of hope. We live in this big bad world where evil abounds. People are hurting and have questions about God and good and evil. Many wonder how could a good God allow so much evil and why doesn't he do something about it? Couldn't God have created a world without evil? I think we've all had these questions at one time or another, and they really hit home when friends and family members are suffering. I did some research and I'd like to share some of the answers that I found. Rather than trying to put it all in one blog post, I'm going to break it down into bits. First, I'd like to share what I learned about good and bad, specifically evil. I never really thought about defining evil before, but when I read what some great minds have written about it, it really helps put everything into perspective.

The reality of evil and suffering has even baffled some great thinkers as they struggle with the existence of a loving God and the fact of evil. I've learned that there is even a word for this, it's called theodicy. Theodicy is Greek, theos - which means God and dike which means justice. One definition is: vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil.

In his book “Mere Christianity,” former atheist C.S. Lewis noted, “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.” Aha! When I first read this, I experienced a glimmer of understanding. I thought of starlight against the dark night sky. We never see the stars except at night. We know good because of evil. Another way to think of it can be found in what Augustine said. “God judged it better to bring good out of evil, than to suffer no evil to exist.” You must acknowledge that good exists for evil to exist. There can be no evil without there being good. Augustine defined evil not as a thing in itself, but as a parasite on good. Augustine considered evil something that is missing. It requires good to exist because it is a parasite.

There is one more point that I had never thought of and that is natural evil and moral evil. Robert Velarde, former editor for Focus on the Family, says, "evil actually extends not only to the moral world, but also to the natural world. When human beings do bad things to one another, this is moral evil. But so-called natural disasters are often considered evil as well because of all the suffering they cause."

With these definitions and explanations of evil in place, we can have a foundation for understanding more. The next post will attempt to provide some answers to how could a good God allow so much evil and why doesn't he do something about it? Couldn't God have created a world without evil? Until then, remember we do have hope in Christ. As the Apostle Paul said, we sorrow but not as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And without His great power and love we would have no hope of ever getting a better world. Only a God who can bring good out of evil can solve this world’s problems.

Gratitude Revisited

Below is an excerpt from Why Giving Thanks to God is Important, from Got Questions.org. It' answers the question so eloquently I just had to share it with you.

"First Thessalonians 5:18 says, 'In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.' We are to be thankful not only for the things we like, but for the circumstances we don’t like. When we purposely thank God for everything that He allows to come into our lives, we keep bitterness at bay. We cannot be both thankful and bitter at the same time. We do not thank Him for evil, but that He is sustaining us through it (James 1:12). We don’t thank Him for harm He did not cause, but we thank Him when He gives us the strength to endure it (2 Corinthians 12:9). We thank Him for His promise that “all things will work together for the good, to those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

We can have thankful hearts toward God even when we do not feel thankful for the circumstance. We can grieve and still be thankful. We can hurt and still be thankful. We can be angry at sin and still be thankful toward God. That is what the Bible calls a “sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15). Giving thanks to God keeps our hearts in right relationship with Him and saves us from a host of harmful emotions and attitudes that will rob us of the peace God wants us to experience (Philippians 4:6–7)."

GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.

Gratitude Journal

Did you know that writing down what you are thankful for can have tangible benefits? In the secular world, plenty is written about the benefits of gratitude. There has been a lot of research conducted about the power of the positive. According to a study by researchers from the University of Minnesota and the University of Florida, having participants write down a list of positive events at the close of a day, and why the events made them happy, lowered their self-reported stress levels and gave them a greater sense of calm at night. That's great, but what about our spiritual health? Gratitude is an essential and powerful tool to nourish us in our faith journey. When Jesus taught us to pray, he taught us to thank God. While imprisoned in Rome, Paul wrote, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:19-20.

Just last year on his blog, Billy Graham wrote, "Thanksgiving—the giving of thanks—to God for all His blessings should be one of the most distinctive marks of the believer in Jesus Christ. We must not allow a spirit of ingratitude to harden our heart and chill our relationship with God and with others. Nothing turns us into bitter, selfish, dissatisfied people more quickly than an ungrateful heart. And nothing will do more to restore contentment and the joy of our salvation than a true spirit of thankfulness."

Keeping a Gratitude Journal is a spiritual discipline that helps us focus on what we have, not what we think we need. In her blog post, Why is Gratitude so Powerful, Jean Wise wrote, "Being thankful helps us step out of the way, thanking God for all things, not relying on our own self centered strength."

A few of the benefits of gratitude found in research:

• Studies have found that gratitude helps you recover more quickly from stress, adversity and trauma by helping you interpret negative events. It has been found to give you a perspective to help guard against post-traumatic stress and lasting anxiety.
• People who are grateful tend to be more helpful and empathic, more spiritual and religious, more forgiving, and less materialistic than others who are less predisposed to gratefulness.
• Gratitude can improve relationships. Gratitude makes us nicer, more trusting, more social, and more appreciative. As a result, it helps us make more friends, deepen our existing relationships, and improve our marriage.
• People who practice gratitude consistently report benefits such as stronger immune systems and lower blood pressure; higher levels of positive emotions; more joy, optimism, and happiness; act with more generosity and compassion; and feel less lonely and isolated.

Let's commit to expressing our gratitude to God by keeping a Gratitude Journal, or consider finding a Gratitude Buddy, a partner who is interested in purposefully writing about gratitude. Make a commitment to share one thing each day that you are grateful for. Do it by email or text. It helps to have someone else depending on you and expecting you to share a grateful thought each day.  

There are a monthful of prompts for a gratitude journal at this website.
How to Keep a Gratitude Journal.