Conversation Board - Mystery of evil in light of God the benevolent

Alan McDougall

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Mystery of evil in light of God the benevolent
Mar 14^th, 2010 at 8:23am

The mystery of evil and God the Benevolent

Remember in this thread Adam and Eve equate to primordial man and God the infinite uncaused cause and reason for all existence

The mythical story of the Garden of Eden
Enigma of the existence of evil and the Garden of Eden and “GOD” the Benevolent

I know the story of the Garden and Eden and the fall of man is most likely a mythical account of a people long past in the mists of time

I will try in my own humble way to answer this most difficult question.

How can we ever reconcile the fact of evil, suffering and pain, existing side by side with a benevolent holy “GOD” of light?

Let us go back to the story of the Garden of Eden “GOD” says to Adam in Gen,Chap 2 Verse 17 that he may eat of any tree except the “TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL”

Note; “The tree of knowledge of Good and evil”, so Evil existed before Adam. “Adam” representing an entire people and how they related to “GOD”

However, “GOD” being all-knowing knows before hand that Adam is going to fail the test so why did he give it in the first place? I hear a loud reply from the forum, “because he wanted us to have a free will and not be robots”.

I don’t buy this, completely, as “GOD” could easily given Adam absolute free rain and said to him “Adam your can do anything you want without any reservations”

Surely, the above would still have been free will without the “necessity of any test”.

Nevertheless, “GOD” in his infinite wisdom goes ahead and gives Adam (and Eve) a test he “knows they are going to fail, why? Was this fair seeing the awful consequences for humanity down through the age?

Yes absolutely as I will describe later in this essay

Let us go back to the origin of evil, where did it come from.

Isaiah Chapt. 45 Verse 7 “GOD” says “I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create “evil” I “GOD” do all these things. “GOD” made everything so he must have made evil but why?

Let us go back to Adam and the pampered environment of the Garden of Eden. If Adam and Eve had remained and by obeying God ( as God knew the would not) they would have existed in forever a paradise setting of beauty warmth, comfort, never ever have to toil work just reach out and eat do any thing they want .

This would be wonderful for say a hundred years or a thousand years, but having never ever experienced cold they could not appreciate warmth, never being hungry never appreciate food never being thirsty they would not appreciate the taste and satisfaction of sparking water , never knowing hate the would not know what love was.

They would have existed in a one-sided reality never knowing the opposite. But “GOD” knew that they must know evil, pain and sorrow to become fully functional free thinking beings similar to him in consciousness and indeed co- creators of their own domain and reality

Therefore, after countless years what was paradise to us would become a boring hell to them. Therefore, “GOD” simply had to banish them into the world or toil sorrow and hardship.

So “GOD” being fair and just gave them the test, which they failed and drove them out into the present reality world of thorns, cold, dark, pain, evil etc, etc. This reality is based on a duality we know evil so we know the beauty of goodness; we know truth so we can hate the lie, and we experience the light so that we know dark.

Humanity can look back on a “paradise lost with a longing to for the eternal wonder and beauty of the original Eden, which they would love and rejoice as paradise regained

I do not for one moment believe the nonsense that there is an eternal battle between “GOD” and the Satan and that this being is almost Almighty “GOD”s equal. Satan can only do what God permits him to do as we read in the book of Job.

Good and evil
Light and dark
Truth and lie
Deception and honesty
Love and hate
War and Peace
Positive and negative
Faith and despair
Holiness and depravity
Warm and hot
Life and death

And so on and so on……………………

“GOD” bless

Any comments are welcome

Alan
McDougall

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« Last Edit: Mar 15^th, 2010 at 2:41am by Alan McDougall »

Blessings and Light

Alan McDougall

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Beau

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Re: Mystery of evil in light of God the benevolent
Reply #1 - Mar 14^th, 2010 at 10:41am

Interesting ideas here. I believe God says not to touch the tree of Knowledge because it creates Drama where there would not normally be any. Had there been no rule in place at all then there would be no drama to keep a god interested in the creation. Even reality shows as crappy as they are, have to find ways of creating drama to keep one entertained (a word from the Greek which means to "hold between" two states of consciousness). I say if there is an actual god of all things then it is more like a director looking for the most interesting way to tell a story, but a good director lets his actors find their way within some parameters of direction given to them by said director.
In this case: "Do whatever you like but don't eat from that tree ...and I mean that!"

While I believe the Adam and Eve story to be completely symbolic I do enjoy playing with the metaphor from time to time. Directors are good at what they do because they are true students of human nature. The god imposes this one rule because it knows at some point man's curiosity will win out.

And how can we say that good and evil are real if they didn't exist until Adam and Eve ate the apple ( I think it would be a better metaphor if it was a pear, Cheesy

). To me this means that good and evil are part of the illusion of the spell of matter outside the primary state of grace that existed in Eden. Hence: Ignorance is bliss tis folly to have knowledge. But my point is that if you have knowledge of anything at all, then it is real to you and if you believe that knowledge to be a myth then it is so, subjectively speaking of course. Objectively the world has been set up by the collective consciousness from many many generations over much time. It seems to me that we learn the knowledge that sentences us to see the world as we do. Therefore, the knowledge of GOOD and evil gives us the duality that only exists outside of Eden. So it would seem to me that the true path is one that has no knowledge of good OR evil, but is balanced, neutral--that would be bliss. You could also argue that if there were no evil and only good then the word would be meaningless and good would simply become known as what is. I guess to me neither label describes bliss accurately since either good or evil implies some action be taken. I'm just rambling. I enjoyed the post Alan.

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All the world's a stage...whose stage?--that is the question!...or is it the answer...Who is on first.

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Alan McDougall

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Re: Mystery of evil in light of God the benevolent
Reply #2 - Mar 15^th, 2010 at 2:45am

Beau wrote on Mar 14^th, 2010 at 10:41am:

Interesting ideas here. I believe God says not to touch the tree of Knowledge because it creates Drama where there would not normally be any. Had there been no rule in place at all then there would be no drama to keep a god interested in the creation. Even reality shows as crappy as they are, have to find ways of creating drama to keep one entertained (a word from the Greek which means to "hold between" two states of consciousness). I say if there is an actual god of all things then it is more like a director looking for the most interesting way to tell a story, but a good director lets his actors find their way within some parameters of direction given to them by said director.
In this case: "Do whatever you like but don't eat from that tree ...and I mean that!"

While I believe the Adam and Eve story to be completely symbolic I do enjoy playing with the metaphor from time to time. Directors are good at what they do because they are true students of human nature. The god imposes this one rule because it knows at some point man's curiosity will win out.

And how can we say that good and evil are real if they didn't exist until Adam and Eve ate the apple ( I think it would be a better metaphor if it was a pear, Cheesy

). To me this means that good and evil are part of the illusion of the spell of matter outside the primary state of grace that existed in Eden. Hence: Ignorance is bliss tis folly to have knowledge. But my point is that if you have knowledge of anything at all, then it is real to you and if you believe that knowledge to be a myth then it is so, subjectively speaking of course. Objectively the world has been set up by the collective consciousness from many many generations over much time. It seems to me that we learn the knowledge that sentences us to see the world as we do. Therefore, the knowledge of GOOD and evil gives us the duality that only exists outside of Eden. So it would seem to me that the true path is one that has no knowledge of good OR evil, but is balanced, neutral--that would be bliss. You could also argue that if there were no evil and only good then the word would be meaningless and good would simply become known as what is. I guess to me neither label describes bliss accurately since either good or evil implies some action be taken. I'm just rambling. I enjoyed the post Alan.

Hi Beau,

I appreciate your nice well thought out responses to my last two threads. Usually they are ignored by most.And yes the Adam and Eve story is a mythical allegory account of man relationship with god all down the corridors of time and space

Blessings and Light
Alan

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Blessings and Light

Alan McDougall

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StoneColdTrue

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Re: Mystery of evil in light of God the benevolent
Reply #3 - Mar 15^th, 2010 at 11:03am

I don't think your posts are ignored, Alan. I think people are just unsure of what or how to comment. Everything is a source for wisdom and knowledge. I believe the story of Eden is indeed a myth, but like most stories from the book represent metaphor and symbolism to actually improving the mind upon thought. Thought and reason are our greatest gifts and what truly allows our growth of the soul. These stories whether adapted by God or man, do still act for provoking thought. For one must find understanding for the existence of both good and evil. I do not think one could exist without the other. The real test in this regard is figuring out which is the best for the soul and which to practice.

Through experience and knowledge we have come to find that the practice of all things good bring forth knowledge, love, and happiness. Not all beings enjoy these things or seek them. But that is our free will. Everything is placed at reach and we must decide what we will earn and obtain and how it will allow us to evolve the soul. God would have known that we need evil in order to understand good and differentiate the two.

Could it have simply left the world shrouded in nothing but love and good? I suppose, but what could we truly learn on our own? God wants us to have free will and to obtain knowledge and enlightenment WITHOUT its involvement or influence.

Imagine yourself with a child. Though you still give it guidance and love, it still creates its own form of expression and personality. Would you be more proud for it practice great things because of your own guidance and force of it? Or would you be more proud of the child accepting and practicing these things by its own free will? Our parents punish us for doing things they do not approve of, but God seemingly does not. At least not in this realm. A truly remarkable thing would be to have a child who understands and practices all things good without more than the guidance and love which God teaches, despite having temptation at every corner. I believe this is God's will for our nature.

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"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. " -Bertrand Russel

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