Expert: Marco - 10/19/2010

Question
Hi Marco!

I'm currently doing an assignment for school (Study of Religion) which is concerned with the problem of evil.
As a Christian/Catholic could you please provide me with your perspective on the topic by answering the questions below? Thank you so much :)

1. How familiar are you with the Problem of Evil?

2. How does your religion/faith view the problem of evil?

3. How do you see the problem of Evil? Do you think it’s a problem at all?

4. How do you think evil was introduced into this world? Why do you think that there is evil, suffering and/or pain in this world?

5. From what you have stated on evil and what you know/heard, would you say that the Problem of evil disproves or proves the existence of God? Why/ why not?

6. What do you propose as a possible solution to fixing this ‘Problem of Evil’?

7. Ireneaus stated that: “The world was created with imperfections, so that humans could learn through suffering (with the presence of evil) to become children of God” How do you feel about statement? Why do you feel that way?

8. Augustine stated that: “The world was created perfectly and that humans fell from grace as a result of abusing free will.” How do you feel about statement? Why do you feel that way?

9. Do you feel that maybe evil is a necessary part that serves some sort of greater purpose? (I.e. if yes, then what purpose?)

10. How far (do you think) that a person has to go, to be deemed as evil? (I.e. multiple murders over a long period of time for example.) Or do you feel that maybe nobody is evil –why/why not?

11. Does your faith influence your responses and to what degree? (I.e. does religion play a big part in your life?)

Thanks so much and...
Hope to hear from you soon :)
All the Best and Have a nice day :)
God Bless

-Wendy


Answer
Dear Wendy


Evil does not exist as a substantial reality, and therefore it has never been created. Evil is only a concept we use to indicate a wrong choice.
God has chosen to create us with a free-will, and therefore we can make a right choice or a wrong choice. When we make a wrong choice (for example a person who choses to divorce), we commit a sin.
In other words, evil is only a possibility we must reject; its existence is only a direct consequence of our choices, our refuse to make always the good and right choice.

Why does Hell exist?

God loves us infinitely and He desires to lead each of us to the eternal life  and to the true happiness. But God is perfectly Holy and Good; God cannot tolerate evil because evil is uncompatible with His good and holy nature.
So, we cannot go to heaven as long as we are not completely purified from our sins and sanctified.
Our sanctifcation is necessary for us to go to heaven.
God desires to sanctify us, but He has given us a free-will, so God needs our consent in order to purify and sanctify us. God respects our choices and therefore God cannot santify those who do not want to be sanctified and purified, those who do not want to stop sinning, those who do not want to live a holy life.
These are those who go to hell.


If God knows everything, why did He create those souls who go to Hell?

The fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will yield a true and deep love for God.
God knows that the fear of eternal punishment is sometimes the only means to induce some sinners to repentance and conversion. So the salvation of these souls justifies the eternal punishment of those souls who refuse to repent and be converted. In other words, without an eternal punishment, fewer souls would be saved.
Therefore the existence of an eternal suffering in Hell is justified as an instrument to induce more men to repent and therefore be saved.

Why did Jesus have to suffer on the Cross?

I think this is the most impostant question!

I believe that each of us needed know that God was willing to accept such a terrible suffering for us, in order to really trust God. Every man needed that proof of love, and God, who knew this, has accepted to give him what man consciously or unconsciously asked to Him. Jesus had to suffer and die that way to convince us about God's goodness and God's love towards us. It is man's obstinate distrust against God that has forced God to give man that proof of love, the proof he needed to trust God. By His death on the cross, Jesus destroys our distrust and our doubts, and He gives us the strength to believe in Him and trust Him. This means that each of us is personally responsible of Jesus ' sufferings and death. This distrust, this lack of faith in God is just the essence of the original sin. Christ's Passion has reconciled us to God because it has uprooted from our heart, our distrust and doubts about God; it has satisfied our (conscious or unconscious) desire and need of a proof of love, so that it has given us the strength to trust God and feel loved by Him. I can summarize my thoughts as follows: Salvation implies a deep change of ourselves. God has the power to change us but He wants to do that with our consent. Man cannot really accept to be changed by God and he cannot be in comunion with God as long as even a shadow of doubt and distrust remains in his heart ( it must be stressed that such a distrust may exist even without the man is aware of it, at the unconscious level). God had to destroy every shadow of doubt and distrust in our heart and He has chosen to give us the greatest proof of love that may exist: Christ's Passion.

I hope this may help you.
If you should need some clarifications, please ask again.

Your brother in Christ,

Marco

PS I think that faith cannot come only from logic, because to have faith in God means to trust and love God.
I think however that logics and science prove the existence of our soul and the existence of  God and that there are many rational arguments strongly supporting the christian faith.
The explanation of these aguments is rather long and Allexperts allows only to give short answers. You can find such arguments  in the following site

http://xoomer.alice.it/fedeescienza/englishnf.html

where  I analyse the incongruencies of the materialistic conception of the mind, on the basis of our present scientific knowledges about brain and matter.
This analysis points out how the laws of physics  prove that the   brain cannot generate consciousness, which existence implies  the presence in man of a unbiological/unmaterial element. The problem of consciousness is then strictly connected to the one of the existence of the soul and, consequently, the existence of God.
In the first article entitled “Mind and brain...” you can find a general discussion of the mind and brain problem from a scientific point of view.
In the second article entitled “Scientific contraddictions in materialism”
you  can find an explanation of the fundamental inconsistencies of  the  typical arguments used by materialists, such as the concept of emergent, macroscopic or holist property, complexity, information, etc.
In the section called “FAQ: answers to  visitors' questions” you can find the answer to many typical questions, such as "Are there any scientifically proved miracles?", "Does the existence of the universe imply the existence of God?", "Can science explain God?", "Can science establish which is the true religion?", "Can science explain consciousness in the future?", and many others.