Many people promote the concept of world peace - A world without war, calamity, pain, violence, and suffering - A world without evil. We dream of a society in which there are no hardships and no stress to be had. If only we could live without worries, without emotional pain and toil. Wouldn't that be a perfect world?
Would it?
Although this ideal may be appealing in many ways, I submit to you that it should not be a world that we desire to live in. A world without evil, could quite possibly be the worst world of all.
Without evil, there would be no point to doing anything at all.
What reason would we have for going to school and getting a job if hardships did not exist?
More significantly, what reason would we have to serve or show love to other people?
Without pain and suffering, there would be no reason for us to be concerned for other people.
Without pain and suffering, there would be no reason for us to be concerned for other people.
What point would there be to having, giving, and spending money if we could never be unhappy?
By eliminating problems and hardships, life would become a dreamlike existence - Completely aimless in purpose.
If we could never suffer disappointment, and stress through that disappointment, then what reason would there be to get out of bed in the morning? I am presenting the idea that the existence of evil, and more specifically, the possibility of doing evil, brings purpose to much of what we do in the world.
Without the ability to act wrongly, there would be no right.
Courage, love, kindness, compassion, generosity, and charity would have no point.... Or they would not even exist! Morality would be nonexistent. Our ethical conceptions would, literally, have no meaning in a world that lacked the possibility to do evil.
A world without evil would be the worst possible world.
More specifically, a world without potential evil would be the worst possible world.What gives this statement validity is the idea that good can be won from evil. In a practical way, pain and affliction can be responded to with acts of love. To show compassion and love, we must put the interests or needs of other people above our own. Conclusively, love would be impossible in a world without evil.
On a more intimate note, I ask you to ponder the spiritual meaning of evil in the world. Jesus would not have had to die on the cross if pain, calamity, violence, and hardships were not in the world. Without the ability to do evil, we could not worship, glorify, and honor God either, could we?*
Even from a non-Christian perspective, a utopian world should be seen as a world in which we would not want to live in. Why? Because the things one finds meaning in, the things he or she believes, and the actions of our lives would have no purpose. There would be no happiness, because unhappiness would not exist.
If one lives with this in mind, it would even be feasible to say that the idea of "world peace" is a foolish thing to advocate and/or believe to be attainable.
*Explaining this point, if evil were non-existent, we can say the potential to do evil does not exist, and, furthermore, people would always choose rightly. Our choice to praise God would be predetermined, meaning it would not be a choice at all. Without the capability to make a conscious choice, I would say that it is impossible to praise God continually. It may be possible to praise Him in a different way, but not in the way that humans glorify God.
*Explaining this point, if evil were non-existent, we can say the potential to do evil does not exist, and, furthermore, people would always choose rightly. Our choice to praise God would be predetermined, meaning it would not be a choice at all. Without the capability to make a conscious choice, I would say that it is impossible to praise God continually. It may be possible to praise Him in a different way, but not in the way that humans glorify God.
There is certainly food for thought here. You make some excellent observations. Hmmmm.
I agree with Clint, some interesting observations.
I would say that our choices are already known/predetermined (doesn't really matter which word you use if we are talking about an infinitely powerful God), but WE don't know what they are yet, so from our perspective we still have to choose. (The question of free will depends on your perspective: God or human.)
Although I do get the good/evil idea you are presenting. There are verses that mention that sin wouldn't exist without the law...
Also brings to mind the idea of Yin and Yang, the Eastern conception of everything being in balance, both good and evil.
However, I would say that I DO yearn to live in the Utopian world of heaven, where evil cannot exist. BUT, I probably yearn for that as a result of my existence here in this world and my encounters with evil.
Definitely food for thought...
I am a Christian, but mightn't I suggest that Heaven will lack these things, and be all the better for it? There is a better explanation, and it involves choice, habit, and renewal of the Earth, but I'll let you continue on your search!
After the creation and before the fall God proclaimed everything to be good. God created a world that was perfect, but also allowed for choice. Evil is the result of that choice. Evil is not necessary for the world nor is it something we should defend. Evil is in fact rebellion against the nature of God. A world without evil would be like the one God created, like the one Jesus prayed for in the "Lord's prayer" and like the one we hope to reside in forever. This post seems to come from a paradigm that has grown to use to the fallen world... as an alcoholic might cling to a bottle as the only to thing left that makes sense. I wished we had a world where Jesus needn't have died. I wished I wasn't, in my flesh, prone to evil, but alas, until I go home I am yet beset with such malady.
We are creatures of space and time. I have often thought that heaven would be boring, though I know it won't be. I just can not imagine. But I think if most of us were truthful, for all the talk that we do, none of us are anxious to leave this earth.
It started in the Garden and things were good then until......
I am not sure I agree. Wouldn't it have been better if God didn't have to send his son?
Do you enjoy eating ripe, sweat bananas?
Do you necessarily have to eat a rotten one and be sick for a few days to really appreciate good bananas? Not really...
A world without sin would have been exciting & wonderful. Exploring the whole universe and all the fun we could have had simply loving each other and the Heavenly Father. That's another issue that God can bring out good even from sin.
With all due respect to Mr. Heil this argument (at least as it stands) borders on being unfit to be included on the website. Can the author honestly say that he believes his is a solid and satisfying argument for the problem of evil ? How can one simply ignore the questions the article begs....questions even a child would raise. So does Mr. Heil believe that evil in fact existed in a pre-fallen world and that it will continue to exist throughout eternity (new heaven/new earth)? Perhaps he does and can make a case for it. If so, I'm willing to listen and seriously consider it's merits. Otherwise, this is half-baked stuff. Best to put it back in the oven until it's fully ready to be served.
You, sir or ma'am, are totally biased about a world with evil! Would you want to deal every day with problems for every day of your life?
A world without evil would be my dream come true since I'm sick to death of dealing with bad people. Ever since I was younger, I've a wanted an everlasting utopia.
If you ask me, I don't need that balance because I can do fine without it. Plus, I'm so attached to my comfort zone that I want to spread it across the world.
All those people who love chaos are those are small-minded and don't appreciate boredom like I do.
Who needs meaning when you can have eternal comfort, which is what I long for?
But if you want to live in a world of chaos, just don't blame me once you suffer the consequences for it. And don't you dare force your way of thinking on others.