Continuing Advent with Evil

Teodicea

Esta semana del camino de Adviento está dedicada a lo que los teólogos llaman el “problema del mal”. En pocas palabras, es la incongruencia de creer en un Dios bueno y todopoderoso mientras te enfrentas a la realidad de que el mal existe en el mundo. En otras palabras, dado que el mal es real, con ejemplos como el cáncer, la guerra, los abusos, los terremotos y el hambre, o Dios no es del todo bueno o no es del todo poderoso. ¿Por qué un Dios bueno y todopoderoso permitiría que el mal exista?

Evil is a problem which has perplexed people since the first-time villagers had to pick up after a devastating earthquake, or a lightning bolt created a forest fire that wreaked havoc for people and all the members of the animal kingdom. In this day and age, when we understand that earthquakes are caused by the shifting of tectonic plates, and lightning bolts are the result of charged clouds grounding, God doesn’t need to enter the equation. However, for theologians and clergy who make a case for a good and omnipotent God, forming an answer is called a theodicy. It follows that if God allows this evil, then is it possible that evil is a punishment from God? People of good faith can easily reach this conclusion, and figure illness or death are paybacks from God for wrongs you have committed. And so, the question was brought to Jesus.

On this Sunday of Advent the Church offers the Gospel reading from Luke chapter 13:1-9. Here, there were two incidents that people perceived to be delivered as punishments from God. The stories – one of Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices and the other was of a tower which fell in Siloam causing the death of 18 people – were the focus of this inquiry of Jesus. On today’s scale, it would be like us asking Jesus if the Indonesians who died in last month’s earthquake perished because they were sinners? Or was it because of the sins of the Ukrainians that bombs fell on their cities?

En el pasaje, Jesús responde: ¿Piensan que ellos eran más pecadores que todos los demás porque sufrieron de esta manera? ¡Les digo que no! Pero si no te arrepientes, todos perecerán de igual manera.

Sin lugar a dudas, Jesús da la respuesta definitiva de que el mal no es un castigo de Dios sobre nosotros. La idea de que Dios está sentado en el cielo esperando a que des un paso en falso para lanzarte un rayo es tan absurda como suena. ¡Y Jesús nos da enfáticamente un gran NO!

Entonces, ¿por qué existe el mal? ¿No puede Dios vaporizar todo el mal? ¿O es que simplemente no quiere hacerlo? Continuaremos con estas preguntas mañana, en nuestro camino a través del Adviento.

We pray Shnorhali’s 15^th hour: Christ, guardian of all, let your right hand protect and shelter me by day and by night, while at home and while away, while asleep and while away that I may never fall into sin. Amen.