Go(o)d v. Evil

This post is about good and evil... and God and evil.

How can God allow evil people and organisations achieve such powers of destruction? Whether we're talking Hitler or ISIL, it is hard for people to contemplate the juxtaposition of such things and a loving God. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury recently admitted to struggling with his faith over such matters. (Not sure that helps a lot, Justin.)

Things like this are responsible for many people NOT believing in a loving God - or any God, for that matter. Take the tragic death of a spouse or relative. The murder of a child. Bad things done by members of the Church. How can God allow such things?

Well here's my view on the matter, in case it helps anyone. The world is as we see it. That's pretty much the way scientists see it - except in matters of fine detail where their 'beliefs' tend to change with time. And that word 'belief' is an important one. Science, you see, 'believes' what it has theorised or thinks it has proven so far, but frequently new theories come along and those beliefs have to change. Given this, a scientist should look more kindly on those whose less complex belief is in God. A scientist can prove little of what he believes, and he cannot disprove what a Christian believes - except perhaps a few of the fine details like the method of creation.

The world is as it is. As we see it. And that is the way God created it. In a masterpiece of creativity, his thought became our universe, our realm of creation, and that is where we exist. Clever stuff? Yes, but hang on. You create worlds which seem just as real to your perceptions on a regular basis: in dreams!

Yes, evolution has played an enormous part in our physical selves, and that was all part of the natural development of the world God created. There are different levels of 'good' within it, no matter how we define the term, and another term used to describe the negative extreme of good is 'evil'. Through the graduations of behaviour we label as good or evil, it is inevitable there will be evil. That is all part of the free-flowing nature of creation.

God created a system which appears to follow rules or theories. But almost anything can appear to have rules if you go to extremes of modelling it (like weather forecasting). The fact we have weather forecasting models that boil down to rules does not mean the weather actually follows any rules. God does not chose to interfere with this realm of existence, although he has given us guidelines, which religions document: as guidelines or 'rules'. God is, no doubt, entertained by the evolving nature of this creation but, like a human father, he prefers to let his children - us - make our own way in the world. Why would he want to control everything? What would be the value of a creation where he had to control the movement of every grain of sand, the path of every falling leaf... or the actions of ever-interacting human beings? He prefers to give us freedom and to delight in those individuals who follow paths of good. Good will ultimately prevail, for evil would be self-destructive, and what creator wants to destruct his creation? So evil people and organisations can exist. It is up to the powers of good in the world to destroy them. How do we know what is good and what is evil? That is where true and trusted religions come in: such as Christianity; in their case they have the Holy Bible - which the believe to have been 'God-inspired'. (But since human beings wrote it, and had a cap on their levels of understanding, there is scope for some misinterpretation and human error here and there. (Not to mention the fact that powers have changed its wording through the centuries.)

If you believe there is a devil as the ultimate essence of evil then such an entity would most delight in fooling people who start out believing in God and then turn their behaviour into the opposite of what should be their true aims. What a laugh for the devil - and what an achievement. ISIL is an example of this: religion gone wrong to the extreme. And nations all over the world can see it is wrong.

There are different ways to accept a God, and it it wrong for a particular religion to disparage another if it also believes in one God.

Christians believe there is an afterlife - Heaven - and that, of course, is another realm of existence. Jesus told a repenting criminal on an adjacent cross to him at his crucifixion that he would be together with him in Heaven that very day. And if there is an alternative existence for believers who die, one we are led to believe is a better one than the physical world, that puts a whole new complexion on people dying; they can move on to a better world. Our point of view is restricted to this life, but God's is not. He can see his other creations. He can see the better lives that exist for those souls who had a bad deal in this world. And so must you. Think about the wider picture, think about the freedom God gives us in this creation, think about the promises he makes about a better life after death if we believe in him, and just understand this world is a world of freedom. It is up to use to identify and eliminate evil using the uncorrupted word of God. And that is where things go wrong: when activists believe in a corrupted idea about the word of God. And that is why God and evil coexist. 

It is up to each and everyone of us to determine the right path. Deep within our selves God provides the means for us to judge between right and wrong.

When you 'get it' and add 'oh' to your understanding of God... you will see the Good.

Diversity - the source of Life

I just finished watching the BBC Horizon programme called Allergies - Modern Living and Me. Its interesting conclusion was that in order for a human being to be healthy it needs to be subject to to the right bacteria from birth in order that it can educate our bodies. We need the right amount - and diversity - of good bacteria if we are to be healthy. Amazingly, normal birth through the vagina envelops a baby in important bacteria right from the start. So those born by Caesarean
section immediately get off to a bad start - especially since they are often then exposed to a less beneficial bacteria in intensive care wards. And if infants - especially those younger than 1-year old - are given antibiotic courses, while these might be necessary to kill off bad bacteria, the collateral damage they do of also killing off good bacteria can lead to life-long allergies.  It also explains why we should try to avoid antibiotics at any time, if we can. We need those health-giving mini-beasties, and antibiotics work like a sledge-hammer to squash them all.

It appears that modern living in sanitised surroundings, often far removed from the bacteria of the great outdoors, is also a factor, especially for growing children. So getting them out there in the open air and that outdoor bacteria that our ancestors knew and loved will help to programme their bodies to live a happier and healthier life. This lack of engagement with the great outdoors is almost certainly responsible for less healthy individuals, so if you love your children, get them outdoors poking around for beasties. Horizon showed that this outdoor bacteria is easily brought inside, and then spread around, and that the family dog is a great ambassador in doing just that. So get out to the park, in the garden, follow the lead of that dog!

This is all particularly interesting to me because it helps prove just how intimately we interact with the rest of creation. The billions of bacteria we have on us - and especially within our gut - are not just beneficial for our health: they are actually essential to life. And, apparently, what is most important in all this is diversity. One good bacterium is not enough; we need a variety. So while a  given probiotic might be great, a diversity of them is 'greater'. And fruit - a 'pre-biotic' - can help us to acquire them. It all begins to add up, doesn't it, including that call for 'five a day'?

So how diverse is your life?

Balance in Life

'Canny Contemplations'.  My new blog.

Alliteration is great in a title - or elsewhere - so long as it's not over-used. Why? Because it sounds nice? There's a nice rhythmic quality about using the same letter at the start of associated words: as in the phrase 'worldly wise', for example. Newspaper editors love it, or course, but they take it to such extremes it becomes painful. But what is the quality of alliteration which makes us like it - in small doses? And why don't we like large doses? I think it's a sense of balance and originality (respectively). We humans like things to be balanced: to sound 'right'... but we soon tire!

Take music, for example. We have an inherent and finely-tuned sense of whether a note is tuneful or not: whether it sounds' right'. If it's not, is sounds 'wrong'. Discords are so painful to our senses they often invoke a physical wince. Clearly there is something deep within us that is in empathy with the balance of creation. And we like tuneful musical phrases to be repeated... for a while, until that gets boring.

There is a great synergy in all of creation, and one of my great interests in life has been observing and thinking about that. I am currently involved in a long project which doesn't use enough of my creative juices, hence the need for this new blog. A writer must write, you see, and writing is always creative - or should be. So this blog will enable me to contemplate on what makes us humans tick and to ruminate on the big questions of life. Trust me on that.

I believe there is a creative force - or 'mind' - behind our creation: what many of us prefer to call 'God'. Maybe you don't believe in a God, but these writings should also be of interest because I want to push boundaries, just I have done in some of my books. And I will not veer away from the tricky questions, such as how we can contemplate a 'loving' God in a world that is becoming increasingly violent. I hope to show you the logical arguments which allow for a loving Creator and a world of right and wrong: good and evil. And a blog will allow me to tackle anything that comes to mind. Sometimes a topic might link to one of my other writings but, as often as not, it will be original. I hope this will also make it interesting and entertaining.

I intend to look at all the mysteries of life from a Christian perspective: but with a pragmatic eye on logic and science. I believe the Bible was inspired, for example, but I also believe a work written for the understanding of people two-thousand years ago can also provide us hidden insight with modern knowledge. There are many fascinating aspects along these lines I look forward to tackling.


I do not post very often to my 'Author Blog' because I hone most of my daily comments down to 140-character tweets on Twitter: good précis practice. But I intent to post to 'Canny Contemplations' much more regularly, because it reflects my contemplative mind: a very busy mind! So, please won't you join me by following my musings and meditations... in 'Canny Contemplations'? And if you like them, please become a true 'follower'... and tell others who might like to have their minds stretched.