In light of my last blog and the conversations I have had since then, the next logical topic for me to discuss is what is known in academic circles as the Problem of Evil. Let me start off by saying that whole books are written about this subject (and books are then written in responses to those books...but I digresss). In seminary, they offered a whole semester long class on this subject alone. That means that there is a lot to talk about and I am only going to scratch the surface. "The point of writing this?" you ask. Because I was thinking about it and I am not the only one.

So, what is the problem of evil (POE)? The POE goes something like this.
1) God is all powerful
2) God is all good
3) Evil exists

Some people then go on to say, all 3 of these can't be true. Either God wants to stop evil but He can't and therefore premise 1 is wrong. Or he can and he doesn't; in which case premise 2 is wrong. We all know premise 3 is right so no ones arguing this point. So either God is weak, bad or simply doesn't exist.

There are a billion responses to this. But I want to talk about the one Jesus gives in Matthew. Matthew 13:24-30 24 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27 "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 28 "'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 29 "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

Jesus later explains the parable this way. He says that the field is the world. The good seed stands for the Sons of the Kingdom (those who receive and respond to the word). But there are other seed. There is an enemy, the Devil who also sows seed in the field. These are the people who receive and respond to his unholy word. In the parable, initially it is impossible to tell which is which. But as time progresses, it becomes evident that there is a problem. The the workers (angels) are outraged. They ask the master, didn't you plant good seed? He assures them that he did and that the weeds (or the sons of the evil one) are the result of the enemy. They then want to rip all the weeds up but they are stopped. The master stops them because in the tearing up of the weeds some of the wheat might be damaged, which is something he refuses to risk. So the order is "Let both grow together until the harvest." Then rip them up and burn the weeds and bring the wheat into the barn.

This tells me a few things about evil.

1) There is a real enemy who is trying to spoil the good crop. God planted good seed in this world but He is not the only one planting seed. There is an enemy who is working just as hard to see the crop destroyed.

2) For the time being, it is the good of the wheat to let the weeds stay. This sounds so bizzarre and wrong to my ears but I have learned that they crazier Jesus sounds the more right He is likely to be. What He basically says is, "If I were to eliminate all evil right now, it would hurt good." How? He doesn't say...althought we could speculate. But I trust Him. So for the time being, for our good, evil is permitted to grow(?).

3) Evil is growing. D.A. Carson pointed out something really obvious. Jesus says, "Let both grow together." He is not limiting the growth of the wheat but he is not limiting the growth of the weeds either. Good is growing and getting better. But evil is growing and getting worse. They are both maturing (if I can use that word). They are both becoming more obvisouly what they are and they are getting bigger, stronger and more mature. Let both grow together.

4) Evil's time is limited. Evil just keeps going on as if there is no end. But we know that there will be a definitive end. There will be a time of the harvest. There will come a point when God says, "That's it." And then he will turn the harvesters loose. Evil will be gathered up and destroyed forever and good will be gathered up and taken to paradise with Jesus forever. Evil is temporary. Evil will soon be no more. And when that happens, what a great day it will be.

Ultimately, no one can answer specific questions about evil. "Why was X allowed?" I have no idea. Neither does anyone else. But I do know that X will not be allowed forever, And God will punish all evil. There will come a day when even death is killed and is no more...never to rise again. The enemy will be punished and good will be rewarded.

The one thing that really gives me pause about the POE is this remakable fact. The problem of evil is only asked by scholars and people in comfortable societies. If you go to places of extreme persecution...no one even asks this question. Could it be that we ask it because our perspective is wrong? You be the judge.

Last thought...what's the point of blogging if people don't leave comments on it?