Evil Is and Evil Does
Last week was kinda grim, all the aftermath from the shooting in Sousse. All those bodies being 'brought home' by the RAF. Various people saying they'd never visit Tunisia, one of the most peaceful of the Arab countries, again. Other people declaring that they were going to Tunisia, to Sousse even, because the Tunisians in the area were mostly Really Nice people and needed the income generated by tourism. Also that if people were to stop going then the terrorists would have won, and we. Aren't. Having. That!
There were other awful incidents too, as Islamic extremist after Islamic extremist apparently tried to outdo the devastation and carnage the previous one had caused. So now some are becoming anti-Muslim, while others continue to say that "Islam is a religion of peace" - it is only the extremists, who are unrepresentative of the whole. I don't know. I do know I'm not going to become anti-Islam on principle. I also know that not all Muslims are 'peaceful'; and that's before we get anywhere near the Islamic treatment of women!
At least some of the problem in Iraq, where ISIL is gaining ground, is that western nations (mainly the US and Britain) went in and removed Saddam Hussein, a dictator who'd kept a very firm grip on things*. Naturally enough he'd eliminated all possible threats, consequently there was no-one suitable to lead the country once he and his cronies had been removed - there was a power vacuum. It's at least partly our fault there is such a mess there at present, even if we told our elected representatives that they were not sending the troops in in our names!
How some can perpetrate such evil acts is always a problem. How can some people do such terrible things? Jonathan Freedland had a very relevant article in The Guardian (newspaper). In his reckoning evil deeds are done because evil is within all of us - and we shouldn't be afraid to call evil evil.
'The problem of evil' has long exercised minds, ie: if there is a God, and He is Good, how can He allow evil to happen (the Holocaust; other Genocides - Rwanda**, Burundi, Bosnia etc; suicide bombers)? But such evils do happen, ergo God cannot be Good, or if He is He can't be All Powerful.
Actually He can and He is. Evil things happen because evil is in the world. Evil is present in each person, though some people do more obviously 'evil' deeds than others.
God does care. He has already done something about it - Jesus. The baby of Christmas became the dying man/God of Good Friday and the Risen Lord defeating evil of Easter Sunday.
The real "problem of evil" is not that it exists, and exists in all of us, it's that a remedy exists but we choose not to do anything about it.
Y'all have a good day now!
*I'm not saying Saddam Hussein was a good man or leader. Just that he Iraq very firmly under his control - with all that entailed.
**Read it. It's powerful. And, unfortunately, true.
There were other awful incidents too, as Islamic extremist after Islamic extremist apparently tried to outdo the devastation and carnage the previous one had caused. So now some are becoming anti-Muslim, while others continue to say that "Islam is a religion of peace" - it is only the extremists, who are unrepresentative of the whole. I don't know. I do know I'm not going to become anti-Islam on principle. I also know that not all Muslims are 'peaceful'; and that's before we get anywhere near the Islamic treatment of women!
At least some of the problem in Iraq, where ISIL is gaining ground, is that western nations (mainly the US and Britain) went in and removed Saddam Hussein, a dictator who'd kept a very firm grip on things*. Naturally enough he'd eliminated all possible threats, consequently there was no-one suitable to lead the country once he and his cronies had been removed - there was a power vacuum. It's at least partly our fault there is such a mess there at present, even if we told our elected representatives that they were not sending the troops in in our names!
How some can perpetrate such evil acts is always a problem. How can some people do such terrible things? Jonathan Freedland had a very relevant article in The Guardian (newspaper). In his reckoning evil deeds are done because evil is within all of us - and we shouldn't be afraid to call evil evil.
'The problem of evil' has long exercised minds, ie: if there is a God, and He is Good, how can He allow evil to happen (the Holocaust; other Genocides - Rwanda**, Burundi, Bosnia etc; suicide bombers)? But such evils do happen, ergo God cannot be Good, or if He is He can't be All Powerful.
Actually He can and He is. Evil things happen because evil is in the world. Evil is present in each person, though some people do more obviously 'evil' deeds than others.
God does care. He has already done something about it - Jesus. The baby of Christmas became the dying man/God of Good Friday and the Risen Lord defeating evil of Easter Sunday.
The real "problem of evil" is not that it exists, and exists in all of us, it's that a remedy exists but we choose not to do anything about it.
Y'all have a good day now!
*I'm not saying Saddam Hussein was a good man or leader. Just that he Iraq very firmly under his control - with all that entailed.
**Read it. It's powerful. And, unfortunately, true.