What if there really weren't anything that could be considered evil in this world? What if, in reality, there are just varying degrees of good?
I have explained this argument in different terms before, specifically varying degrees of truth. The idea comes from the Biblical rhetoric that establishes God as the Truth in the universe, specifically the goodness of God as truth. The deity in its own right is absolute good and therefore absolute truth. The distinction of good and evil, then, makes up a continuum with absence of truth at one end (evil) to absolute truth (God's benevolence), with varying degrees of truth in between, as illustrated below.
Absence of Truth <----------------------->Absolute Truth
This is reinforced by the omniscience and benevolence of God. Specifically, if God is all knowing and all good, it necessarily follows that God's plan would include verying degrees of Good. This is supported by the book of Job and Habakkuk, and God's statement that all things occur according to God's plan. If this is the case, then even God will permit seemingly bad things to happen in the world to progress the grand plan. In reality, God is always acting in the world, influencing events to achieve God's goals. Evil, then, is our interpretation of God's plan. Evil, then, is little more than what doesn't subscribe to God's plan, namely sin, and our susceptibility to sin.
I would be interested in some thoughts on this, it is merely a musing on good, evil, and God's plan.
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2 comments:
Upon first reading, that seems to be a good understanding of evil. Though it might be helpful to distinguish between God's effective will and His moral will - effective will necessarily includes all our sins and mistakes whereas moral will reflects how He desires for us to live. This is important because if all things work according to God's plan (effective will), than nothing, including sin, can logically be outside of it. However, it can be outside of His moral will thereby giving credence to the notion of evil - something that is against the moral will of God but not necessarily out of His effective will or control.
Thank you for explaining the distinction. My post is directed more at effective will as a way to understand the basic notion of good and evil in an operational sense.
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