The Non-Problem of Evil
"“Do you know why I desire to send crosses to the souls that are dear to me? I desire to possess them entirely, and for that reason I surround them with crosses, and I shut them in with tribulations so that they may not escape out of my hands. For that reason I spread thorns everywhere so that giving their affections to no one they may seek all their pleasure in me alone.” Jesus to St. Gemma Galgani
“If God real, why bad thing?” - Carl Pagan
The Problem of Evil (Theodicy, also known as “Idiocy”) has always baffled me. It fails on so many fronts I don’t know what I have the patience for to start to explain. However, I was commissioned to write this, so I will.
Theodicy has a long, storied history in non-Platonic philosophy. In other words, it has a long storied history with pretentious people writing nonsense excuses to not obey God. Because, if you can rationalize why, then you don’t have to do it, right? The longest I spent with this nonsense was in my first year of college with a week’s lesson in Philosophy 101 where I answered it with Job, because why not? Remember God’s answer to Job and his friends philosophizing about the “Problem of Evil” and God shows up and starts demanding and questioning them as to where they get off on questioning God? Exactly my position.
The Problem of Evil only has plausibility in a twisted, Protestant context where some believe in a fiction of God forgiving everyone of everything. “If God forgives us, then why are we being punished?” This is wrong on every count. God does not forgive everyone. That’s why Hell exists. The premise is also wrong in assuming that bad things are punishments. In Catholicism, we recognize that suffering is often a gift. Suffering is not only a gift in helping you to learn and grow. That is tertiary if not of no account. Suffering is a grace to get into Heaven. It acts as “time-served” in Purgatory. Purgatory is a part of hell. It is the temporary part of Hell. Hell is infinite for those who even an infinite amount of time in Purgatory will not rid them of their attachment to sin.
“If life is not Hell now, then you will go there when you die.”
The Problem of Evil also fails on how it is targeted at a religion where the perfect man was tortured and executed at the hands of a kangaroo court, and its heroes all excitedly rush to die comically grotesque, torturous deaths. Christianity never said bad things don’t happen, or bad things only happen to bad people. Rather, Christianity says suffering is the way to Heaven.
The idiocy of theodicy shows no understanding of Christianity. We have stories of Mary and Jesus coming to earth telling everyone to give themselves self-inflicted punishments for their sins. Read what St. Gemma says Jesus tells her: It sounds like an angry pagan god demanding a virgin sacrifice to appease his wrath so he won’t destroy the earth. In fact, many apparitions say exactly that. The lore of the victim-soul is a person God selected as his whipping post to expend his wrath on.
“My child, I have need of victims, strong victims, in order to appease the just anger of my Divine Father. I need souls who, by their sufferings, trials and sacrifices, make amends for sinners and for their ingratitude. Oh, if I could make all understand how angry My Father is by this impious world!”
—Jesus to St. Gemma
We are all supposed to be suffering and asking for it and thanking God for it. It gets us to heaven via purging our sins and counting as time-served in Purgatory. One of the finest examples are the child seers of Fatima. They were starving and dehydrating themselves in heat waves to atone for the sins of the world. They looked for every excuse to make sacrifices and suffer. Another good example is St. John Paul the 2nd who said “Thank you, Jesus” when he got his hand smashed by a car door. That is exactly what our attitude should be when we experience pain (I try to emulate this when I get my shoulder dislocated: “Thank you, Jesus.”).
The proper attitude to turn suffering into a sacrificial penance is a resignation that is difficult to describe. I am not sure there is an English word to describe it. It is an emotionless resignation to the suffering. No complaining. No sadness. No anger. No self pity. It’s either joy at being able to suffer, or something of a complacency to it. Once you have the proper composure for it, you may then offer the suffering as a sacrifice. I do this with the Fatima Sacrifice Prayer: “O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Idiodicy is targeting the wrong religion. It is like asking Wiccans why they don’t venerate Nature. Or asking Buddhists “If Buddha real, why doesn’t he want us to meditate?” I cannot express how stupid the adherents to this question are. They need to wear a helmet to drink soup.
Further, it is a waste of intellectual energy. I don’t care if you can fantasize about a universe with God and no suffering. That is not reality. It is not news to Christians that bad things happen in the world. The religion formed with full knowledge of this fact. You cannot falsify religion with everyday reality everyone knows. This is like saying, “If God exists, the grass wouldn’t be green.”
Christianity is a masochistic religion. We love suffering and blood running down the walls. Go whine to another religion about God allowing evil. It’s a non-issue for us. To evil and suffering we say “Bring it.”
“I am happy in every way that Jesus wills, and if Jesus wants the sacrifice of my life, I give it to Him at once. If He wants anything else, I am ready. One thing alone is enough for me: To be his victim, in order to atone for my innumerable sins, and if possible, for those of the whole world”
St. Gemma Galgani
