Monday 8 February 2016

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

'Evil is not in the good that God has created, but in the rejection of the order that God has instituted for the enjoyment of the world. Temptation plays with the facets of things that are good, and highlights the attractions of the beauties in creation. Sin then perverts the excitement which these objects quite rightly cause within us. Thus, to revert to John's words, "the lust of the flesh" perverts and corrupts the excitement which drives us towards what is good and beneficial. The "lust of the eyes" likewise corrupts the drive towards what is beautiful and true. The "pride of life" perverts the rightful effort to be, and to be valued. Thus, in the temptation of Jesus, the devil offered him things which by right belonged to the Son of God; but he invited Jesus to invert the order established by the Father. Thus, in Genesis 3, the fruit of the tree planted by God was intended to be beautiful and good - the opportunity for sin was an innocent creature - but the human race perverted the order of the Creator.' 
Henri Blocher, In the Beginning, p.40.