The problem of evil

The problem of evil:  If God were to disallow all human evil, then God would have to disallow the free choice to act in an evil way; and if God disallowed the free choice to act in an evil way, our good actions would not be self-initiated. God would essentially have programmed us for good behaviors, but not allowed us to choose good behaviors over and against the option of choosing evil ones. He would have foreclosed the possibility of our good actions being self-initiated and being our own.

Evil elicits vengeance, and vengeance begets vengeance, unless a free agent intervenes and lets go of the just offense in a recognizable act of compassion. This act not only stops the cycle of vengeance begetting vengeance, but also calls collective human consciousness to a higher ideal, a higher sense of collective self, which is at once intrinsically beautiful, while allowing the real possibility of peace. Ironically, this greatest of human choices can be induced by evil.

Evil occurs when a free agent chooses to ignore the capacity for love. Evil actions could have angry feelings embedded in them, but these feelings are not identifiable with evil itself; they are the result of evil. Destructive behaviors may come from this free agent, but these behaviors are also not identifiable with evil itself; they are the result of a free agent’s choice to ignore the capacity for love. The occurrence of evil is not something which exists in itself; rather, it is the result of a free agent’s choice to ignore the capacity for affection, empathy, compassion – love.

Peace is not the absense of war. Peace is the result of brotherly love.