Mystery of God IVProvidence and Evil

Sjtbc.us/mystery-of-god

Latin

• Ipsum esse - being itself.

Barron – How does God relate to the world?

• Providence

• Why is there Evil?

THE NATURE OF PROVIDENCE

• A. Story of Katie Lentz and “Miracle Priest”• https://fox6now.com/tag/katie-lentz/

• B. Miracles• Outside the rules of nature

• C. Providence• Providence describes how God orders natural causes toward divinely-chosen,

good ends.

Summa Theologica part 1 question 22• THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD • Prologue: Having considered all that relates to the will absolutely, we must

now proceed to those things which have relation to both the intellect and the will, namely providence, in respect to all created things; predestination and reprobation and all that is connected with these acts in respect especially of man as regards his eternal salvation. For in the science of morals, after the moral virtues themselves, comes the consideration of prudence, to which providence would seem to belong. Concerning God's providence there are four points of inquiry:

• (1) Whether providence is suitably assigned to God? • (2) Whether everything comes under divine providence? • (3) Whether divine providence is immediately concerned with all things? • (4) Whether divine providence imposes any necessity upon things

foreseen?https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/1225-1274,_Thomas_Aquinas,_Summa_Theologiae_%5B1%5D,_EN.pdf

Providence

• Everything is moving to accomplish some purpose• God orders all things sweetly

• Providence extends to particulars• God is not the CEO who just handles the

big things

• JPII – “In God’s plan, nothing happens by chance.”

Providence

• A wise designer/artist avoids every defect possible• Stained glass windows

• Problems• Do things happen by just chance or luck?• Is God just out there watching from afar?

• Examples• King dispatches two servants

• King planed their meeting• Servants think they meet by chance

• Weather man• God has the big plan• Smaller competing cause affect our everyday stuff

• Bob Dylan• I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of

sand

Providence

• Causes• Conditional cause

• Competing causes• One annuls the other

• Non-competing causes• They work together

• God’s causes are non competing – they work with or through other causes

Evil

• Evil is an argument that there is no God• An all loving, all powerful, all knowing God could not allow evil to exist

• Evil does exist

• There must be no God

Evil

• Evil is not a created thing.

• It is the lack of a good.• Dark is the absence of light.

• Only get dark when you block the light

• It is the corruption of a good – a parasite• If the good did not exist, this evil could not exist

• Rust corrupts steal

• No steal no rust

• Marital relations are a good thing created by God• Rape is a corruption of these relations

• Moral Evil• Lie

• Murder

• Natural Evil• Earthquake

• Tsunami

St Thomas Examples

• Hungry lion – unfortunate antelope

• The cruelty of the tyrant• No Hittle

• No Edith Stein

• No Maximillian Kolbe

Job 38,39,41

• One Sunday in three year cycle • 12th Sunday in ordinary time Year b

• One day at daily Mass• Friday week 26 Year 2

• http://www.usccb.org/bible/job/38

Part of Job 38

1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said:2 Who is this who darkens counselwith words of ignorance?3 Gird up your loins now, like a man;I will question you, and you tell me the answers!

4 Where were you when I founded the earth?Tell me, if you have understanding.5 Who determined its size? Surely you know?Who stretched out the measuring line for it?6 Into what were its pedestals sunk,and who laid its cornerstone,7 While the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of God* shouted for joy?

8 Who shut within doors the sea,when it burst forth from the womb,9 When I made the clouds its garmentand thick darkness its swaddling bands?10 When I set limits for itand fastened the bar of its door,11 And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther,and here shall your proud waves stop?

12 Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place13 For taking hold of the ends of the earth,till the wicked are shaken from it?14 The earth is changed as clay by the seal,and dyed like a garment;15 But from the wicked their light is withheld,and the arm of pride is shattered.

Bishop Barron examples

• Handicapped girl

• 3 year old in surgery

Ultimate Christian answer

• God became one of us and entered into our suffering

• The ultimate evil is the suffering and death of Jesus, God

• From this evil, God redeemed the wholeworld

• God brings a greater good out of oursuffering

References• A Serious Man

• Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern physics teacher, watches his life unravel over multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking meaning and answers amidst his turmoils, he seems to keep sinking.

• Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019452/

• Bob Dylan - Every grain of sand• I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man

Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

• http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/every-grain-sand/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0ghOdhmP-E

Bishop Barron Video

• 1 What is providence? What are two false views of providence and what is the true view articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas? (Rom 8:28, Matt 10:28-31, CCC 302-308)

• Answer: Providence describes how God orders natural causes toward divinely-chosen, good ends. The first mistaken view of providence is that while God created the universe, everything that has happened after that point is simply random, and God is forced to just do his best managing randomness. The other mistaken view is that God directly causes every single thing that happens in the universe, including human actions, which would negate the concept that humans are free to love God or free to make any choices in life. Under Aquinas’ view of providence, God, in his infinite power and knowledge, sustains the universe and orders everything toward good ends. God becomes the primary cause of all that exists, but allows creatures to be secondary causes whose free choices are mysteriously folded into God’s plan for creation.

• 2 What is the “argument from evil”? What are some unacceptable ways of resolving the problem of evil? (CCC 272-274, CCC 309)

• Answer: The “argument from evil” is a claim of atheism stating that if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, then evil would not exist. However, since evil does exist, it follows that God does not exist.

• Some modern theologians unacceptably attempt to answer the problem of evil by reducing God’s attributes, specifically his omnipotence. They claim that God wants to get rid of evil but that he is incapable of performing such a feat. Other unacceptable responses to the problem would be to deny that evil exists or to deny that God cares about humans and would want to eliminate evil.

• 3 What is the nature of evil? What hidden premise is left out of the argument from evil that severely weakens it? Finally, how do the ideas of greater goods and limited human understanding help us answer the problem of evil? (Gen 50:20, Is 55:8-9, Rom 8:28, Rom 12:21, CCC 310-311)

• Answer: Evil is not a created thing in and of itself. Rather, evil is a privation, or an absence, of the good. Evil is real and is not an illusion, but it only exists as an absence of good. God did not create evil itself, but allows evil to exist.

• The crucial premise that atheists often leave out of their “argument from evil” is, “God has no good reason to allow evil to exist.” But there are several good reasons God could have for allowing evil to exist. These include allowing the existence of: free will; a physical world with limited beings; and situations where virtue triumphs over suffering. Finally, as limited human beings, we are simply not in a good position to know what particular goods God can bring from seemingly pointless evil.

• 4. In what ways does the Christian faith help us answer the problem of evil? (]ohn 16:33, Rom 8:28, Col 1:24, 2 Cor 1:3-5, 1 Pet 5:7, CCC 312-314)

• Answer: Christian faith answers the problem of evil by providing both hope for a future deliverance from evil and a meaning in the midst of present evil. Even when We don’t understand why bad things happen, through Christ we can offer our sufferings up and unite them to Christ’s suffering on the cross to help secure grace for others. This unity with Christ’s suffering brings meaning to our own suffering. Also, when suffering seems to be too great, we are able to receive from God a transformative grace, which helps us endure the sufferings of this life and keep our focus on future glory in the next.

Closing prayer

Glory be to the Father,and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit:As it was in the beginning,

is now,and ever shall be,

world without end.Amen.