God and the problem of evil:
Madalas, ito ang lagi nating tinatanong sa ating sarili. Ako din ganito tanong ko, “Kung may Diyos nga, bakit maraming sakunang nangyayari sa mundo? Bakit hindi nalang niya supilin yun?”
Ako to be honest, kahit ako d ko kaya sagutin yun objectively. Pero one thing ang nakakasiguro ako na reason. Free will.
Actually, kung babasahin natin ang Genesis, makikita natin, “Everything that God created is good” (Genesis 1:25). That sentence resonates throughout the first chapter of Genesis.
Nagkataon lang na tayo, by our own choice, we choose to do evil. According to Dr. Peter Kreeft, a convert from Calvinism to Catholicism, sabi niya, “Evil is simply man’s abuse of choice” at kahit si Albert Einstein sinabi niya yan.
Saka isa pa, from the very beginning, God didn’t mean this to be so. In fact, “The Lord does not want us to perish” sabi nga (2 Peter 3:9). But because He loved us so much, He gave us the power to choose.
One of his remedy is one thing: The Cross. Actually, this is where God steps in. The Christian story is so beautiful. Na sa sobrang pagmamahal ng Ama, sinugo niya ang Anak niya at ang Anak willing sumunod sa Ama to experience the shameful death of the cross. Or put it this way, God Himself came in the Person of His Son. He experienced the problem of evil on that 1 day. Why?
Para ipakita sa mundo na this is not a God who just sits and observes our doing as in deistic thinking. But rather, He shows He does care. And He Himself experienced it. His love for us cost Him His life. D ba nga sabi sa John 3:16?
John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life
Ganyan tayo kamahal ni Lord. Sabi nga ni Pope Francis, “We have a Lord who is capable of crying with us”.
Thirdly, as Dr. Kreeft said, about good people na namamatay, sino tayo to say who is who? Who are good and who are not? Actually, sabi pa nga niya, those who are reluctant to call themselves good are those good people. Sinners who are reluctant to call themselves saints are called saints. Sabi nga ng isang mabuting tao, “No one is good save God alone”
Philosphically, dagdag pa niya, without suffering, walang saysay ang buhay. Boring siya to be frank. Ang buhay natin minsan kailangan may timpla. May saya, lungkot, pagdurusa at ligaya gaya sa pagkain.
At isa pa, we can’t expect to know much of God. E hayop nga kahit anong pilit intindihin tayong mga tao hindi kaya e, tayo pa kaya na pilit intindihin ang Diyos?
Sabi nga ng Diyos, “My ways are not your ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8).
Kaya God solves the problem with love. And He does so with Christ sabi nga ni Dr. Kreeft. He is the antidote, the solution to the problem of evil. And with Him, He can create good out of evil sabi ni Atty. Marwil Llasos, OP. Even hell as Dr. Kreeft said, is a product of God’s love. This is His act of love for those who rejected His love.
In the problem of evil, Love finds a way. And it has through a Person. Kaya through the Cross, we can read through the wounds of Jesus, “My child, here’s how much I LOVE YOU”
Source: Dr. Peter Kreeft “PROBLEM OF EVIL”
The Temptation of Jesus