The Problem Of Evil Revisited

" Ary Scheffer "The Temptation of Christ"The problem of evil has had serious logical implications for the existence of God. The argument that if God is good and all-powerful, how come He allows evil to exist is a pointed and powerful attack on monotheistic religions in general. The free will response is often used, but it presupposes that humans indeed do" have free will, that we are able to make choices on a completely independent and voluntary basis. However, considering the combined influences of genetic make-up, karmic cycles, behaviourism, evolutionary psychology and personal experience make this idea seem rather far-fetched and a fairy tale we try hard to believe in. I am proposing a compromise for the existence of God and a possible solution to the problem of evil. The emphasis lies on the word "compromise", which in our case means that we have to part with or rather redefine some of the cherished characteristics of the traditional Western God. Curiously enough, my data may seem "unsubstantial" and "weak", not to mention unscientific in the eyes of most people, as I am basing my ideas not on research or flashes of inspiration but a series of dreams I have had recently. So all the psychoanalytically-minded will be thrilled to read on, the scientific mind will flip the page, or in our case, close the link, the stodgy religious will have stopped reading after the first paragraph, the spiritually open-minded might browse through the article out of curiosity and the atheist will read on with restrained pleasure.In my dreams, evil was something real and tangible, personified in what is generally given various names, the "devil" being the most common one. I must disagree with those hopelessly optimistic people who claim that evil is like the night or the dark, merely the "absence" of light and goodness, rather I believe that Evil is an actual and real manifestation or force and not just ignorance of what is generally deemed good.The reason that horrible atrocities continue around the world is that the dark nature of humanity actually connects with this entity, which then takes over both mind and body like a dangerous virus. Yes, evil is like a disease and that might explain that there is mass madness in times of turmoil and distress as each person feeds on others and the dark forces begin to win the upper hand. Only the ethically strongest will have the power to resist and fight against the manifested evil.So does that mean that God is not powerful or that there is a balance, or if you will imbalance of powers between good and evil? Since I still claim for the existence of God here and despite my compromising I still believe that God's powers are superior, yet that the Evil One is still quite strong. As in Christianity, it is a fallen angel nemesis we are dealing with here, perhaps even the ex-right hand man of God Himself. So he is acquainted with the tricks and powers of the Almighty, which makes him almost equal as is believed in the Zoroastrian tradition. However, God is superior in His powers and can order his arch-enemy to sit like a puppy. So where is our compromise? That God cannot be everywhere at the same time, a concept of wishful thinking on our part.Think about it. God is a busy man, that is, if he is male at all, so why in God's name are we so humanly arrogant to think that God is always preoccupied with each individual on this planet of billions. First off, we may not be the only humans in the universe; secondly, there may be other beings, such as angels and the dead that the Almighty has to deal with on a regular basis, in addition to all the animals, insects and plants all around us. So since He is busy, he might put in charge angels, and they are then as equally powerful as the fallen angel, so good cannot always prevail. Only in some circumstances, whether by personal request of the afflicted, through the prayer of individuals or because of a divine interest in that person's fate and circumstances will make God appear and set things straight. In my dream, Jesus appeared in the form of a squirrel / hamster and told the powerful foaming demon to lay off his hands and let go of my feet, and reluctantly the Evil One obeyed. And no, I am not making this up for argument's sake.Therefore, we can state that evil is as tangible as good. There are seen and unseen power struggles in the world. It is not that God does not care, He is still omni-benevolent, nor does it limit His powers, He is still, at least technically, omnipotent, but He may not be as ubiquitous or omniscient as we may have believed. Or maybe He is omniscient, but He has his own sets of priorities and maybe our lives or a little problem here and there is not worthy of His full and undivided attention. Yes, we humans can be so demanding that even God cannot keep up with all our wishes and desires.