|
|
|
Every human in
our world experiences moments of self-reflection, doubt and skepticism.
We search for answers that help us define God's role in our lives and
our relevance to the universe and beyond. These are not new questions.
The Urantia Book can be a valuable source of enlightenment and comfort
when a soul is faced with Life's Toughest Questions. Click on a question
you've struggled with and discover The Urantia Book's perspective on
some of life's most difficult and frequently-asked questions.
|
Why does God let the devil destroy the life of his creation? Why doesn't he
always keep us affiliated to his beautiful world, rather than exposing us to
this evil world?
Thank you for your note to
Truthbook.com, a website dedicated to the
teachings of
The
Urantia Book,
It is tempting to blame all the ills of our world on the
devil. After all, many of us have been taught from an
early age that there is this force for evil, centered in
the devil, that appears to have equal weight against the
forces for good, centered in God. We have been taught to
fear the devil, and we blame him for everything bad in
the world. And when we are not blaming the devil, we are
blaming God for letting the devil have his way so often.
God is not responsible for any personality's evil deeds;
and the devil is not always responsible for the bad
things that people do:
"The devil has been given a great deal of credit for
evil which does not belong to him. Caligastia [the
devil - see link below] has been comparatively
impotent since the cross of Christ. "
(53:8.9)
This is not to say that the devil does not exist.
There is a personality who The Urantia Book calls "the
devil," and you can read about him
HERE.
And he is not the only one; I am sure you are
familiar with the names
"Lucifer"
and
"Satan."
These two personalities. along with the devil,
Caligastia, pretty much constitute the "forces of evil"
who have done untold harm on this planet from the days
of it's earliest development.
Two of these personalities are no longer on this planet;
the devil remains, but as a vanquished, hollow presence,
who can only influence those who actually seek him out.
His power is greatly diminished. The remnants of their
evil deeds remain, but it can be overcome. Once we know
the truth about these personalities, we realize that
have much more power to assume responsibility for the
changes we wish to see, instead of feeling that we are
powerless under the influence of evil forces.
About God, and evil, Jesus said:
"My brother, God is love; therefore he must be good,
and his goodness is so great and real that it cannot
contain the small and unreal things of evil. God is
so positively good that there is absolutely no place
in him for negative evil. Evil is the immature
choosing and the unthinking misstep of those who are
resistant to goodness, rejectful of beauty, and
disloyal to truth. Evil is only the misadaptation of
immaturity or the disruptive and distorting
influence of ignorance. Evil is the inevitable
darkness which follows upon the heels of the unwise
rejection of light. Evil is that which is dark and
untrue, and which, when consciously embraced and
willfully endorsed, becomes sin."
(130:1.5)
Please read
HERE
about Jesus, and how he overcame the forces of evil when
he was on Earth. (In this section, you'll read that
Jesus was known as "Michael," which is his celestial
title. But Michael and Jesus are one and the same
personality.)
God cannot force us to stay "affiliated with his
beautiful world." unless he takes away our free will.
But he never forces us. We must come willingly to God.
Likewise, the evil things that happen on our earth -
things that threaten the life of the creation - could be
stopped by God if it was his will, but it was his will
that men have freewill choice. If God had wanted a
perfect world, he likely would have created it. Instead
we find ourselves in a place where God's children have
to struggle to find the perfection of God through faith.
When we are exposed to a world that contains both good
and evil, mankind then has the opportunity to choose the
good and progress towards perfection. If there was no
choice, we would not be freewill creatures anymore, and
we could not experience the victorious joy of overcoming
evil with goodness, as Jesus taught us to do.
But we are not alone in our struggles. God is still at
work. Said Jesus:
"There lives within every human mind a divine
spirit, the gift of the Father in heaven. This good
spirit ever strives to lead us to God, to help us to
find God and to know God."
(133:3.7)
Every person has this divine spirit, and every person
has free will. It is up to each of us to seek God out -
not everyone does. But we all carry within us that spark
of divinity which can help us immeasurably to stay
affiliated with his "beautiful world" - the kingdom of
heaven within - by our own choosing. Then, no matter
what happens in the outer world, we find ourselves with
the inner peace of the kingdom of God.
When you find yourself worried over the state of the
world, please consider this Urantia Book passage:
"As you view the world, remember that the black
patches of evil which you see are shown against a
white background of ultimate good. You do not view
merely white patches of good which show up miserably
against a black background of evil.
When there is so much good
truth to publish and proclaim, why should men dwell
so much upon the evil in the world just because it
appears to be a fact? The beauties of the spiritual
values of truth are more pleasurable and uplifting
than is the phenomenon of evil."
(195:5.12)
God's only will for us is goodness. It is ourselves that
we must change so that we learn to think with God, if we
want to change the world...only in this way will be able
to experience more goodness.
I hope this answer has been helpful...please click on
the links provided, and always practice the advice that
Jesus was fond of giving: "Fear not."
|
|
|
