Thursday, December 3, 2009

Quote of the Day


"Is the Creation unfinished? Yes. And that's the requirement in which, inevitably, God slips into the world to me. If God made us to its image, does God contain the human evil? I answer —Yes. We're too reflection of that evil and unfinished part of God. We work in order to complete God."

- Carlos Fuentes

3 comments:

Justin said...

I'm calling bad theology on this one. "In the image of God" means we have free will, the ability to choose, perchance, to choose evil. That does not mean God does any evil.

Brings up the larger predestination metaphor, too: from the Creator's point of view, creation is possibly not unfinished. The characters in the middle of the book don't realize the story has already been written, but from the Author's point of view, it has.

Is the Creator IN time, watching it unfold with us, or ABOVE time, already knowing the end result? I feel like free will is true, but how the hell do I know, really?

Todd White said...

Justin: This is a tough subject, and my feelings are in flux.

However, I’m inclined to disagree with your statement that if “we have free will…that does not mean God does any evil.” If God is the Creator of Us, and We – the Creation – commit evil, that still means God is at least indirectly responsible for the evil. I don’t think that makes God any less worthy of respect and worship, however. It’s just an acceptance of the full dimension of his power.

Also if “the creation is possibility not unfinished” – as you suggest – where does that leave free will? Doesn’t free will – almost by definition – require that the creation be unfinished? I won’t claim I have all the answers on this; I’ve always struggled with the concept of “free will.” I’m inclined to believe it exists, but it may be highly constrained. I just don’t know.

TMS said...

Isaiah (45:7):

"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things."

http://blog.beliefnet.com/kingdomofpriests/2009/12/my-knee-hurts-therefore-this-is-no-god.html