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| Darkness, Evil and the Light | 1/29/2006 |
| by Deacon Evan Wittig
| Printer Friendly | A professor asked his class: “Did God create everything that exists?” “Yes, he did.” Was the answer. “Does evil exists?” He asked. “Yes, it does.” Was the answer. “If evil exists and God created everything that exist, then God is evil.” The students were stunned and the professor was very proud of himself.
A student asked: "Professor, does darkness exist?" The professor responded, "Of course it does." The student replied, "You are wrong sir, darkness does not exist. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present.Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."
Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?" Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.
To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."
The professor sat down. The young man's name -- Albert Einstein
The above story was sent to me by my brother, Don Wittig, with the caption “true story.” I will take this starting point as true and go from here. We can accept that darkness is the absence of light. If we accept Einstein’s notion that evil is the absence of God, then we can use this knowledge to grow quickly in our walk with God.
The laws of nature are neutral, or basically good, since nature reflects God’s will. Mankind uses the laws of nature for good and evil. Think of the instruments of war, invented to kill and destroy human life. World War I and II were acts of war that were the result of evil men gaining power and striving to conquer the world. Millions of people died in these wars pitting man against man. God did not create the evil that led to this catastrophe, humans did. Many good people did nothing as Hitler rose to power and started his campaign to conquer Europe, hence the saying “evil prospers when good people do nothing.” If evil is the absence of God, then God’s absence in Europe was the feeding ground for Hitler. Having learned nothing from history, God is absent again in Europe today.
Looking at our lives, surely we can see good and evil within us. Do we obey all of the Ten Commandments? Do we love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength? Do we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves?Do we forgive those who hurt us? Do we invite God to guide our steps each day? Do we live a grace-filled life? Do we want to be holy? Do we want to be saints? So, there are parts of our lives where we can see God’s grace and goodness and there are parts of our lives where we deem our will is more important than God’s will. These parts of our lives reflect the absence of God’s light and grace. This is where the darkness is. It is these areas where we need to invite God to enter and reign. We want God’s light to permeate all our being from top to bottom, head to toe, inside and out!
Remember the story of the transfiguration of Jesus? Jesus glowed like a light bulb! Even Jesus’ clothes glowed! This is because Jesus is light and there is no darkness at all in him. If Jesus is in our hearts, then his light is in our hearts! If God’s grace is within us, then God’s light is within us. We receive grace by having faith and trust in God. So, faith in God is the supreme act we can make and love for God is the supreme good we can do! If we truly love God, then we can love all of God’s creation, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can even love people we don’t like, because God is love. Love is the greatest force in the universe! Love led to the creation of all that there is. God is Supreme and whole unto himself, yet he creates everything seen and unseen because love creates and grows and expands. We must make it our daily prayer that God’s love would create a clean heart within us, that God’s love would grow and expand into every dimension of our lives. This is a process that takes time, we must be patient with ourselves. Humans are complicated beings. I, myself, do not know why I do what I do. But, hopefully, God’s light is dawning in my heart and my shadow will recede into dust.
We must seek God with all our hearts! We must seek God’s will above all else! We must make Christ Jesus the light of the world! We must be candles burning in the wind. Christ, our light, must be seen by those who live with us and know us. Total Christian living is a total surrender of our lives to God in faith, hope and love for God. We must put every dimension of our lives into the Master’s hands. Maybe, some day, we will glow like Jesus. Someday, we will shine like the stars in the night sky, we will burn like the sun! Let there be no evil in me, only the Holy Trinity! Amen. |
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