The Evangelical Universalist Forum

The mystery of goodness

Something Dave said on the Depeche Mode thread sparked this thread.

In his novels *The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration *and Legion, William Peter Blatty explores, among other things, what he calls “the mystery of goodness”. Says Blatty:

I think Blatty is off-base with his approach in *The Exorcist *(I don’t believe in ‘personal’ demons). But I think he’s definitely onto something with “the mystery of goodness”, as expressed most explicitly in The Ninth Configuration.

When I’m feeling particularly burdened by the weight of suffering I perceive around me, I do well to ponder on Blatty’s question – why do so many humans act so selflessly and lovingly, to the point of giving their own lives to save others, if there is no God, no ultimate morality, no afterlife and no benefit to their potential offspring in so doing? If the ‘problem of evil’ makes me doubt God’s existence, why doesn’t the ‘mystery of goodness’ reinforce my belief in his existence?

The answer - I am glad to say - is that it does.

Thoughts?

That just blew my mind. First thing I read this morning - thank you, a great way to start the day.

Thanks for the info on The Ninth Configuration; I had never heard of this.

IMO, the “problem of evil” is a circular argument. It just keeps going around aimlessly…, eternally fueled by more and more negative observations. It finds discord in life and is critical of any causes which might be responsible. It is a failure to accept reality, or to accept it as intrinsically evil. There is a problem with this type of thinking: our inability to accept reality is a form of psychosis:

**Psychotic Behaviour **(medical symptom): Inability or opposition to recognize and accept reality and to relate this to others.
rightdiagnosis.com/symptom/psychosis.htm

This is a psychological issue as much as it is a spiritual issue. Trying to understand everything from a moral perspective misses the point of nature itself: the universe consists of both positive and negative forces. Our spiritual journey is intended to introduce us into a world outside of our physical universe: the kingdom of heaven. This world of heaven does not have the dichotomy of good and evil, positive and negative. It is not based on atoms and elements we understand on the atomic scale. Our world (reality) is based on this. God is trying to equip us to be worthy of receiving the kingdom. That is the basis of Christianity. For those who reject God, and reject His advances; they point to the aberrant nature of the physical universe as being inconsistent of a God of love. This is fallacious reasoning. It is looking at life from inside a very small bubble. It makes assumptions on the purpose and meaning of life based on what it does not know or encounter.

Looking at the ‘good in people’ is a start, but it also has limitations as a means of serving as evidence of God. God is not made more or less evident by the study of aberrations. It can help you understand something about God, but it will not help to prove God’s existence. This is an abstract form of logic. We know that God exists because we are all made in God’s Image. There are no true atheists. Everyone is born knowing instinctively; it is just that the abstractions of life entangle us into a harmful disposition, and we abandon God as a protest. This is everyone’s prerogative. God is not answerable to the loose logic of our dysfunction thinking. We are all tested by life, and through death we have all paid the penalty of sin. In death we know of sin with more realism: we shudder and gnash our teeth (figuratively). In Christ we are given even more; “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). This is what our lives are for; to find God. Some people never turn to Christ, even with a developed knowledge of the bible. God knows who will receive Him and who will not:

John 17:2

John 18:9

God’s first priority is the restore those repentant ones who wish to be part of the Kingdom. The others “go their way” (John 18:8). They (the unrepentant) will be resurrected and corrected by the very king whom they rejected. That is what our christian life consists of now. Hopefully we can restore any who have fallen and been poisoned by this world. Satan’s darts may corrupt our thinking and prayer life. The process for all is the same: repent and be saved. “I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!” (Luke 13:3). Repentance is difficult, and the lack of is the reason why many have not truly been set free. The process has not changed, though, since Jesus said these words. It is still true today.

Steve

True. And let’s not forget:

Thanks for those very interesting observations, Steve. I don’t know as I agree with all you say, but it is all challenging and thought-provoking.

I do think I’m with you on this part, at least. Or almost :slight_smile: . I’m not sure about reality being ‘intrinsically evil’, although that may just me being semantically pedantic. The way I would express it is that evil is an intrinsic corollary of good, and an intrinsic, natural consequence of a free physical universe. Maybe they’re the same thing anyway …

Actually, reading through this again, I find myself in (almost :smiley: ) total agreement. I also find what you say very encouraging. So thanks for that, Steve.

All the best

Johnny

That’s good, Johnny, I must have caught you on a good day. We all need to repent occasionally. Saying ‘sorry’ is not quite the same as repentance. Repentance means we need to actually change our behavior and the path that led to the behavior. Sometimes this is in our negative thinking. We need to remove sin in the same way we need to remove cancer. Sin can be just as difficult to remove. It sorts out the metal of the man.

Steve