KING: And belief -- belief is a tough thing to counter.
MAHER: Yes. And I understand why it's a luxury for some people who don't need it and why a lot of people are less fortunate, and they do need it. So we're not trying to point fingers in this movie. I think we do it -- we're laughing all the way through it. I think we're winking and having a good time, and we're not trying to be judgmental. But at some point, you know, mankind is going to have to shed this skin if he's going to move forward. I do have a serious intellectual problem with it. And on another level it just ticks me off. It's just the ultimate hustle. It's just "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." You know, why can't they, I always ask -- I asked Jesus at Holy Land, "Why can't God just defeat the devil and get rid of evil?" You know, and it's the same reason the comic-book character can't get rid of his nemesis. Then there's no story. If God gets rid of the devil -- and he could, he's all powerful -- well, then there's no fear. There's no reason to come to church. There's no reason to pass the plate. We're all out of a job. You know, it's got to go on.
that was a part of the transcript from the Larry King Live i saw in vancouver. it was between larry king & bill maher.
i thought about it. how can i answer this? if someone asked me (and nobody has), what would i say? i really wouldn't know. so i consulted this book i have, called Evidence: That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. there's nothing in it about why god created evil and continues to let it flourish.
i asked a friend tonight: he said "because of free will?"
what's your take?
2 comments:
I'm reading an interesting book about a "born again" catholic, and her take is God didn't "create" evil, and doesn't delight in it or watching us in desperate times. It is more ~we~ created it and keep it going.
We did a study on Revelation last spring that kind of came to the same conclusion as princess butterfly... That God hears the cries of the saints for justice against the evil that is in the world, but it's not the devil who has to be defeated... I mean sure, he tempts us, but we sin. People who ask this question often aren't willing to confront their own fallenness, the way they have hurt people inadvertently, sometimes even on purpose. It is God's grace that waits until everyone has had their chance to turn to Him. (See Rev. 11:15-19)
We like to push the locus of evil onto certain especially bad people, Hitler, the devil, drug dealers, murderers etc. But we all sin, injure and destroy in devastatingly ugly ways almost beyond our control. It's that simple. And that mysterious...
What a great Saviour we have!
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