Autor: Ormerod, Neil

Buch: Creation, Grace, and Redemption

Titel: Creation, Grace, and Redemption

Stichwort: Das Böse, irrational; Ursache d. B.: nicht intelligibel; Kenntnis der Sünde als Tatsache, aber nicht in intelligibler Korrelation zu anderen Dingen, außer akzidentell; Freiheit; Gottes Antwort auf d. B.: Erbarmen, Gnade, Erlösung

Kurzinhalt: Why evil occurs is a fundamental mystery, and one that completely lacks an intelligent answer ... The mystery of sin is a mystery even to God. Lonergan put the matter this way: ...

Textausschnitt: Why Evil?

17b Finally, we can ask, why is there evil anyway? Perhaps the most shocking response to the question of "why evil?" is that in fact it has no answer. Why evil occurs is a fundamental mystery, and one that completely lacks an intelligent answer. Even God cannot answer the question of why someone sins. No satisfactory response can be found that would provide an intelligent answer to the question. The mystery of sin is a mystery even to God. Lonergan put the matter this way:

We can know sin as a fact; we cannot place it in intelligible correlation with other things except per accidens [accidentally]; that is, one sin can be correlated with another, for deficient antecedents have defective consequents; but the metaphysical surd of sin cannot be related explanatorily or causally with the integers that are objective truth; for sin is really irrational, a departure at once from the ordinance of the divine mind and from the dictate of right reason. The rational and the irrational cannot mix, except in fallacious speculation. And this precept is not merely relative to man; it is absolute. The mysteries of faith are mysteries only to us because of their excess of intelligibility; but the mysterium iniquitatis [mystery of iniquity] is mysterious in itself and objectively, because of a defect of intelligibility.1

17c One might weaken the question by asking rather, Why does God allow evil? One immediate response is to state that God does not allow evil-in fact God forbids evil through the moral law: "hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good" (Rom 12:9). Further, God offers us divine grace so that we may resist the specious attraction of evil. So God enjoins us to resist sin and empowers us to do so. (Fs)

18a One might further weaken the question to, Why doesn't God do something about evil? The presumption is that God is not doing something about it. Even our own moral indignation at evil is itself a movement toward good, which God creates in us. Further, God acts through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to offer us forgiveness of our sins, and sends the Spirit to empower us to resist evil. The life of Jesus is an extended parable for how God deals with the problem of evil, namely, through redemptive suffering. The real question is not whether God is doing something, or should be doing more, but whether we are doing enough in response to the actions God has taken. For the problem of evil is a practical problem requiring a practical response. It is not a theoretical problem that we can "think away" or rationalize. (Fs)

18b Finally, we might weaken the question even further, Why does God create a world in which evil occurs? Now human freedom is a great good; with freedom certainly comes the possibility of sin. There is a gap, however, between the possibility and the actuality of sinning. Could God have made a universe in which in fact no one ever sinned? Perhaps, but even in a world where sin occurs, responsibility for that sin remains with the sinner, not God. Certainly God could have made a world without freedom, but freedom is among the highest created values, a great good. And the fact of evil, unintelligible though it is, makes possible a new type of good, that of mercy, forgiveness, and redemption. This is not a "reason" for evil, or even for allowing evil. It is God's response to the problem of evil, drawing good out of the evil that arises. In the end all we can really assert is that, despite the presence and fact of evil, this creation is still good-indeed it is very good.2