Capon On Religion

The Third Peacock

When discussing the issue of creation in Christianity, one is quickly faced with the problem of evil. Before investigating this problem however, one must first realize that there is now answer to the problem of evil that will completely satisfy all that inquire. While it is easy to tell a student that their bad grades are probably a result of them participating in activities that some would consider less than respectable morally, no one can justify God's ways to my friend Luke after he lost his mom and brother in one year. In answering the question, one must realize that as uncomfortable as it is, "God is inordinately found in rough places". (182) It is with this in mind that one can begin to investigate the problem of evil.

As Capon states, a good base would be to realize that evil is assignable to a freedom that was allowed by God. While at first this seems contradictory to the very nature of God and in no way serves to enhance his image, one must consider further. Creation came from nothing. There was no inherent good or bad substance from which God made all the things of the universe. Instead there are merely things that are free to act as they are supposed to on all levels of existence. Humans, though able to rationalize with a brain, go about the universe with the same inherent freedom that a piece of wood does. Evil is then nothing more than a relative concept. To use Capon's example, the Lisbon earthquake is horrible and viewed as evil in the sense that many people were killed but from the perspective of the Earth's crust, it was merely a more suitable formation and so it freely moved. This is in no way comforting and is further complicated with one simple question, why create anything at all? My friend Luke would ask God a simple question about his family. Why even create everything if you were going to create a cancerous tumor that killed my mom and a metal bullet that killed my brother. Naturally, Luke was asking God why he didn't do anything to prevent the death of his brother and mother when it appeared that an all powerful God could just "stage manage" everything as Capon states it. However, it is important to realize that God in no way "stage manages" because it would be contradictory to his appreciation of freedom that was associated with creation. What is necessary then, as Capon states, is a contradiction of the controlling theory of God and the freedom that was associated with creation. While given many examples, the one concerning the woman's affect on the man is particularly effective.

Capon delineates the story of a beautiful woman and her affect on a man that sees her. While she doesn't actively do anything that entices that man and causes him to love her, her being is all that is required. This is the same with God and creation. He created the world and everything in it, but didn't have to do anything to keep it going. He didn't build a toy train track to have the world run on as he thought fit. With exception to some miracles related in the Bible, God has maintained a hands off approach to the world. If this is the case, then why does he offer so many chances for help in the Bible? God says that "he who asks shall receive" but according to this idea, that wouldn't seem to be the case. My friend Luke would contend that in light of the hands off approach of God, the Bible has fudged the actual word of God in the Bible. However, what must be realized is that as Capon says, God is not a divine vending machine. He will not simply give us something that we want when we ask for us. He isn't a tow truck that is going to come pull us out of the snow bank. Instead, he is simply in existence to be there and help us through the matter. God wasn't going to remove the cancer from Luke's mom or the bullet from Luke's brother, he was simply present with his mom and brother at death. This still is not what most would perceive as a satisfactory answer but that is exactly the thing. It leaves us with something that is only slightly more defined and reassuring than before, but ultimately still remains a mystery. It is this mystery that becomes the point of it all.

The world has effectively become one in which