Doubt & Faith - Evolution, Afterlife & History

[St.Roymond]

@1Cor15.54

@mitchellmckain

Salvation requires faith yes… but faith does not equal belief in particular dogmas.

No, it doesn’t.

But the apostle wrote that without faith it is impossible to please God.

[MarkD (A Whateverist, not a Christian)]

@GJDS

An area that often is troublesome for both theists and atheists is the problem of evil. It is a challenge for theists because we ask, since God is all powerful and good, why does He allow evil. I also think that it may trouble atheists because it devalues life. I think that the discussion would benefit if the question became, “Why do we, human beings, endowed with conscience, reason, and agency, so often fail to prevent suffering, resist injustice, or cultivate the good that we are capable of?”

This question emphasizes:
• Human agency: We are not passive observers of evil but active participants in shaping the world.
• Moral accountability: Much of the world’s suffering arises from human choices—violence, neglect, indifference, exploitation.
• Collective responsibility: Evil becomes a shared burden, not an abstract philosophical dilemma.
• Transformative potential: The real question is how we can become the kind of people who diminish evil rather than amplify it.

I agree with these points you make. Good and evil are opposites which must coincide in the world, not because anyone thought that would be the best way for the world to be but only the best of all the possible worlds.

I also like the way you seemingly analyze the impulse to blame God for evil being in the world as a kind of projection by people, what Jung would have called displacing our own shadow. The burden clearly needs to be shared by all. God and we are only capable of great goodness because we also have the capability for evil.

I don’t even think of God and us as opposites, we are more like lesser partners of God as his vessels on earth. The best school I ever taught at was governed on the principle of distributive leadership. I think God invites us to participate in the governing of ourselves and refuses to reduce our role to that of rule following simpletons.

[GJDS]

I find it interesting that perhaps every human group and nation has shown a spirituality, albeit expressed in different ways. This question can be asked your AI - it provides a useful summary - it makes me chuckle to think that atheists are included in such a summary.

[Vinnie]

@St.Roymond

I can’t imagine life without the Eucharist!

The absolute best part of mass and primary reason to attend Church in my humble opinion.

“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament.” Tolkien.