The Problem of Good vs. Evil (A tribute to Carl Jung by Alan Watts)

Originally posted by MamaJ
Evil is good.

Labels are something we use for identity purposes only but they are truly not needed in the grand scheme of things where God (whatever you want to call it) is concerned.

True that God transcends the duality, but from our POV evil is not and cannot be "good" nor can the good be justified by the evil, good is of it's own nature and is good for it's own sake, and we all know true quality when we see it.

So what I think, as a Christian, and which relates to this thread OP, is that the good appears to have swallowed up and dissolved the evil, overpowered it, and conquered it whereby Love conquers all.

That's definitely "good news". In this way the gospel message of Jesus is rounded up and completed in the tableau of the great work, as a final demonstration, as a communication about what Good and God has done about evil.

So when we look at it, even though it (Jesus' great work) took on the whole of human sin and evil, when we stand transfixed at what God has done in the cross of Jesus, there's no evil remaining, and none needed, only the love of God, and that's a real marvel. It's a different way of looking at a terrible ordeal due to the evil of human ignorance, but God was always one step ahead, without making any compromise with it, and I think that's just great that is the reason why I love Jesus and accept him as the son of the living God, through whom the will of God became transparent to mankind, as intended.

What utter genius! And it's a sovereign love as well, because there is no means of measure to define it's limitation, and therefore the evil was bounded by a boundless love! That's awesome.

Thank you Jesus.

I love you too.

reply to post by NewAgeMan

Funny, although I've always been able to parrot what I thought was the reason(s) for the cross, I never fully understood it until now, how a limitless and boundless love bounded the evil and swallowed it up. What a wonderful thing.

And there's no duality there, only a unifying principal.

It's a real tragedy however, the degree to which the cynical and dualistic mind of man has taken what amounts to the tree of life in our midst, and attempted to uproot it and replace it with that damn old tree of the knowledge of good and evil while telling people that Christianity is a morality play designed to keep us on the straight and narrow (with a wagging finger of should and shouldn't), when it's really an invitation to enter into a whole new domain of freedom and limitless possibility bounded only by a boundless love - set free from the duality to drink freely from the flow of the water of life as it truly is (non dualistic and ever fresh and new).

It's not an easy thing to recognize and comprehend, but it makes perfect sense, and isn't the least bit removed from reason and logic.

"Love, and do as you will."
~ St. Augustine

Best Regards,

NAM

P.S. And for those who might have been wondering, no I'm not evil, no more so than the next person, but due to a certain family history, I've suffered from a type of "survivors guilt" which drove me or goaded me to try to find the resolution to the problem of evil, that I now see clearly was indeed solved by Jesus. If only I could figure out a way to communicate it so that others might also understand and be set free from it's (evil's) snare, so that instead of trying to be good, they are entirely free to be good for goodness' own sake!

For those who say there is no distinction between God and Christ, I say to look at this verse. The Son is being raised and we are part of that one loaf. 1 Cor 10-15 makes for some really good reading if you know how to read the symbols.

reply to post by EnochWasRight


So true... and if I may add ...

We ARE ALL a part of the loaf, we ARE ALL sons/daughters of God, we ARE ALL being raised.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


There is, in my opinion, a time and a place for everything. An evil deed made by me, helps another seek God. Will or could I be accountable for such an evil deed? Yes. I am not talking about a "hell" here though as I don't believe in an eternal hell damnation such as the "christian" believes. The ill willed feelings one felt from such an evil deed made by me doesn't go unnoticed, it will be felt by me ten fold, but the evil deed may very well be transformed to light as "good".

I think we are "loved" by God, our father, our creator, no matter what. An earthly life is far from what we know in spirit and the challenges we face by our environment alone is understandably difficult. He knows this. Humans have sought so much control over the environment that our brains face an unnatural and very different environment than it was when created. Our home, mother earth, has a hard time as well. I think there is a lot of consideration and love from God when it comes to "evil people". The Bible does not equate such but I believe it with my entire heart, he loves us unconditionally.

"Heaven" is probably different for all of us. There is evidence to suggest via NDE and OBE that for each belief there is a place. When Jesus said there are many mansions I believe that to be... many realms.

Originally posted by MamaJ

For those who say there is no distinction between God and Christ, I say to look at this verse. The Son is being raised and we are part of that one loaf. 1 Cor 10-15 makes for some really good reading if you know how to read the symbols.

reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

So true... and if I may add ...

We ARE ALL a part of the loaf, we ARE ALL sons/daughters of God, we ARE ALL being raised.

Yes. I agree. I do think that it is possible for a sheep to refuse the Shepherd. This is what it looks like.



I know that's funny, but it makes so much sense. Our sin can be sheered and forgiven. God washes it white as snow and returns it to our next robe. What we learn is literally part of our next body. If the sin is not removed, we remain blind. Hell is literally being separated from the truth. The truth is offered and heaven is denying ignorance by becoming truth. We can't become truth until we take on that choice. The VERY best description of this is found here:

James Allen: Through the Gate of God - The Burden

If you like this, go to Amazon and get a used copy of Mind is the Master (Complete Works) of James Allen. It's the BEST thing you will ever read.

Humanity is essentially divine. Every precept of Jesus rests upon this truth. If man were not divine, the precepts would be both worthless and meaningless, as there would be nothing within him (no divine spirit) to which they could appeal. The very fact that man is capable of loving his enemies, and of returning good for evil, is an attestation of his inward and essential divinity. If sin were man's natural and rightful condition, it would be right that he should remain in it, and there would be no necessity to exhort him to virtue and holiness, for it would be impossible for him to act otherwise than in accordance with his original nature. Whenever men exhort their fellows to virtue, nobility of action, purity of thought, and unselfishness, they unconsciously assert and emphasize man's originally divine nature, and proclaim, though perhaps they know it not, his superiority to sin, and his God-like power to overcome it.

So long, however, has man dwelt in the habitations of sin, that he has at last come to regard
himself as native to it, and as being cut off from the Divine Source, which he believes to be
outside and away from him. He has thereby lost the consciousness and knowledge of his own
divinity, of his essential oneness with God, the Spirit of Good. Humanity at present is in the
position of the Prodigal Son, wandering in the Far Country of Sin, and attempting to live upon
the swinish husks of base desires and false beliefs; and every divine precept and command is a
call to man to return to his Father's House, his Original Innocence, and to recover and
re-establish the knowledge of his substantial oneness with the Divine.

The whole of the teaching of Jesus is an exhortation to men to do as he did, to live as he lived;
he thereby recognizes and affirms the inherent equality of Humanity with Himself, and in
declaring "I and my Father are One," he speaks not alone for himself but for all men. The
difference between the life of Jesus and that of other men is not arbitrarily imposed, nor does it
exist in essentiality, it is self-imposed and exists in individual choice. Jesus fully recognized his
oneness with the Father (the Divine Source), and lived consciously in that oneness; other men
(speaking broadly) not only do not recognize their oneness with the Divine, but do not believe it;
it is therefore impossible for them, by virtue of their unbelief, to rise to the dignity and majesty of
the Divine Life. Whilst a man regards himself as being the creature of sin, believing himself to
be originally degraded, he must necessarily remain degraded, and subject to sin; but let him
realize that he is originally divine, that he is not, never was and never can be, cut off from the
Divine except in his own ignorance and willful choice, and he will at once rise above sin, and
commence to manifest the Divine Life.

Originally posted by MamaJ

For those who say there is no distinction between God and Christ, I say to look at this verse. The Son is being raised and we are part of that one loaf. 1 Cor 10-15 makes for some really good reading if you know how to read the symbols.

reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

So true... and if I may add ...

We ARE ALL a part of the loaf, we ARE ALL sons/daughters of God, we ARE ALL being raised.

“As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day." John 12:47-48

"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well". 1 John 5:1

"He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." John 8;47

"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." 1 John 3:9

reply to post by EnochWasRight


Thank you, I will most certainly look into obtaining his book.

This part below is what I know as truth. Jesus tells us, but somehow only he is seen as divine and one with the father. He tried to explain that we are all just like him, a child of God.

Whilst a man regards himself as being the creature of sin, believing himself to be originally degraded, he must necessarily remain degraded, and subject to sin; but let him realize that he is originally divine, that he is not, never was and never can be, cut off from the Divine except in his own ignorance and willful choice, and he will at once rise above sin, and commence to manifest the Divine Life.

Manifesting the Divine life is what we are here to do. While it is very difficult in todays time to live as Jesus did, it is still not out of reach. We have to rise up and manifest that which we truly are. To say I am a sinner and I will never be good enough to enter the gates of heaven is such a lie. Its so far from the truth and what Jesus taught.

reply to post by WhoKnows100


I see scriptures quoted, but what do you have to add to them? What does it mean to you?

Only the ones who accept Jesus will be with God?