The Absence of God
"My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?..."
It is the only saying that appears in more than one Gospel, and is a quote from (Psalm 22:2). This saying is taken by some as an abandonment of the Son by the Father.
We in the flesh are hindered in such a way that with our senses we cannot perceive eternity. While a college student, Albert Einstein humiliated an atheist professor by using the "Evil is the absence of God" argument on him. One of the most troubling conundrums is the question of how evil and suffering can survive in a universe created and managed by a loving supreme being.
The absence of good (Latin: privatio boni) is a theological doctrine that evil, unlike good, is insubstantial, so that thinking of it as an entity is misleading. Instead, evil is rather the absence or lack ("privation") of good. It is typically attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, and Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, a Roman African, Manichaean, early Christian theologian, doctor of the Church, and Neoplatonic.
Perceptions are based on contrast, so that light and dark, good and evil, are imperceptible without each other; in this context, these sets of opposites show a certain symmetry, but a basic study of optics teaches us that light has a physical presence of its own, whereas darkness does not: no "anti-lamp" or "flashdark" can be constructed which casts a beam of darkness onto a surface that is otherwise well-lit. Instead, darkness appears only when sources of light are extinguished or obscured and ends when an object absorbs a disproportionate amount of the light that strikes it.
This is illustrated by Lao Tzu, also rendered as Laozi, and Lao-Tze, an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism, in the Tao Te Ching quite well:
“When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad.”
The relationship between light and darkness is often used to frame a metaphorical understanding of good and evil. The metaphor can be used to answer[citation needed] the problem of evil: If evil, like darkness, does not truly exist, but is only a name we give to our perception of privatio boni, widespread observation of evil does not preclude the possibility of a benevolent, omniscient, and omnipresent God.
If the metaphor can be extended, and good and evil share the same asymmetry as light and darkness, evil can have no source, cannot be projected, and, of itself, can offer no resistance to any source of good, no matter how weak or distant. Then, goodness cannot be actively opposed, and power becomes a consequence of benevolence. However, evil is the default state of the universe, and good exists only through constant effort; any lapse or redirection of good will apparently create evil out of nothing.
It is possible that one thing in relation to another may be evil, and at the same time within the limits of its proper being it may not be evil. Then it is proved that there is no evil in existence; all that God created He created good. This evil is nothingness; so death is the absence of life. When man no longer receives life, he dies. Darkness is the absence of light: when there is no light, there is darkness. Light is an existing thing, but darkness is nonexistent. Wealth is an existing thing, but poverty is nonexisting. Which, does not really stand well, does it?
The problem of evil continues to generate a vast literature, but for Saint Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, he is also known within the latter as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis; evil is not the insurmountable problem that it is for many modern thinkers. It is simply part of the way the world is. This discussion refers to Summa (Theologiae I.49).
From a metaphysical perspective, Aquinas asserts that the world is better for having evil within it, because evil serves a greater good. Natural evil contributes to the goodness of creation, and God sometimes inflicts evil as punishment in order to maintain the just order of the universe.
Sam Keen, an American author, professor, and philosopher who is best known for his exploration of questions regarding love, life, wonder, religion, and being a male in contemporary society; challenges the notions and habits we've formed about religion over the centuries in order for us to build a deeper faith that is relevant today. He asks: "How has religion failed us'." Must we choose between dogmatic religion and atheism?
The Bible affirms God’s presence. "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." (Ex. 33:14) The Bible also names God Deus Absconditus, the Hidden God (Is. 45:15).
According to the concordance of James Strong, an American Methodist biblical scholar and educator; the term God is mentioned 4473 times in 3893 verses in the King James Version (KJV), also known as the King James Bible or simply the Authorized Version, an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, commissioned in 1604, completed as well as published in 1611 under the sponsorship of James VI and I; more than 1,900 times in Scripture the authors claimed their message was from God. Expressions such as "Thus says the Lord" appear approximately 500 times in the Pentateuch and more than 1,200 times in the Pophets.
Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible states that God revealed himself to mankind. God speaks with Adam and Eve in Eden (Gen 3:9–19); with Cain (Gen 4:9–15); with Noah (Gen 6:13, Gen 7:1, Gen 8:15) and his sons (Gen 9:1-8); and:
- He Appeared To Hagar (Genesis 16:9-13)
- God Appeared To Abraham And Sarah At Mamre (Genesis 18:1-33)
- God Again Appeared To Abraham On Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:11-14)
- The Lord Appeared To Jacob At Peniel (Genesis 32:24-43)
- He Appeared To Moses In The Burning Bush (Exodus 3:2-4:17)
- God Appeared To Gideon (Judges 6:11-24)
- He Appeared To Samson's Parents (Judges 13:2-23)
- The Lord was In the Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3:23-29)
These eight brief appearances of God in a physical form teach us several things: When an extraordinary situation occurs God is willing to personally appear. These occurrences set a precedent. Since God appeared on these occasions for a short duration during the Old Testament period it set the stage for Him coming in the person of Jesus Christ to live upon the earth.
The Bible says that God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
Muslims don't believe Jesus was the son of God, but they do revere him as a Holy Prophet. In the Quran the central religious text of Islam, believed to be a revelation from God (Allah). It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature. Slightly shorter than the New Testament, it is organized in 114 chapters (Surah) not according to chronology or subject matter, but according to length of Surahs (with some exceptions).
Muslims believe that the Quran was orally revealed by God to the final Prophet, Muhammad, through Archangel Gabriel (Jibril), incrementally over a period of some 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE. Jesus is thus the most mentioned person by reference; 25 times by the name Issa, third-person 48 times, first-person 35 times, and the rest as titles and attributes.
While, God Almighty's name'Allah is mentioned 2584 times in the Quran. Islamic theology identifies with an omnipresent God as described in the Quran as the same God of Israel who covenanted with Abraham.
Isaac Newton, an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution, saw the nontrinitarian God as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation. Nevertheless, he rejected polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's, a prominent German polymath and one of the most important logicians, mathematicians and natural philosophers of the Enlightenment, thesis that God would necessarily make a perfect world which requires no intervention from the creator.
Stephen Fry, an English actor, comedian and writer, recently delivered a vicious, scathing attack on the Judeo-Christian God when asked what he would say if it turned out, after he died, that God did in fact exist. He called this God a "maniac," pointing to the large amount of unnecessary suffering in the world which he, by definition, created and allows.
Don’t just gasp at that statement. This is the sentiment of millions of people today who choose and have reason to either to reject God or deny His existence. Being a little more circumspect, some do also ask, "Why did God stop showing up since?"...
Food for thought!