-  Straight to Catholics - Why I believe in What I believe  - 

                                                 By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, S.J.  

                                              -  Why is there evil? - -  A Christian response  - 

God created us through Love and for Love. To love, then, is the nature of being human. But love is free. I cannot force you to love me. You must freely respond to my invitation of love before there is love between you and I. If you refuse to love me, even if I go down on my knees or lock you up in my house, I will not be able to force you to love me. Love and freedom are two sides of the same coin. Love that is forced is not love. Because I can love, I have freedom; or rather because I have freedom, I can love. Ironically, though, precisely because I am free, I can go against love. When I go against love, I go against myself and against the nature of human relationships, and therefore bring evil upon myself and others. This for us, Christian, is sin because evil or sin is the refusal to love for which we have been made. Evil destroys. Love creates. Hence the whole history of salvation hinges on God's call to us to love as He loves us. "This is my Commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you," says Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

                                                    -  The Buddhist-Hindu response  -

The Buddhists and the Hindus have one common root in their different traditions. They believe in karma and in reincarnation: They believe that the cause of all sufferings or evil is in human desire and craving. They do not make a distinction between evil or suffering.

                                                    -  Buddhism  -

Human beings are born into a world of suffering (dukkha) because of the illusory nature of things in this world. The cause of 'suffering' is 'craving' or sometimes translated as 'desire' (Tanha). Hence it is the craving after the unreal or illusory nature of things in this world that brings about dukkha, "suffering". The path to end suffering is to "dig up the very roots of Tanha." - (Dhammapada verse 337 found in the Significance of the Four Noble Truths, by V.C. Gunaratne, the Wheel Publication, No. 123; Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka 1973 p. 21) To be able to dig up the root of Tanha, craving in Man, he must be enlightened that all is transitory or illusion. "It is by reason of this reproductive power of thought, that the will to love makes man re-live or as Dalhke puts it, "We live eternally through our lust to live". - op.cit,. p. 26-27 - The Way to this enlightenment is the famous eightfold Path: through right Understanding, right Thought, right Speech, right Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration. It is a programe of purification of thought, word and deed leading to cessation of craving. the total "extinction" of craving is the bliss of Nibbana or Nirvana.

                                                    -  Hinduism  -

Hindus also believe that the world of which one is aware is illusory (maya) in the sense that it is like a veil concealing the Absolute Reality (Brahman) or God who is One with everything, so much so that there is no longer and distinction between God and the whole of nature. Man, therefore, in his depth, his soul, Atman is Braham. The unenlightened Man craves for life in its illusory form as he is aware of it, not realizing that beyond the :illusion", God is all and all is God. The root of existence, then, is craving or desire which is suffering. Hence, to be released or liberated from the fatal chain of reincarnation into life, all desires must be extinguished. To achieve this, different paths are proposed, some better than others - the path of action with strict observance of rites, pilgrimages and prayers, the path of asceticism, etc. Yoga are practical methods of this spiritual training. living the spiritual experience revealed by the Veda can help one reach enlightenment where he, in ecstatic state, experiences the Oneness of Atman (his soul) and Brahman.

                                                     -  My personal view  - 

As can be seen, there is a common parenthood in Buddhism and Hinduism. All suffering or evil comes from craving or desire. The path of salvation lies in the extinction of all human cravings for this earthly life. The differences lie in their dissimilar concepts of the "Ultimate Reality" its relation to Man and the paths to achieve Salvation.

Although I believe that there are beautiful truths in both Buddhism and Hinduism, I cannot accept certain ideas. To me, existence is not all suffering. There are joys as well as sufferings. There is good and bad. God, who is all Good, all Wise, all beautiful, etc. cannot create evil. Creation as it is, is not evil It is good, although imperfect. Evil come from Man himself or from the Evil Force. - I will not go into a discussion of what this Evil Force is - If we say that life is all suffering or evil, and that the only happiness is the release from this earthly life, we are saying that God has created an evil world. That which is all Good cannot create evil. It is a contradiction. I personally  think that the only sensible and coherent answer is what I have said earlier: to distinguish between evil and suffering, to distinguish suffering that is a consequence of an evil deed and suffering that is the result of the limitedness or finiteness of creatures, and to see that suffering in itself is not evil; it is our reaction to suffering that brings evil or good. I do not believe either that all desires or cravings are evil. I do not see how my desire or even craving for bad things that is evil.

                                                     -  The Islamic response  -

The official orthodox view of Muslims is that everything even good and evil comes from God. "A Muslim should believe in his heart and confess with his tongue that the most exalted God hath decreed all things; so that nothing can happen in the world, whether it respects the conditions and operations of things, or good or evil, or obedience or disobedience, or sickness or health, or riches or poverty, of life or death which is not contained in the written tablet of the decrees of God." - Caesar E. Farah, Islam, Barron's Educational Series, Inc., United States, 1970, p. 120 -

There are many Quranic verses which support this. To give a few: (1) "Naught befalleth us save that which Allah hath decreed for us." (S.5:9, v. 51)- (2) "All things have been created after a fixed decree." (S.5:54, v. 49) - (3) "He whom Allah leadeth, he indeed is led aright while they whom Allah sendeth astray, they indeed are losers." (S.7, v. 178).

Since everything, even one's final destiny either in heaven or in hell, is ordained by God, one can only say in everything "if God wills," or In Sha Allah.

On the other hand, Prophet Muhammad also insisted that one should do good. "lo! Allah enjoins justice and good deeds and that ye be kind to kinfolk as He condemns indecency, illicit deeds and all wrongs?" (S.16, v. 90)

Hence the ensuing debate followed after Muhammad's death: the Jabrite theologians taught that Man had no freedom of choice while the Qadrites taught that evil is the result of Man's own free choice. The Ash'arites tried to harmonize the contradiction by saying that although God decreed what a man should do, He also gives Man the choice to do it. Although some educated Muslims today tend to place more emphasis on Man's responsibility for his actions, the general tendency is still to stress God's inflexible decree. Thus Caesar E. Farah says: "Man is not cognizant of what he was predestined to do until the act is committed by his own choice and free will, of which he is quite conscious. It is then and only then that he realizes that the act committed was preordained. By such an argument, faith in divine predestination can neither require denial of human consciousness or freedom of will, nor eliminate the factor of individual responsibility from human conduct.' - Caesar E. Farah, op. cit. p. 121 -

                                                      -  My personal views  - 

Whether or not Man is conscious or not of his action as free, he is still ultimately determined by God. The contradiction still exists. In the final analysis, suffering and evil for the Muslims come from God. This is also why Muslims must submit totally to God in good or evil, in suffering or in joy. And this is the meaning of Islam or Total Submission.

My above argument for a clear distinction between evil and suffering, and a distinction to be made between the different causes of suffering, also holds for this section.

                                               -  Christian view on freedom and predestination  -

I would like to go a step further to show why I hold my viewpoint by giving the Christian viewpoint on freedom and predestination. We distinguish between God's passive and active will. His passive will would be the existing Universe with its natural laws which He holds in existence. His passive will allow Nature to function according to its laws. Since man's nature is to be free to choose love or not to choose, God's passive will allow Man to act according to his nature. Hence Man responsible for his own action be it good or bad, without God's preordained decree. God does not force Man to do this or that. God's active will is when He intervenes and goes against the laws of Nature which He has created, for example in a true miracle. He seldom does this because it would put in question His creation. Why then did He create such a laws if He were to break it all the time? But, no one can limit God case, who is to say that He should not? An analogy may help to clarify the passive and active will of God. I build a .......  

- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY -

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function, so the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16 -

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -