An
entirely good Creator could not create an only partially good creation. I take
this as a given. God could never have created a flawed world, for He is
Perfect, as Christ could of never sinned, as He is perfect.
So how can the world have the attribute of being
flawed, or rather, seem imperfect? I think one needs to define what exactly
evil is. It is the conscious, deliberate, and freely chosen act which is
contrary to God's Will, Natural Law, the being's teleological purpose, all
these being different names for the same thing. The key to this is that Evil is
an act, not a characteristic. All of creation is good by its nature of being
created by the Perfect Creator.
So
again, why does the world seem imperfect? It seems imperfect because we mistake
Unpleasantness for Evilness. Existence is a struggle for limited beings, as
Freedom of Will means temptation, and possibility of failure. This possibility
is necessary for us to be good, because a forced attribute is not worthy of
recognition by God, Goodness must be freely chosen. Evil being an act, cannot
materialize onto creation as a whole, it only remains the fault of the being
doing the act.
The
Book of Job best demonstrates this. The suffering God allows for Job is not
evil, it is a righteous test, evil only manifests if Job falters and succumbs
to Satan's pressures. No amount of unpleasantness or pain could overcome Job's
holiness, the struggle only amplified his holiness. Suffering in itself is not
evil, what matters is how the being suffering acts in relation to the
suffering. If one is weak, he errors, commits an evil act, he fails. If one is
strong, he chooses good, as Job did, his holiness is heightened. Suffering can
be a blessing, the greater the struggle, the greater the success, the more
likeness to God.
The World is perfect, for all its perceived
flaws are simply beautiful unpleasantries meant to be overcome, and all its
pleasantries a reward. This conception of evil, coupled with Leibniz's Best of
All Possible Worlds argument, that this world has the perfect balance of
attributes to maximize goodness, dispels any criticism of Creation as flawed.
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