the problem of evil: middle schoolers worst nightmare

the problem of evil: i think as many times as we answer it or discuss it...the problem of evil will always be around to stir the waters. I had a chance to sit down and chat with some friends tonight about evil and the two dominating questions of the night were "where was God when blank happened?" and "why does God allow evil to exist?" and i had the feeling where you're sitting there with all this stuff in your mind but when it's your turn to speak it's time to go...you know what i'm talking about? It's a struggle to answer it isn't it? because it's so real and it's right there...no wonder middle schoolers (and perhaps even you and i) have problems with it...well...i just wanted to attempt to throw out my thoughts on it.

to answer the first question, i'd have to give you a statistics on planes: research shows the likelihood of a plane crumbling down from the sky is about 1 in 6.3 million. Which in turn means that there's like 6 million other planes that take off and land safely every single day. But where are the praises for that? When do we thank God for something like that? But you have one plane crash and you see people unravel and ask "where's God now?" But that doesn't really address the problem of evil though...

so why in the world does God allow evil to exist? if people have free will (theologians, let's say we do for arugment sake) then they essentially have the power to do whatever they please am i right? they have the potential to do so much good in the world but also they have the potential to commit all the evil they would want too. It comes with the territory of free will. I've heard it best like this: Hilter had the same potential, the power, the prestige, the knowledge (just as Mother Theresa did) to do so much good in his life...but instead chose to use his power in another way and bam! Holocaust! You see...you and i are no different. We are given the free will to choose.

so why didin't God just get rid of evil in the first place so we didn't have to choose evil? or why didn't God just have everyone love him anyways? well...i think in our fabricated love, if we were not free, would not bring glory to God. I don't think God is glorified in our begrudging submission; much like a wife isn't glorified in her husband saying "well i bought you these flowers because i had to and i didn't want you to get mad at me" i mean...there's no glory in that. that's not romantic. Much like that doesn't bring the wife any glory...God isn't glorified in us having to love him. There's something so much deeper when we love God for who he is and what He did rather than us loving God because we have to.

i'll end on this note...for those that are struggling with the problem of evil and at times get so angry with God and his plans...you can rail against him and demand an answer from Him...you can, but "the key to living life...the key to knowing the deepest wells of hope and joy are not found when all is well....they are found when we trust when all is wrong".

seminary says "no alcohol"

it seems like another attempt to create something new, but just like the rest of them i'm running off the ideas of another person. Perhaps this is my resolution to actually start writing down thoughts on a more consistent basis...or perhaps not. I guess we'll find out in a couple of months. I think that's how long it takes right?

food: it was chocolate weekend awhile ago on Food Network and i couldn't pry myself away from the television. i watched and attempted to remember how that one italian lady made fudge. I can never remember her name...she kind of reminds me of natalie portman (i don' t know). anyways, so chocolate watching - fudge - cooking...i decided to try my hand at making tiramisu. I haven't made it yet, but a friend and i are going to try this saturday. I found several recipes for it - one calls for cream cheese and the other calls for mascarpone cheese. I have no idea what mascarpone cheese is and where to get it. I would guess central market? there's also different varieties in which you can make it - a cake or in a cup. I remember la madeline had theirs in a cup a long time ago and it was great. Things i need to get: lady fingers, cheese, and alcohol.

it's weird though, most recipes calls for a little bit of alcohol but i have to buy this bottle. What in the world am i going to do with the rest? it's not like i drink or anything...what's even funnier is that before i moved into this apartment complex, there was a "no alcohol clause" so there's a big guilt factor too. funny stuff.