Bell: Why is there evil?

Thursday, July 4, 2019
Meditation:
    To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
    —Ecclesiastes 2:26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What else is the meaning of our present chaos, of humanity in sorrow, but this—that contemporary man is tried before the bar of the Eternal, and found wanting? Nor can any nation survive, or re-establish lasting peace, if it rests on those foundations on which contemporary nations have been built—our own included. What are those crumbling foundations? Conceit, self-will, denial of discipline, self-expressionism, secularism, this-worldliness, greed, entrenched privilege, defiance of God’s desire. On base absurdities have we built. Have we now moral courage to face our common sin, or are we content to trust in one form of armed wickedness to overcome the evils of another form of the same mad folly? Merely by smashing our enemies we shall not remake the world. By Beelzebub no devils are cast out.
    ... Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958), Still Shine the Stars, New York, London: Harper & Brothers, 1941, p. 16 (see the book)
    See also Eccl. 2:26; Ps. 133:1; Matt. 23:8; Mark 3:22-26
Quiet time reflection:
    Remind me, Lord, in accordance with Your will, of my duties towards the interests of others. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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