UPTOWN

Evil has always been a thorn in the side of those - of whatever faith - who believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God.

As the philosopher David Hume (echoing Epicurus) put it in 1776: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?"

Faced with this question, Archbishop of York John Sentamu said he had "nothing to say to make sense of this horror", while another clergyman, Canon Giles Fraser, preferred to respond "not with clever argument but with prayer".

Perhaps their stance is understandable. The Old Testament is also not clear to the layman on such matters. When Job complains about the injuries God has allowed him to suffer, and claims "they are tricked that trusted", God says nothing to rebut the charges.

Less reticent is the American evangelist Pat Robertson. He has suggested Haiti has been cursed ever since the population swore a pact with the Devil to gain their freedom from the French at the beginning of the 19th Century. Robertson's claim will strike many as ludicrous, if not offensive.

And even were it true, it wouldn't obviously meet the challenge.

Why would a loving deity allow such a pact to seem necessary? Why wouldn't he have freed the Haitians from slavery himself, or prevented them from being enslaved in the first place? And why, in particular, would he punish today's Haitians for something their forbears putatively did more than two centuries before?

So what should believers say? To make progress, we might distinguish two kinds of evil:

• the awful things people do, such as murder, and
• the awful things that just happen, such as earthquakes

St Augustine, author CS Lewis and others have argued God allows our bad actions since preventing them would undermine our free will, the value of which outweighs its ill effects.

But there's a counter-argument. Thoroughly good people aren't robots, so why couldn't God have created only people like them, people who quite freely live good lives?

However that debate turns out, it's quite unclear how free will is supposed to explain the other kind of evil - the death and suffering of the victims of natural disasters.

Perhaps it would if all the victims - even the newborn - were so bad that they deserved their agonising deaths, but it's impossible to believe that is the case.

Or perhaps free will would be relevant if human negligence always played a role. There will be some who say the scale of the tragedy in natural disasters is partly attributable to humans. The world has the choice to help its poorer parts build earthquake-resistant structures and tsunami warning systems.

But the technology has not always existed. Was prehistoric man, with his sticks and stones, somehow negligent in failing to build early warning systems for the tsunamis that were as deadly back then as they are today?

The second century saint, Irenaeus, and the 20th Century philosopher, John Hick, appeal instead to what is sometimes called soul-making. God created a universe in which disasters occur, they think, because goodness only develops in response to people's suffering.

To appreciate this idea, try to imagine a world containing people, but literally no suffering. Call it the Magical World. In that world, there are no earthquakes or tsunamis, or none that cause suffering. If people are hit by falling masonry, it somehow bounces off harmlessly. If I steal your money, God replaces it. If I try to hurt you, I fail.

So why didn't God create the Magical World instead of ours? Because, the soul-making view says, its denizens wouldn't be - couldn't be - truly good people.

It's not that they would all be bad. It's that they couldn't be properly good. For goodness develops only where it's needed, the idea goes, and it's not needed in the Magical World.

In that world, after all, there is no danger that requires people to be brave, so there would be no bravery. That world contains no one who needs comfort or kindness or sympathy, so none would be given. It's a world without moral goodness, which is why God created ours instead.

But there is wiggle room.

Even in a world where nothing bad happens, couldn't there be brave people - albeit without the opportunity to show it? So moral goodness could exist even if it were never actually needed.

And, anyway, suppose we agree moral goodness could indeed develop only in a world of suffering.

Doesn't our world contain a surplus of suffering? People do truly awful things to each other. Isn't the suffering they create enough for soul-making? Did God really need to throw in earthquakes and tsunamis as well?

Suffering's distribution, not just its amount, can also cause problems. A central point of philosopher Immanuel Kant's was that we mustn't exploit people - we mustn't use them as mere means to our ends. But it can seem that on the soul-making view God does precisely this. He inflicts horrible deaths on innocent earthquake victims so that the rest of us can be morally benefitted.

That hardly seems fair.

It's OK, some will insist, because God works in mysterious ways. But mightn't someone defend a belief in fairies by telling us they do too? Others say their talk of God is supposed to acknowledge not the existence of some all-powerful and all-good agent, who created and intervenes in the universe, but rather something more difficult to articulate - a thread of meaning or value running through the world, or perhaps something ineffable.

But, as for those who believe in an all-good, all-powerful agent-God, we've seen that they face a question that remains pressing after all these centuries, and which is now horribly underscored by the horrors in Haiti. If a deity exists, why didn't he prevent this?

David Bain is a lecturer in the philosophy department of the University of Glasgow.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8467755.stm

Published: 2010/01/19 13:11:52 GMT

(I thought this article was quite interesting- what do you think)

BY DAVID BARASH, THE PROVINCENOVEMBER 25, 2009

 
Right-wing pro-marriage advocates are correct: Monogamy is definitely under siege. But not from uncloseted polyamorists, adolescent "hook-up" advocates, radical feminists, Godless communists or some vast homosexual conspiracy. The culprit is our own biology.

Researchers in animal behaviour have long known that monogamy is uncommon in the natural world. But only with the advent of DNA "fingerprinting" have we come to appreciate how truly rare it is.

Genetic testing has recently shown that even among many bird species -- long touted as the epitome of monogamous fidelity -- it is not uncommon for six to 60 per cent of the young to be fathered by someone other than the mother's social partner.

As a result, we now know scientifically what most people have long known privately -- that social monogamy does not necessarily imply sexual monogamy.

In the movie Heartburn, the lead character complains about her husband's philandering and gets this response: "You want monogamy? Marry a swan!" But now, scientists have found that even swans aren't monogamous.

For some, findings of this sort may mitigate a bit of the outrage visited on the current and future crop of adulterers du jour, recently including but assuredly not limited to Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford, John Ensign and John Edwards.

For others, it simply shows that men are clueless, irresponsible oafs.

The scientific reality, however, is more nuanced, and more interesting, especially for those looking to their own matrimonial future.

First, there can be no serious debate about whether monogamy is natural for human beings. It isn't.

A Martian zoologist visiting Earth would have no doubt: Homo sapiens carry all the evolutionary stigmata of a mildly polygamous mammal in which both sexes have a penchant for occasional "extra-pair copulations." But natural isn't necessarily good. Think about earthquakes, tsunamis, gangrene or pneumonia. Nor is unnatural bad or beyond human potential. Consider writing a poem, learning a second language or mastering a musical instrument.

Few people would argue that learning to play the violin is natural. After all, it takes years of dedication and hard work.

A case can be made, in fact, that people are being maximally human when they do things that contradict their biology.

"Doing what comes naturally" is easy. It's what non-human animals do. Perhaps only human beings can will themselves to do things that go against their "nature." And finally, even though anyone aspiring to genuine monogamy will, on balance, have to swim upstream against the current of his or her evolutionarily bequeathed inclinations, there are also considerable biological forces supporting such efforts.

Some animals manage to be monogamous. Beavers establish lasting pair-bonds that enable them to co-operate in building a valuable, complex home site.

And among pygmy marmosets, monogamy gives males unconscious confidence of their paternity, which in turn supports their inclination to be unusually paternal.

And human beings? Our species benefits greatly from bi-parental care. We can profit from shared, reciprocated effort, especially when we're confident both partners will be around for the long term.

Add to this the fact that people have big brains and hence an ability to rescue monogamy from monotony, as well as the capacity to imagine the future and a visceral dislike of dishonesty. And the effect of biology on monogamy becomes complex indeed. Not to mention the adaptive significance of that thing called love.

To be sure, monogamy isn't easy, nor is it for everyone. But anyone who claims that he or she simply isn't cut out for monogamy misses the point: No one is.

At the same time, no one's biology precludes monogamy either. As Jean-Paul Sartre famously advised, albeit in a different context: "You are free; choose." Barash, an evolutionary biologist, is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington.

Lately I have been thinking about spiritual gifts- probably because someone had recently asked about them, particularly the gift of speaking in tongues.That’s always the one that gets asked about, and the questions that get asked about it are always: are tongues for today, and are tongues for everyone? And since were going down that road anyway, what about all of the often called “supernatural gifts”, ie.- the ones that don’t have a natural, human element to them- are they for today or did they somehow ‘cease’ at the death of the last of the Apostles as some insist. It seems that spiritual gifts like teaching, preaching, administration, helps and giving (all that have a natural talent/ability component to them) are easier for us to accept as still functioning in the church today. It might even be that anytime one of those natural abilities is exercised within the church instead of in the secular world, then it is considered to be a spiritual gift rather than a natural one. So, an educator who makes their living teaching is just exercising their natural gift and training when they teach in a secular school setting; but if that same teacher teaches in the children’s church or Sunday school of their church then they are exercising a spiritual gift. All that really changes is the venue in which the ability is being applied.

I wonder if we don’t often gravitate towards this kind of an understanding of spiritual gifts because it makes these gifts from God both easier to understand as well as keeps them within our ability to control. After all, who wants divine, supernatural, beyond “us” abilities and powers running wild within us and among us? Abilities and powers that flow through us but are actually controlled by the very Spirit of God Himself- that can be a little unnerving and more than a little unpredictable. Far simpler to have spiritual gifts simply be our natural talents and abilities that we ourselves are exercising within and for the service of God’s Kingdom. And in that case, spiritual gifts that don’t really have a natural human application- like the gift of tongues or miracles or prophecy or healing- well, it’s far simpler and (we might even think) safer to consider those gifts ended or concluded, ceased and deceased along with the last of the twelve apostles. Okay for those wild and crazy things to happen in the pages of the Bible but not among me and my friends at church please! Well, the only problem with this safe, controlled perspective on spiritual gifts is that it is just not what those spiritually gifted apostles taught in the early church or wrote on the pages of New Testament Scripture. Nowhere are we told that the so called ‘supernatural’ gifts will cease before the end of this earthly age nor, actually, that there even is a distinguishable class of supernatural and non-supernatural gifts.

Really, are not all spiritual gifts supernatural- even if they happen to be skills and abilities that have natural human applications? When even our natural abilities are taken, blessed, endowed and spiritually heightened to accomplish supernatural purposes in the hands of God within His Kingdom- are they not then suddenly and even miraculously supernatural gifts accomplishing things quite beyond the natural and ordinary? I have seen the God touched, spiritually heightened gift of hospitality used in very powerful ways in peoples lives- miraculously beyond what would be natural or human- spiritually opening them up and drawing them into the very Kingdom of God. The ALPHA course relies heavily upon God’s gifting and empowering hospitality around a simple shared meal as key cog to its evangelistic success. There is far more to the ALPHA meal than just a good food and far more to the hospitality around the ALPHA table than just good company- there is something spiritual and God touched about the whole event and the ALPHA program realizes it. No, I believe every authentic spiritual gift is supernatural. There are not supernatural vs. non-supernatural spiritual gifts, not really. If we treat some as natural rather than supernatural I fear that all we really are doing is functioning in our own natural ability and curtailing the power that the Holy Spirit would add far beyond our ability if we were surrendering to and depending upon Him for it.

Since Paul instructs the Thessalonians to “not put out the Spirit's fire”, I guess that we can be in danger of doing exactly that- and functioning as the church and in our personal lives of faith in our own natural ability and gifting rather than in His supernatural gifting would be one way to do that.No, all spiritual gifts are supernatural or they are no Spiritual gifts as all, and we in the church and in our lives as followers of Christ need to continually seek to give ourselves to and even desperately desire to be filled with, led by and supernaturally gifted by the Holy Spirit if we hope to be a part of advancing His spiritual kingdom.

For over a year now Dawn Scott (one of our elders at Uptown) and some friends have been going to the downtown east side of Vancouver to share some of themselves and some small but significant gifts with those who live there in great need. I have been amazed at the stories she has told of the various times she has ventured down town and her experiences of giving and receiving among those who need so much and yet have so much to give. The following is a report she give of some of those recent jaunts.

“So one day after my divorce I’m sitting and thinking, oh my God, what’s going to happen if I go to hell because nobody loves me? So I made a wish. I said please let me be somewhere where a hundred people will say I love you. And it was here. Everyday somebody says I love you or people on the street blow me kisses or touch their heart, you know, from across the street, and these are signs that mean I love you. I don’t know what I did to my parents for them to hate me, but let me tell you this: being here, around people that love me, is everything. I’m probably going to die alone, but I know that one hundred men and women love me for me. I tell you, this is the place I got my wish.” Helen Hill – age 62 – Downtown Eastside

Friday night April 3 Christine and I decided to make a run to the DTES – it would take three visits in one week to deliver all of the amazing donations we have been given. TRIAGE is open 24/7 so we went there first with bags and bags of hotel toiletries and warm clothing. The eyes of the staff on duty that night just lit up when they saw the little bottles of shampoo and toothpaste and soaps…”That is EXACTLY what we need right now!” We smiled at each other – somehow it doesn’t surprise us….

TRIAGE (Caters to mentally ill – houses 28 clients)

Our next stop was St Chiara’s across from Oppenheimer Park. We had some really cute children’s and teen’s clothing and shoes which we knew would go over well in the Jackson Avenue community, and also a large amount of pasta and sauce and canned goods for their community meals. As we walked towards the main house where the meals are served we saw a couple of the daughters of Lane and Kathy Walker playing in the front yard with some smaller children. Their 12 year old Elisha-May recognized us and ran to help us carry some of the boxes. We met Kathy at the front door to their home and noticed a LOT of children inside. There has been an infestation of bed bugs in the DTES so all of these children were hanging out at the Walkers while their homes were being fumigated. Kathy was telling us about their movie night and suddenly we had several BEAUTIFUL black children all crowding around us. They were part of a family of 13 from Burundi who had recently moved to Vancouver. Kathy reached into one of the boxes we brought – someone donated an orange sequined heart-shaped satin pillow that I had tucked in the box, thinking some little girl would love it. Kathy handed it to a little girl who said thank you and then ran to the couch and sat with that pillow against her cheek…just loving the treasure she had been given. Her little brother hugged our legs and smiled up at us – just melts your heart! As we left the children playing skipping rope, a few Hell’s Angels drove up across the street. We couldn’t help but observe the amazing diversity on the four corners of Jackson Avenue and East Cordova Street:

(1) Children playing at St Chiara’s

(2) Hell’s Angels in Oppenheimer

(3) Mentally challenged hooker (There is a residence for these girls across Cordova from St Chiara’s)

(4) Disabled man in a wheelchair

Only on the Downtown Eastside.

St ChiarasElisha-May

It was getting dark but we had over 200 pairs of socks and approximately 100 near-new running shoes with us that night and we knew that First United was open. We pulled up to the side door and a street couple with their dogs helped us carry the always-needed footgear in to the church. Probably half of what we brought would have been distributed the next morning when they opened for foot care. We had some dog food and doggie treats at home that were donated by someone who kindly thought of the four-legged friends of the homeless so I asked the couple with the dogs if there was a place downtown that gives out pet food for free. They said that Mission Possible allows the SPCA to use their facility on Thursdays to supply people with provisions for pets. We would return in a few days with the kibbles….

Monday the 6^th was another warm sunny day. We stuffed my car full of women’s clothing and shoes and new underwear and feminine products and diapers and toys and dog food! We arrived at the Union Gospel Mission’s Women’s Drop In Centre at 10:00am and were able to hang out with the ladies for a couple of hours. They were in desperate need of the underwear and bras we brought. We were also able to bring lipsticks and lotions and purses – items that really give these ladies a lift. Christine and I got talking with a sweet lady – about our age – named Wendy. She lives in a shelter close by and has a terrible story of an arranged marriage and awful abuse. She still manages to smile and laugh and I wonder how she has the strength to keep going. A lovely woman named Dianne is volunteering at the centre today to sing with the ladies and we all sit around a table and join in. Before we leave we bring in boxes and bags of clothing and shoes to take to the men’s side.

WendySinging with Dianne

After leaving UGM we drove one block down Hastings Street and found Sheway. (Sheway is the Coast Salish word for “growth”) They provide health and social service supports to pregnant women and women with infants under 18 months who are dealing with drug and alcohol problems. We had toys and diapers and infant’s clothing to give them – they were so thrilled to accept them! There was a play area for toddlers and the ladies were being served a hot lunch.

We ended our day at Mission Possible. We thought we would just drop off the dog food with them but ended up staying awhile and speaking with their executive director Brian. He described Mission Possible as “Family to the forgotten, and companions to the lonely.” Here was another front-line organization providing food and clothing AND pet food. We will certainly be back with more donations for this fabulous group.

Mission Possible

The highlight of our week was Good Friday – exactly one year since Christine and I started our work in downtown Vancouver. We decided to take our usual socks and granola bars and do some walking around. We had also been given two really nice Gund stuffed toys and I threw them in my bag thinking we may find a child who may want them. We parked at Oppenheimer Park and then decided to keep on walking to “Pain & Wastings”. We had always driven around and parked and delivered goods and then jumped back into the safety of the car. It seemed appropriate on our year anniversary to get out amongst the people…and we were SO blessed by doing just that. As we walked up Cordova and on to Main Street we started to encounter more and more people in need of a kind word and some clean socks. We then made our way down Hastings and stopped in at InSite to leave a message for Carmen. (You may remember her story from my previous emails….) A few doors down from InSite a young woman in an InSite T-shirt and holding the arm of an elderly gentleman looked desperately at us “Please – can you take Mickey to the Lux?” I looked at her and said “The what?” She went on to explain that the Lux is a hotel on the next block down…Mickey has a crumpled piece of paper in his hand that states “My name is Mickey and if you find me, please return me to the Lux.” This poor girl was working the desk at the InSite recovery house and couldn’t leave her post. We took this sweet mentally challenged old man down the street and walked him into the Lux. As we made our way up Columbia we continued to give out socks and granola bars…We passed an alley and could see several addicts shooting up beside filthy dumpsters….SO sad. We turned up Cordova and found an interesting older woman who accepted our socks and told us she would like to knit us a scarf for the next time we are down. So sweet! We took a few more steps and encountered quite a few men…we hadn’t realized we were now outside the HUGE Harbour Light Centre which is run by the Salvation Army. We had several really amazing conversations with these brave souls who were all in the recovery program at the centre. One named George was going to see his daughter the next day and the Gund plush dog I had made a perfect gift for him to give her! He had no money to buy her anything and he told us we were a “Godsend”. Another man was going to be a grandfather very soon so he took the plush seal for the baby. A couple of the men cried when they told us their stories. It was gut wrenching. We met an interesting man named Andrew with his pet ferret “Axel”. We paused at Wendy Poole Park and the Evelyn Saller Centre and then returned to Oppenheimer where we talked with a few addicts. We marveled at how one year ago we had been afraid to stop the car at Oppenheimer and now we walked freely there…and we are humbled and grateful.for this fabulous group.

Thank you so much for supporting us with your donations and your prayers. This “team” continues to make a difference…Dawn