Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark T. Sandrock) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: An atheist's question Message-ID: Date: 6 Nov 90 03:17:32 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 101 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu duncant@mbunix.mitre.org (Thomson) writes: >[description of brutal killing cut] > My question is this: How can events such as these be reconciled with > the christian notion of a god who is both omnipotent and benevolent? That just this point should prove time and again to be such a difficult one for people to grasp merely indicates how little we have ever learned to understand our God and His wonderful Creation! Mankind has been given free will for his journey through Creation. And what does this meam? It means that it cannot be forseen in advance how a person will choose, nor any limits placed upon what he can choose, otherwise we could not then speak of a truly free will to choose. Then, we ask, where does justice come in, for a perfect God must have to be not only perfectly loving, but also perfectly just. The answer is that Divine Justice has been woven into the fabric of Creation from the very beginning. It is fulfilled through what we may call Divine Laws or Natural Laws. And nothing can escape the working of these Laws, nothing! What are these Laws? They can be simply listed as follows: 1) The Law of Reciprocal Action. Also called the Law of Sowing and Reaping. It was to this law that Jesus made reference when He said: "What a man sows, that *shall* he reap." 2) The Law of Attraction of Homogeneous Species. "Birds of a feather, flock together." This law is quite easy to observe with both people and animals, for instance. 3) The Law of Spiritual Gravitation. This law is a little harder for us to understand aright at first, since it applies to the "beyond", to the path of the human soul after departing this life. Simply put, it means that what is "darker" or "baser" in the spiritual sense will "sink" to its own level in the next world. Likewise, what is "lighter", "purer", and "nobler" in the spiritual sense will "rise" to its own level in the "beyond". The operation of this law can explain how, for instance, we can talk about "seven heavens", or also the existence of the various "levels" in the nether realms of the "beyond". 4) The Law of Necessary Movement. There is no standing still in Creation. Much of our "protection" in life has to do with how we exert ourselves to remain "on the alert" in life. This concept of "being alert" can be understood from the word "watch" in the admonition to "watch and pray", or also in the Parable of the Wise Virgins, who made the effort to keep their "lanterns" filled -- their ability to perceive intuitively alert. It is not obvious at first sight, how these few simple Laws are able to ensure absolute Justice in all happenings, but the fact is that they do! For a full and complete explanation of these Laws, I must once again refer serious seekers to the work "In the Light of Truth", the Grail Message, by Abd-ru-shin, which is available through the Grail Foundation of America. To give an idea of how a knowledge of these simple Laws can be applied to explain the difficult "problem of suffering" perhaps the example of the Incas, the "Children of the Sun", would be helpful here. The terrible fate that befell the Incas was *not* a case of "sowing and reaping", since these people were living a happy, innocent life and had not sown such evil themselves. However, because of their contentment in living such a life, the Incas in fact would have come to a *standstill* as far as their spiritual development was concerned. If we understand that the actual purpose of human life *is* indeed spiritual development, then we can begin to understand that despite the suffering, the Incas gained in the spiritual sense, since they could therewith be *awakened* in order to go on developing in the spiritual *and* earthly sense! (Law of Movement). The malevolent men who had attacked the Incas, however, therewith knotted a new karma (fate) which would have to begin to manifest itself in either the current or subsequent earthlives, until such time as each particular individual had atoned for his own actions (The Law of Sowing and Reaping). Much evil can already be turned aside through being *awake* in the spiritual sense. This is how we are meant to live according to the Will of God. So too, when suffering befalls us, the question to ask is not "how can God permit this to happen?" but rather, what can I learn from the experience? How can I avoid similar suffering in the future? Have I learned everything I should from the experience, so that it will not be necessary to go through it again? Have I truly done all I can to understand and fulfil God' Will in my life? These are critical questions to ask ourselves, and the answers will surely help to lead us onward on our spiritual path through life! Onward towards the ultimate joy and happiness that comes with fulfilling our life's purpose. If we really believe in a *perfect* God, then it stands to reason that we should always be striving to better understand His Perfect Will, which does manifest Itself in the *perfect* Divine Laws of Creation. We should realize that our limited earthly-human view is not the ultimate criterion for life. This earthlife is but a necessary step in our entire spiritual development! Regards, Mark Sandrock -- BITNET: sandrock@uiucscs Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Internet: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu Chemical Sciences Computing Services Voice: 217-244-0561 505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801