A Theological Question?

[MarysLittleFlower]

I'm writing a story and a part of it kind of requires knowledge of theology, but I don't know enough about this topic.. I was wondering if anyone read about this. I wouldn't want to include anything incorrect.

We know that God never causes anything evil, only good. But does He allow evil, for example that which is caused by (let's say) demons, - as a test or a cross for someone? I'm thinking of Job.. would He ever allow something bad to help someone repent, through the suffering that comes about?

For example, - if they really want something to happen which is objectively evil, and try to involve evil spirits to help them achieve this (keep in mind it's a story ) - God might try to get them to change their mind, but if they are still obstinate, might He allow all that they want to happen, just so they'll see how bad it really is, and repent?

Hopefully that makes sense

[thessalonian]

Yep it makes sense and it is correct.

[b] [url="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&byte=5475509"]Jas.1[/url][/b]
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[*][[b]12[/b]] Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to[b] those who love[/b] him.
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[b] [b][url="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&byte=5197751"]Rom.8[/url][/b][/b]
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[*][b][[b]28[/b]] We know that in everything God works for good with[b] those who love[/b] him, who are called according to his purpose.[/b]
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[b] [b][url="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&byte=5188453"]Rom.5[/url][/b][/b]
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[*][b][[b]3[/b]] More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces[b] endurance[/b],[/b]
[*][b][[b]4[/b]] and[b] endurance[/b] produces character, and character produces hope,[/b]
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[b] [b][url="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV2&byte=5298102"]2Cor.6[/url][/b][/b]
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[*][b][[b]4[/b]] but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great[b] endurance[/b], in afflictions, hardships, calamities,[/b]
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[b]Job is the best example in scripture though there are many others. I heard a priest one time tell a woman if she wanted patience to pray for it. She came back some time later and said "Father since I started praying for patience my kids have been terrible". [/b]

[BarbTherese]

Not at all unusual for some experience of evil to bring a person to repentance and conversion of life. Virtue is strengthened in adversity and God may permit adversity that His Grace may shine through the person overcoming adversity. Outside of a fictional story, we cannot know precisely with accuracy why God permits evil other than that He can bring a greater good out of the situation than the evil itself.

Here are some paragraphs in the Catholic Catechism that apply:
[url="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c1p4.htm#311"]http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c1p4.htm#311[/url]
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[*][b]311[/b] Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has [i]moral evil[/i], incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil.[sup][size=2]176[/size][/sup] He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:
[*]For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.[size=2][sup]177[/sup][/size]
[*][b]312[/b] In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: "It was not you", said Joseph to his brothers, "who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive."[sup][size=2]178[/size][/sup] From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that "abounded all the more",[sup][size=2]179[/size][/sup] brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. But for all that, evil never becomes a good.
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[*][b]313[/b] "We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him."[sup][size=2]180[/size][/sup] The constant witness of the saints confirms this truth:
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[*][b]St. Catherine of Siena [/b]said to "those who are scandalized and rebel against what happens to them": "Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind."[sup][size=2]181[/size][/sup]
[b]St. Thomas More[/b], shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter: "Nothing can come but that that God wills. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best."[sup][size=2]182[/size][/sup]
[b]Dame Julian of Norwich:[/b] "Here I was taught by the grace of God that I should steadfastly keep me in the faith. . . and that at the same time I should take my stand on and earnestly believe in what our Lord shewed in this time - that 'all manner [of] thing shall be well."
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[*][b]314[/b] We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God "face to face",[sup][size=2]184[/size][/sup] will we fully know the ways by which - even through the dramas of evil and sin - God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest[sup][size=2]185[/size][/sup] for which he created heaven and earth.
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