Problem Of EVIL?!

[Guest lostchild_6]

Well, I've been reading the "City of God" for forever... it is really long! Some one please just tell me how he resolves the problem of evil. I'll keep reading but my mind is not as advanced here. I've got to look up words in my dictionary left, right and centre! There are even parts of history (Roman & Greek gods) that I did not know existed! Some one show me the light.

I've been searching in every media possible....no luck yet. Hopefully some one out there knows what he/she is talking about.
THNAKS!! God Bless.

Edited November 10, 2004 by lostchild_6

[popestpiusx]

Evil doesn't exist per se, but is rather a deficiency of good. That is almost too basic an explanation, but is a good place to start.

[phatcatholic]

well, i don't know about the [i]City of God[/i], but i do know that Augustine says this in his [url="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm"][b]Enchiridion[/b][/url], or [i]Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love[/i]:[list]
[*][b]CHAP. 11.--WHAT IS CALLED EVIL IN THE UNIVERSE IS BUT THE ABSENCE OF GOOD.[/b]

And in the universe, even that which is called evil, when it is regulated and put in its own place, only enhances our admiration of the good; for we enjoy and value the good more when we compare it with the evil. For the Almighty God, who, as even the heathen acknowledge, has supreme power over all things, being Himself supremely good, would never permit the existence of anything evil among His works, if He were not so omnipotent and good that He can bring good even out of evil. For what is that which we call evil but the absence of good? In the bodies of animals, disease and wounds mean nothing but the absence of health; for when a cure is effected, that does not mean that the evils which were present--namely, the diseases and wounds--go away from the body and dwell elsewhere: they altogether cease to exist; for the wound or disease is not a substance, but a defect in the fleshly substance,--the flesh itself being a substance, and therefore something good, of which those evils--that is, privations of the good which we call health--are accidents. Just in the same way, what are called vices in the soul are nothing but privations of natural good. And when they are cured, they are not transferred elsewhere: when they cease to exist in the healthy soul, they cannot exist anywhere else.
[/list]i can find info from the [i]City of God[/i] if you wish

pax christi,
phatcatholic

Edited November 10, 2004 by phatcatholic