From Exclusion to Embrace

Stemmed from thoughts on theodicy (how can a good God exist with evil basically) after listening to some of Plotinus's musings on the philosophical problem of evil. Interesting stance from neo-platonism. Made me think of the nature of evil and how it might be more a matter of degrees than so much a black and white issue. How when we choose the lesser of two distinctions that is evil in a sense. Not that it is contrary to goodness because there are elements of goodness in the choice but more so that it leaves an unrealized potential which is evil in a sense (which in reality makes discerning that much harder, thus making it all the more important to be immersing yourself in God's heart - Ephesians 4:8) . Think of the parable of the talents. The man who buried his talent is called wicked, maybe even evil, because he did not exploit what was entrusted to him to its greatest extent. He didn't even try and that was wicked. So it is with life - we are entrusted with so many moments and relationships and blessings, that for us to merely bury them or hide them or just selfishly enjoy them without sharing, to not utilize them or attempt to improve them is evil. God calls us to more. He calls us to not just dream with Him but to move with Him in bringing those dreams into reality. That is somewhat my fear - what dreams are left merely in the imagination of God because I was too afraid, too lazy, too selfish or too whatever to actually move on them. Thus, the problem with evil is the problem with me.

From Exclusion to Embrace

Did you ever wonder how a good God could exist like this
with an evil that does persist
With what seems like more than any man can bare
Almost as if God isn't there or doesn't even care
I do every time I hurt or someone needlessly dies
Wondering where God is with so many questions and why's
As a reaction, we attempt to order or determine this life's flow
In doing so, we too often pretend we know
How the world works within God's design
Maybe the problem is that are so few moments in time,
To figure out this design and just shine,
So life exists within a restricted paradigm,
In which we try to keep God in line,
To help us understand all the ways,
We move from exclusion to embrace.
But before we actually understand,
Or attempt to determine a Divine plan,
We must first stir in the reflection,
Of how this world is fitted in imperfection,
That there exists an evil outside of us,
An evil that attempts to abide in all of us.
It's existence perplexes the best of us,
So we develop a paradigm like fortress,
Where we fool ourselves to thinking
Things are ok, never even blinking,
But realize, to leave it here is sinister,
Cause if you never wrestle, you'll never minister,
And so here the discussion begins
Not for the first time but again.
For something to exist, it must possess,
A set of determinacy that does confess,
It is part of a greater reality,
But in essence falls short of what it was meant to be
It is the fundamental differential
That is the incremental potential
That manifests itself in a matter of degrees
Where evil is always the lesser of these
Two distinctions that fight to testify
That it should be chosen as the other is a lie.
One of these will lead to unfettered satisfaction
The other - merely a distraction
Keeping us from knowing life, knowing Thee
As all things derive from Thee inherently.
So the question then becomes a bit ambiguous
Calling out to God something like this,
Is it a series of gradations
Where the perfect is Your salvation?
Taking a life of mere potentiality
Moving it into reality
Beyond the finite, beyond the duality,
Beyond the form, beyond the norm.
A common thread, This common dread
An inexplicable uncertainty
That just paralyzes me.
A fear that envelops every bit of me
The fear that I'll never realize what You have for me,
Never know Your divine legacy, only hypocrisy,
A modern day Cain - On my head the mark of disdain.
Forced to wanders this earth alone like a refugee
But I recount my days with Thee
Remembering You are the Invincible Principle,
The Penultimate Pinnacle
The First of All things, the Sovereign Creator,
With a breath brought about all meaning
With but a word called me into being
Thus it is here I confess all things
That You are my bloody Messiah King
Realizing the problem with evil is the problem with me
It is the eternal question of theodicy
Does our God suffer with us or let us be?
Will we cast onto the wind our sorrows,
Or revisit them in infinite tomorrows?
Forgetting how God forgave, how God gave,
His One and only Son at the cross to save,
My shattered soul for eternity
Despite the contemporary thinking of modernity.
That there is no reprieve,
No solace, no reason to believe
But they fail to see the rebellion of the free
The blood of the righteous hanging on the tree
A sacrifice that forever changed the course of history
A blood drenched landscape that is the gift of the free