The Straightforward Elements of Divine Goodness

In the conceptualized universe consistent with Jesus’ premises, the divine accounts for three main elements: good themes, good things, and good thoughts.  I would be presumptuous enough to say that, ultimately, heaven is responsible for all good.  “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17, KJV).

To the notion of the first element, that the divine accounts for good themes, there might be the rejoinder—echoing through the ages—that God unaccountably created evil.  I say that God might as well be upbraided for creating north or left.  “Evil” is a description of states of affairs (as disparate as murder and earthquakes) that are held to be negative rather than positive.  Of course, the opposition of one tendency to another need not be seen as straddling a midpoint (evil, in this case, as opposed to good on the other side.)  If God created a good universe, then what we call “evil” can just be some state that is less good than otherwise might be the case.  Indeed, Jesus swats aside the idea of total human depravity and entertains the notion that evil as we are, that does not befoul us with the inability to act out of basic decency: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children….” (Luke 11:13).

This, then, leads us to the second element: the description of the divine as the author of good things.  “Evil” as we know it is describable most typically in the existence of negative things.  Jesus has no patience for our feeling powerless in the face of evil.  If something strikes us as being evil or bad (depending on how we choose at any moment to describe negativity) then we are merely to ask that the negative thing be removed while believing that—in the good order of God’s universe—God can and will remove it.  “Ask, and it shall be given you….” (Matthew 7:7).

Of course, we are not inclined to believe that evil can be made so easily to disappear, and we are even less inclined to believe that we can successfully petition God to do the disappearing.  We choose instead to see a universe created unaccountably by God to contain evil, and we see ourselves as being unable to contain the capacity to persuade God to eliminate evil.  In short, we deny the first two elements: that the divine can be seen as creating only good themes and only good things.

Which leads us to our problem with the description of the divine as creating only good thoughts—the third and final element.  We see instead a universe darkened with an intrinsic stain of evil contemplation that entwines and directs evil things.  Here is where we invent horrid fantasies of layer upon layer of duplicity such that we can no longer trust our senses or our judgments.  Here is where we find ourselves tragically in the company of the Pharisees quoted in Matthew 9: “He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.”

Jesus’ view of the universe is more straightforward: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16).  We are to believe that life is a straightforward process through a straightforward world created by a straight-talking God.  It is a good idea to embrace those themes, pursue those things, and think those thoughts.