God permits evil

A Quiner’s Diner reader wondered, then, what the prophet Isaiah meant when he said:

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

To get the answer, let’s turn to another church doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, perhaps the greatest Christian philosopher ever (and my patron saint). He suggests that we need to distinguish between evils of fault and evils of penalty…

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May the Prince of Peace dry our tears

If God is real, if God is Love, how can He allow so many innocent people to be butchered like this?

That doesn’t seem very loving, does it?

St. Augustine formulated the dilemma this way:

If God is all-good, he would will all good and no evil.

And if God were all-powerful, he would accomplish everything he wills.

But evil exists as well as good.

Therefore, either God is not all-powerful, or not all-good, or both…

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Presidents talk about God

This great country has been formed by our Judeo-Christian beliefs.

In light of the clash of religion throughout the world, I’d like to share some great quotes from American presidents on the subject of religion and its importance to us individually and collectively…

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Lord of All Hopefulness

I played this song at last night’s Thanksgiving Mass at my church. I love this old Irish tune and posted a beautiful instrumental version above performed by the O’Neill Brothers.

The lyrics by Jan Struthers are worth reading this Thanksgiving Day:

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