Main news for 10 November 2005

We dislike evil and sin very much, and rightly so. The fact that much in the world happens contrary to truth, contrary to the Creator's will, contrary to goodness and beauty, cannot fail to provoke protest in a normal person. But we are inclined to be "offended" at God because "He permits all this," taking responsibility for "all this" away from ourselves. Why there is so much evil in the world is a legitimate question, but it is framed incorrectly. The Lord Jesus Christ invites the disciples to approach the problem of evil in a completely different way: actively and responsibly.

"Stumbling blocks" are what bring doubts and disappointments in faith, what arouses disgust in people; this is the meaning of the Greek word skandalon used by the evangelist. They already exist in the real world, and therefore it is already too late to discuss how this happened... "Woe to the one through whom they come" - that is what is truly important. If we use the chief questions of our life, we can say that the Lord directs the disciples' attention not to "who is to blame," but to "what is to be done." He says that the spread of evil can be stopped by the will of people, not by people in general, but by you personally. It is impossible for stumbling blocks not to come, because they have already come; they are in the world. But it is important that they not come through you. This is the only path of resistance to evil.

And it is also essential that if you make even the smallest effort not to be a source of evil yourself, then failures on this path and God's long-suffering toward you help you find an answer both to the question of the origin of evil and to the question of the reasons for God's long-suffering.