Journal Nine - 1/23/08

Has Ivan effectively proved the injustice of God's plan?

While at the restaurant the two brothers begin to talk about the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. Ivan tells Alyosha that he believes in God, that there is a God, and that in his own heart he has not rejected God, however, he cannot find it within himself to accept God or the world that God created. Ivan explains to Alyosha that he can love the world as a whole, but when it comes down to loving individual men, he cannot. Ivan explains that he does not understand why a there is suffering on Earth. He comes to ask Alyosha how a just God could allow children to suffer, as they are too young have committed sin. He compares loving the God who allows suffering to a man who loves his torturer. The reader infers that at this point in their conversation that Alyosha has become troubled by these questions. Ivan asks Alyosha if he could accept a perfect world, if perfection depended on the suffering of one person. It is at this point where Alyosha reminds Ivan about the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross. The same situation.... Christ, one man, had to suffer in order to atone the world. He tells Alyosha that he has not forgotten the gift and sacrifice that God has made, he simple cannot except it.

I do not think that Ivan has PROVED the injustice of God's plan. I believe Ivan has laid out the evilness in man. God is a benevolent God. Thus, he gave us free will. If God did not give us free will, that would mean that God would not be Benevolent.

In class and as reading this chapter in The Brother's Karamazov, I had to go back to faith and my bible. It was in this that I remembered the Verse from John 1:5: The Light Shines in the Darkness, but the darkness does not understand it. In references to Gods atonement: God was the light, who came to this earth, and shone, but the world [darkness] did not understand. Even now, God has sent his spirit who shines in the darkness but the darkness still does understand it. God has given us free will, he has sent us his spirit, which shines, but we still do not understand this.

Concerning Children: While children are innocent the ones harming them are not, they are not children, and they have sinned. This can be traced back to the Original Sin. It may be appropriate to say that God does not intervene because that would not allow free will to be free will.