I just read a brief biography of St. Paul of Tarsus, which stated that Paul had witnessed the stoning to death of St. Stephen the Apostle by one of the Jewish factions operating under the rule of the Roman Empire. This worried me about the depth of Paul’s conversion to become a faithful follower of Jesus. I believe Paul was the mastermind who helped make Jesus’s mission an organized religion with its many rules and absolute beliefs. I wanted to talk to my Nazarene ‘family’ about this.
When I arrived back at Mary’s flower garden, I was glad to see that John and Joshua were the only ones there. John immediately said, “Oh, Don, I’m glad to see you. I hope you can help us with a profound question Joshua asked me.” I replied, “And I have one for you, too. So, you go first.”
“Joshua just heard the story of how one of Jesus’s followers, Stephen, was stoned to death at the hands of one of the Jewish factions for being blasphemous when he called Jesus a prophet and possibly the Son of Yahweh. It takes a great deal of murderous rage by quite a few people to stone a person to death, as I’m sure you know. So, this raises several questions for Joshua and, really, for all of us. Why does God create and allow evil? And, after allowing or creating it, why does He not stop it when it begins or is happening? And how could Jesus say that God is love if this happens? Now, what do you say about all this?”
I was amazed that John’s questions were, in essence, the same as mine. It also added more about the depth of Paul’s conversion to becoming a follower of Jesus. “This is amazing, John. I wondered about Paul’s understanding of Jesus’s teaching about love and life. I had just read about Stephen having been stoned to death and that it was at the hands of some Jewish believers and not by the Romans, and John was there when it happened. The article did not say whether or not Paul participated in the stoning or approved of it, but he did nothing to stop it. We saw Mary leave Joshua and Ruth’s house and head our way. “John, did Jesus ever mention that Yahweh did or did not intervene in his creation?”
“I don’t recall him ever calling it that, but he often would say something like this: “We don’t know how Yahweh relates to all creation. Let’s ask Mary when she gets here?”
Mary welcomed me warmly and sat down after kissing me on the forehead. She looked around at the three of us and said, “Now you all look worried; what is it?” We told her, and she replied, “I remember him once saying that Yahweh must be asleep when we were returning from Jerusalem and seeing a row of men having been crucified and were hanging beside the road. He was trying to make light of it but was crying copiously as he said this. Later, we talked about the horror of men, both Jewish, Romans, and everyone who tortured and killed others. At other times, he insisted that our human mandate was to care for one another and all of creation, never harm them.”
We all nodded, and John asked me what Christians were saying in the 21st. Century. I responded. “Too many continued to say that evil things happened because humans sinned. Many said that humans just did bad things because they had not been ‘saved’ by being baptized and having faith in Jesus.” I added, “And many are turning away from all religions who believe in a personal god that intervenes in our lives and acts like a puppeteer and constantly manipulates us and our reality. I like the ideas of a modern 20th-century Jewish thinker named Albert Einstein, who stated that he believes we must believe in God so that we do not become mechanical robots.” I took some time to tell them about robots. “Einstein says that love, and therefore God, is a kind of gravity and is a force or compelling energy that holds everything together – and we humans are the one part of our present civilization that must choose to help connect this positive growth and to do it together with other humans.”
Mary nodded and said, “I don’t quite understand this Einstein fellow, but I like the idea that we must connect to create a better world. Jesus would like that, too."
John added, “This love gravity force we have must be very powerful to hold everything together, and that doesn’t answer whether or not Yahweh creates some people to be evil.”
“The article I read about Einstein’s thinking didn’t directly give us an answer, but, as you said, John, it takes a great deal of evil or evil power to stone a person to death. We have, I believe, a great deal of power, and we can choose to use it in evil ways such as engage in wars and kill people, or enslave people, and hurt people in many ways.”
Mary added, “And punish children when we declare we are ‘just’ teaching them proper behavior. I think Paul was punished that way when he was a child. I hope he revisits us some time; I would like to discuss whether God creates evil with him. I would say that God creates the energy we possess, and we must decide how to use it. Of course, my son, Jesus, taught me repeatedly that we must love one another. And, of course, he was willing to die for that belief!” She stopped and allowed herself to cry. And I was crying too as I disappeared. Now . . .
“Ask yourself if you are keeping an open heart and working to connect with others, not eating the menu but enjoying the banquet.”
