In the early times, when men were trying to spell out what god to worship, they were always faced by a dichotomy – the perceived existence of good and evil. And so the error persisted in men’s mind that there could be two gods, one a good god and another an evil god. Hence the concept of Demiurge.
They noticed that there was definitely a good god who gave men the numerous good things in this world; the sun, rain, the fruit bearing trees, and the fishes. But the world is also replete with evils, authored presumably by the god of evil.
Of course, there is only one God. The Good God. But those who believed in dualism thought that between the two gods, the evil one, because he is the author of evil had to be pleased so we could be spared from evil; while there was no need to please the good god because he is good, anyway. I recently saw a travelogue commercial showing some tourists warding off the evil spirit so they can resume their tour in a devastated beach front. They should have pleased the good God, instead.
This pagan mentality is common in today’s world precisely because we have lost the sense of the good God and had degraded ourselves into the realm of paganism wherewith it is the evil gods that must be pleased that he may spare us from his mischief. While the good God is relegated to forgetfulness. We always fear the bad guys and take the good guys for granted.
The Catholic doctrine is: there is only one God. A Good God. He, alone, gives us the good things in life and the miseries. The miseries, to teach us more important lessons. These miseries could be directly from Him as in the case of, what we learned in Moral theology during our seminary days, the ACTS of GOD, i.e. earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, or serious illnesses. God could, also, allow the devil and his cohorts to tempt us or even destroy our bodies (not our souls) as he did in the case of Job. St. Paul called this “delivery to Satan.” In effect, this is a case in which God is chastising but giving the devil a little role in doing the dirty work.
If my Moral theology textbook is right, N. Orleans, Guatemala and S. Asia were pure acts of God. This should help those who are suffering from the Acts Of God. They should see the reason behind it….. and it is always a veiled expression of God’s love for them. This is evident in the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.
The whole universe is completely under God’s providence. The devil has absolutely no control over the world. Though God allows him a few dirty works to accomplish His intentions. Keep this in mind, otherwise we would be displeased at the hardships of the just and will be offended at the prosperity of the wicked.
God placed Adam and Eve in Paradise. He expelled them. But, true to the nature of God, He gave them a greater gift than what He had taken away. He removed paradise but gave them a Savior, which the Easter Hymn could not suppressed in describing Adam’s sin as “felix culpa.” The sin was unpardonable. As in a ship the tempest was due entirely not to the force of the winds but to the carelessness of the sailor. God had compassion on man seeing the magnitude of the calamity. Our parents were shipwrecked in Paradise; the ship was wrecked in the harbor. The devil bore a small hole while the ship was in the harbor and it sank. But God made the gain greater than the lost of paradise. St. Paul cried: “He raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with him, on his right hand in the heavenly places that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness towards us”.
God gave Adam and Eve greater gifts than what they had lost… but not immediately. He delayed. That even if he had not given the things immediately after the fall, which were greater than those that were lost, but had only taken away what had been given to us, even this is enough of itself to show his tender care towards us. For not only to give, but also to take away what was given, is a mark of the greatest loving-kindness.
God gave Paradise out of His tender care. We were found unworthy of the gift. He took away the gift. For a greater good. What if Cain lashed into such great wickedness disobeying God, killing his own brother and hurting his parents…imagine such a juvenile delinquent in Paradise. Outside Paradise Cain could do less mischief.
Learn from Eve. See what good the expulsion had done. Before the expulsion she listened to the deceiving devil more than God. By the mere sight of the tree she trampled God’s command. But after the expulsion she grew wiser; seeing that her child was a gift from the Lord, not a result of her marriage, she depended on God and was grateful for the little child.
While deprived of Paradise, she was led to a knowledge of God she did not have in Paradise. She found a greater thing than she lost.
If God knew that Adam and Eve would fall and be expelled, why did He put them in Paradise in the first place? To show His goodness. And why did He expel them? To teach them a more important lesson: if they were not careless, had taken heed to themselves, had acknowledged the master and restrained themselves and kept within bounds they would have remained in Paradise. But they treated the gift with insolence. We were the cause of the chastisement and punishment, ejecting ourselves through our indifference to goods.
He gave Paradise to man. He cast him out when he appeared unworthy, in order that by his dwelling outside, and through his dishonor, he might become better and more self-restrained, and might appear worthy again of restoration. After those things he did become better. He brings him back again and says “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”
The expulsion from Paradise was a token of the greatest tender care. If they were not expelled they would not have become worthy once more of Paradise. (Painting above is “The Body of Abel found by Adam and Eve” by William Blake, 1826)