Nature isn't good so much as it is a good. Nature is indifferent but that it should exist serves a good.
The processes of nature and animals aren't evil. It's not an evil when a lion preys on a gazelle, nor isn't it an evil when a caterpillar is unfortunate enough to end up as the host of a parasitic wasp. It is nonsensical to project any sense of injustice onto these things, because none of these things are rational. A lion is what it is and will do as lions will do, as will any other animal. You don't condemn a chimp that kills another chimp from a rival troop as a murderer. I'd go so far as to say that very fact that you project 'evil' onto nature suggests that there is a good that transcends nature. Where does this sense that things ought to be different come from? It doesn't make sense unless there is something in us that gives us a sense of ought. And I personally believe that sense of ought to be divine in origin. Nothing else in nature rails against the imperfections of nature, except us, who are created for a destiny beyond this world.
As such humans have a rational principle, we possess intent, we possess moral agency, thus morality is applicable to us. Humans can be meaningfully held to account by both other humans and God. We then (in this sense) are fundamentally separate from this world which doesn't exist to be a perfect deathless place but rather to be an imperfect, indifferent world so that God may use it to bring about an even greater good for our sake.
One such good is that as we see (and sometimes fall victim to) the horrible things in nature it gives us more appreciation for what is good. It also shows us our fragility and our total inability to escape the cold realities of decay and death. We thus have all the more reason to cling to that good that completely transcends this world, that transcends all decay and death, so that when we have done our time in this valley of tears we will all the more see the perfect good of God and how He infinitely surpasses everything we have known in this world.
In short, the world is what it is in all its horribleness because such a world better suits the grand scheme of things as it relates to God's plan for us. God allows this brutal world so that He may bring about an even greater good for us, no matter how may caterpillars that greater good may cost.
The processes of nature and animals aren't evil. It's not an evil when a lion preys on a gazelle, nor isn't it an evil when a caterpillar is unfortunate enough to end up as the host of a parasitic wasp. It is nonsensical to project any sense of injustice onto these things, because none of these things are rational. A lion is what it is and will do as lions will do, as will any other animal. You don't condemn a chimp that kills another chimp from a rival troop as a murderer. I'd go so far as to say that very fact that you project 'evil' onto nature suggests that there is a good that transcends nature. Where does this sense that things ought to be different come from? It doesn't make sense unless there is something in us that gives us a sense of ought. And I personally believe that sense of ought to be divine in origin. Nothing else in nature rails against the imperfections of nature, except us, who are created for a destiny beyond this world.
As such humans have a rational principle, we possess intent, we possess moral agency, thus morality is applicable to us. Humans can be meaningfully held to account by both other humans and God. We then (in this sense) are fundamentally separate from this world which doesn't exist to be a perfect deathless place but rather to be an imperfect, indifferent world so that God may use it to bring about an even greater good for our sake.
One such good is that as we see (and sometimes fall victim to) the horrible things in nature it gives us more appreciation for what is good. It also shows us our fragility and our total inability to escape the cold realities of decay and death. We thus have all the more reason to cling to that good that completely transcends this world, that transcends all decay and death, so that when we have done our time in this valley of tears we will all the more see the perfect good of God and how He infinitely surpasses everything we have known in this world.
In short, the world is what it is in all its horribleness because such a world better suits the grand scheme of things as it relates to God's plan for us. God allows this brutal world so that He may bring about an even greater good for us, no matter how may caterpillars that greater good may cost.
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