Honestly Tough Questions

As you have learned if you have read any other posts in this blog, I have a lot of questions that roll around in my mind. Often times it is difficult for me to find real answers to some of my questions. One of my questions has been about the people who seem to have gotten the “necessary evil” roles. For example, what would this world be like without a Satan? Or a Judas to betray Jesus?

To me, these two roles seemed very necessary. How could Jesus be truly as good, or at least how would we know he was so good, unless he had an evil counterpart? And how could Jesus atone for us unless someone had betrayed him, like Judas? I’ve thought about their fate, and to me it just didn’t seem fair that these extremely evil roles were seemingly needed in order to bring about the rest of the good in God’s plan. Why, then, would the people that filled those roles be so severely punished?

I still don’t have a full answer to those questions, but my mind has been put more at ease by understanding the greater picture of God’s plan of happiness for us. Our Heavenly Father loves us, and so he has given each of us the gift of agency, or the ability to chose for ourselves how we will act. That means that none of us are damned nor saved without our consent. When you look at God’s plan from an eternal perspective, it seems as if evil is a force somewhat similar to gravity. It is eternal in its realm and has no beginning or end. Neither does good in its realm. We live in a world that has both good and evil in it. That means that both of those forces will work to achieve their ends. We know that good is a stronger force and will always win. This seems like a simple principle, but it helps when thinking about the roles of Satan and Judas. We would be tempted by evil without Satan, because evil would still exist. And the Pharisees and Sadducees would have found a way to capture Jesus and crucify him without Judas.

It is important to note that I am simply sharing my own thoughts and conclusions based on my current knowledge and these thoughts are in no way conclusive. My overall point is that we all have tough questions that seem to negate things we have already learned. In this case, I have always known that Heavenly Father is kind and loving and wants his children to succeed. However, I have seen some things that make me question how this can be so. Instead of throwing away everything that I have been taught and felt personally about God, I have learned to be patient, to study the scriptures, and to listen to the Spirit teach me how good and evil can exist at the same time. This is one example of a hard question with an answer that is beautifully simple and entirely supports everything I know to be true about my Heavenly Father. I have found peace and pure happiness in my life by exploring my questions and holding fast to the things I know to be true in my heart, and more than anything this peace and happiness is proof to me that God wants me to understand him and to not be afraid or easily shaken by things that I do not understand.