If There Was Never Any Evil

Question:

Hi Phyllis! I just finished reading your latest Alice book and I have to say, it was really really good. I love the Alice books, I wasn’t really too into “Alice in the Know” or “Dangerously Alice” (no offense at all, I still love the series anyways!) but “Almost Alice” and “Intensely Alice” were really great and made up for it =] I liked the religious discussions in “Intensely Alice”, I personally am Christian but I am always interested and open to other people’s ideas and thoughts on religion. People like Shelley sort of bother me, as a Christian nothing bothers me more than people telling others they will go to hell just because they don’t necessarily have the same beliefs. I don’t believe God would send people to hell at all – it just doesn’t seem right, because I believe that God is forgiving. But people like Mavis also bother me because they are so close-minded and not really willing to even think that there’s a possibility of a higher power. I think it was good that you put 2 extremes in there …because I go to a church where some people are really intense believers and a school with very powerful atheists. So I see both ends of the spectrum =] the thing that interested me was Lester’s question: “If there is so much evil in the world, is God evil and powerful? Or compassionate but not powerful?” My personal belief is that God gives us a choice – we can do good things, or bad things. But I always think it’s interesting to hear what other people have to say. I can relate to Alice’s feelings at the end of the book, after *that* happened (won’t spoil it for those who haven’t read!). I know this is a little different from what happened but my brother died when he was 4, and I wondered if there was really a God or not, and if there is – why would he allow such an innocent little boy to be killed? Even though I don’t think we’ll ever truly understand, I do know that if we never had any evil in this world, then we would never appreciate the good. well i’m sorry for the rant but I was just giving my imput and I want to thank you so much for the great book! And your Halloween costume looked great! =)

Phyllis replied:

Thank you for an interesting letter. I’m also interested in others’ religious beliefs, and you raised an interesting question when you said that if there was no evil in the world, we would not be able to appreciate the good. That’s something to think about. Some people say that when God gave us freedom of choice, then whether we create evil or good, we experience the consequences. And others say, when a confused angry parent throws scalding water on a crying baby to stop the crying, where is God? Why should a child experience such suffering when he didn’t commit the act? As long as man lives, there will be questions we can’t answer. Some people are content with the teachings of philosophers and religious leaders. Other people go on questioning, and are content to say, “I don’t know.” Still others fill in the gaps with their own explanations. What is helpful for one person may not be right for another, and I’m glad that you are tolerant and curious about how other people deal with life.

Posted on: November 9, 2009