Fire and Knowledge

Is a story interesting without drama? Without good guys and bad guys? Without both good and evil? Drama, tragedy, complication and other such techniques make stories interesting.

Why is that? Natural disasters are horrible – yet we like to read about them, talk about them, watch them on television. Murder is one of the worst things a person can do – yet we enjoy reading books and watching movies about murders. We are obviously very complicated. Or insane.

Perhaps we do this because good and evil actually exist, and we understand that evil is necessary. Life wouldn’t be interesting without evil. And goodness wouldn’t seem so good. Spring is beautiful, but it would not seem so beautiful if winter did not precede it. Or, to use Augustine’s famous analogy, a painting would not be so beautiful without a balance of dark colors and light colors.

Or perhaps we do this because there is no good and evil, and we project our experiences onto stories in order to cope with them. Since we have to deal with death, we like to read about death. It comforts us and helps us understand this crazy world.

I’ll take the answer that has good and evil.

People often wonder if animals will be in heaven. But people don’t seem to wonder if animals will be in hell. Why does God send humans to hell but not animals? In the Old Testament, animals who kill humans are put to death – there is a punishment. It is sin. But why doesn’t the animal suffer forever in torment (that is, hell)? Would it not make God more glorious if sin were justly punished? Does it not offend God infinitely, because he is infinitely holy? Or do animals not need redemption because they have lesser faculties than a human? Or was the sin of all animals atoned for by Jesus, so that while there is justice on earth (the animal is put to death), the wrath of God was quenched through Jesus? Or do animals not really sin?

Maybe we’ll find out the answer someday.

Defending belief can be a good thing — when something is true, it needs to be upheld and defended. But so often we defend what is wrong and refuse to listen to reason. In fact, we usually do little listening. Why is it that so many defend what they believe instead of seeking truth? Shouldn’t we be open to the fact that we are often wrong (and thus be open to other viewpoints) instead of assuming that everyone who doesn’t agree with us is wrong? It is hard to find a balance between defense and openness.