Dear Editor Warden:
I always read your editorial opinions and appreciate your thoughts. I write, however, to disagree in part with your Feb. 7 editorial Confirmation of the devil.
I certainly agree that evil exists and that the devil is real. I certainly disagree that “diabolic dualism” is the traditional Christian understanding of the problem of evil. And I emphatically disagree that evil is “beyond his [i.e.God’s] control.
Traditional dualism assumes that there are two separate Devine entities - one good and one evil - which are equally powerful; God representing the good entity and Satan representing the evil entity. This is not the traditional view of evil in Christian thought as Peck writes. The truth is that even though Satan has some power, he is no equal to God Almighty, for he was created by God as an angel before he rebelled. (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28: 13-17). The traditional Christian view of evil denies dualism. There are no two opposing forces of equal power called good and evil. Good (or righteousness), a primary attribute of God Almighty, is the most powerful force in the universe without exception. In the New Testament, every time there is a head-to-head match between Jesus Christ-God incarnate-and evil, as expressed in sin, illness, and demon possessing, good always triumphs. Jesus always has the last word over these things.
Whenever any theology portrays good and evil as two equal opposing forces, that doctrine contradicts the scriptural position that good, represented by God Almighty, is the dominant power in the universe. Since Satan was not, and never will be, equal to God, any doctrine that says he is can be marked as a false doctrine.
Our Lord’s miracles of healing, casting out demons, and forgiveness of sin reveals that evil is under his Devine authority and not beyond his control. We ought to be glad for that. A time is coming when God the Father will put all things under the sovereign reign of God the Son-including the Devil and evil.
Sincerely,
David Krueger
