Article July 20, 2009 Issue

FACING DOWN THE TRAP OF EVIL

GAIL GILLILAND

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Like Many Active Adults, I take various exercise, dance, and stretch classes. I've come to think of the time I spend in these activities as additional ways I can praise God—through grace, rhythm, strength, and focus.

A couple of years ago, I added yoga sessions to my routine. At the end of each, the master teacher usually offered a short inspirational saying, followed by a collective "Om." I figured the teacher was entitled to his or her spiritual take on things, and I to mine, but I always made sure I agreed with the saying before I joined in with the "Om!"

So I was taken aback one day when an instructor offered this thought: "Everything that happens on Earth happens with God's permission." Everything? Everything, whether bad or good, happens with God's permission? I couldn't accept that at all and went home troubled. For one thing, I've known a number of Holocaust survivors, and the best I've ever been able to do to address that awful injustice, when so many millions died, was to accept that it could not have come from God and could not have been part of His purpose for humanity.

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