Thursday, September 14, 2006

Why Does Evil Mystify?

The shooting in Montreal is all over the news. Everyone is asking the 'why' question. I am absolutely amazed that people are reacting so incredulously. Yet, whenever another boundary or another taboo is dismissed by society, our experts all in one accord debate until the cows come home and assure the unthinking masses that 'this video game depicting violence won't harm anyone' or some similar rationalization. When you plant stinkweed in the spring, you cannot expect to harvest roses. Seems kind of fundamentally obvious. You have to be brilliant to miss it, I guess.

I believe Augustine was right. Evil is a privation of good. When you argue that lights are not necessary, you have to be blind to be mystified at where the darkness came from. Darkness didn't come from anywhere. It is simply goodness that has fled.

The question people ought to be asking is not, "Where did this evil come from?" Rather they ought to be asking, "Where has the goodness gone and why?"

-Werner Peters

Saturday, September 09, 2006


I tried to find a less pretentious sounding URL for this blog. There are hardly any English names available, so Scriptorum it is; the place where Scribes used to do their writing. I hope to be able to post resources and links for those on a similar journey to mine. Miscellaneus points to my varied interests, from photography to theology.

-Werner Peters