God, Self, and Evil: A Miracle Theodicy

For what did the perfect Son of God ask?

 

We have seen that the Course teaches that the Son of God was created perfect, meaning, among other things, that He has everything and lacks nothing. So, the question arises. How can the Son ask for something if He already has everything? If He lacks something He could have, then He would be imperfect. And if that is the case, the whole theoretical foundation of the Course collapses! For the foundation of the system, namely, that what God creates is perfect like Himself, would be shown false.

 

We must acknowledge that if the Son asks for something then He must believe He "lacks" the something He asks for. The Son’s request, then, involves at least three things:

a) He thinks there is something He does not have.

b) He believes it is possible to have this thing.

c) He wants the thing He does not have.

 

Keeping in mind all we said previously about God and His creations, let us further consider each of these three points:

a) It does seem that there is something the Son does not have. He does not have sole creatorship of anything, i.e., there is nothing that ONLY HE created. Nothing He created alone or on His own. Nor does He have first creatorship of anything, i.e., there is nothing of which He is the one WHO FIRST created it.

 

b) The Son could believe it is possible to have what He does not have. Why so? Because in eternity /reality SOMEONE DOES HAVE IT. God, His Father, has it! So, maybe He, the Son, can too. The idea is not inherently contradictory. Nor is it an idea that comes into eternity/reality from outside reality. It is not, for example, an idea like “wouldn’t it be fun to play baseball.” That idea does not exist in eternity. So, it would make no sense for the Son to think it was possible to accomplish.    

 

c) Given that the Son believes it is possible to be a sole creator, it is understandable He may want it. For if He does create something on His own, He would not only have what He co-creates with His Creator, but also what He creates on His own. Something for which His Father would give Him special love or special favor. Thus, He would have everything and something more! And so, the Son asks His Father to allow Him to create something on His own.

 

And His Father does not give it! From the last chapter we know the rest of the story. When the Father did not give it, the Son made of Him an unloving father, demanding of Him what only such a father could give. And in His attempt to get what He asked for, the Son’s mind split. One part of His mind remains co-creator with His Father, for It cannot change or be changed. The other part of his mind is aware only of what it "created" (miscreated or made) on its own. This miscreation exists only in his mind apart from God’s Mind. This mind is called the separated mind of God’s Son or the split mind. This mind now is unaware of reality. (In that sense it is “sleeping”.)  It has made a substitute reality (which the Course calls a “dream”). Only what God creates is creative, eternal, real and perfect.

 

At this point we have resolved the paradox. It is indeed possible to say without contradiction that the Son was created perfect, and yet there is something in reality He does not have. But we have seen that it is something He cannot have if He, and all creation, is to remain perfect. And it must remain perfect, for this is God’s Will. The Son does not have sole creatorship of anything, which only the Prime Creator of ALL creations can have, but the Son does have everything a perfectly CREATED being can have.

 

Excerpted with slight editing from God, Self, And Evil: A Miracle Theodicy, Chapter 9. Copyright 2002, 2022.