The question of good and evil

.
The question of good and evil is probably the oldest occupying the mind of man. If God created the universe, this question can only be answered by taking Gods viewpoint. Of course, I have to imagine taking Gods viewpoint, because I am a man, a created being.
I can only tell you what I believe about God. I believe this about God as this faith was the outcome of my serious meditation and prayer. I cannot prove to you it is true. It's open to you what you believe. This is what I believe.
God created the universe from Gods desire to love. Imagine you're all alone, then you want someone to who you can give out your love. The Creator wanted to give out love, wanted to create a universe to give love to. Creativity and the desire to give out love are very much the same. When you love someone, you want to make that person happy, you want to make that person blossom, and you want to create something for that person. You love a person and from your loving heart ideas sprout how to make that person happy.
I believe God is like that and I believe that Gods creativity and desire to make happy form the deepest motivation behind the formation of the entire universe.
Im still trying to take Gods viewpoint. When you created something, let's say a beautiful painting, you put your love into it, you want the painting to shine out and give good feelings to people watching it, and someone comes with a brush with tar and puts black dots all over your painting. Now your painting doesn't give joy anymore. You feel pain deep in your heart. Your efforts are wasted, your creative expression smeared with smudge, -- its just horrible.
One day God made a banana. I imagine God (he/she) was thinking a banana had to be delicious for small children, not too sour, and soft because small children dont have teeth yet, protected by a nice skin, fitting into your hands. Of course, I am imagining this and cannot prove it, but a banana gives me that feeling. I don't want to go into the arguments of evolutionists or their opponents. I don't state anything against either group. I'm approaching the topic from the viewpoint of love, of Gods love I suppose.
God created people. It's fine to give your love to a flower, its nice to give your love to animals, but to give your love to people beats everything. It must be very challenging, even to God. People speak back, have their opinion about everything and may even tell you that you dont exist. How are you going to give your love to someone who bluntly tells you that you dont exist? You made the Sun shine on that person, configured the Earth as a womb for that persons birth, and then that person tells you that you dont exist!
Feeling and imagining God to be like that, I get a grasp of what goodness means. Goodness has to mean everything that's done in line with Gods original creative desire. Such good deeds will also reinforce good intentions of other people, The opposite, evil, is when something is done that destroys Gods original desire of creativity and love.
Please note, I haven't said anything about whom or what in daily life must be considered to be evil. I am just stating a principle. I'm not going to translate that principle to apply it to daily life, because I believe that's a very complicated and tricky thing altogether. How often the best among us were treated as evil and how often those who trampled upon the happiness of others were hailed as saints.
May 20, 2006