Fourth Note to “Death Before Dying”

And of course, all of this is quite dandy and swell, except for the question of evil which we alluded to in a set of earlier posts. This question of how a benevolent God can allow evil to exist is resolved theoretically by contending that man can find himself in one of only two conditions or situations: closeness to God, or distance from God. Closeness suggests deliverance from evil, while distance translates into an entanglement with evil. This is how the mystics resolve the question of evil, which is in fact the sole hindrance or obstacle in the way of accepting or acceding to God and believing in his existence.