"That Shouldn't Be"

We often say that things just "shouldn't" exist. There are two reasons why we say this:

1) It's morally objectionable.

2) It's unpleasant to us, somehow, even if there's no inherent moral qualm with it.

The first one makes sense, and is part of the discernment we should have. A murderer shouldn't be murdering people, for example. Sin "shouldn't" be part of the world, and we should do our best to stop it, because the words "should" and "shouldn't", in this case, carry moral implications.

The second one gets a bit more complicated, though. In looking at some insects and plants a couple months ago, I found myself thinking that some of them were "gross" or "creepy" and thinking "why does something like that even exist? Something that creepy just shouldn't even be." But then I began to think... what makes me think that? What makes other people think that? Isn't God omnipotent? It's a subtle and seemingly harmless thought that there's an "error" in God's creation, but it can really warp our perception of the world. Every "gross" insect such as the crane fly; all of those strange-looking deep sea creatures such as the viperfish; every skunk that emits that infamous spray; every prickly plant; all of this was conceived by God. Crafted under His watchful eye, by the work of His hands. A lot of this is unpleasant to us for a number of reasons. Some are unpleasant because of irrational phobias, like insects. Some are unpleasant because they can pose a physical threat to us, like plants with thorns. But what we need to remember is, our perception does not equal an objective reality. There aren't any inherent mistakes in the world God created. Before sin entered the world, God declared creation "good", as mentioned several times in Genesis. We need to keep in mind that all of this was created with the fingerprint of God on it. It really, truly helps to look at freakish things like the viperfish and realize that the hand of God crafted it; that all of this has been created under the eyes of a watchful and wise God. And although I used the example of nature, since that's what got me thinking about this, it can apply to anything conceivably unpleasant to the senses.

Remember that "unpleasant" doesn't equal "wrong". The word wrong can only refer to information, and to morality.

If something "unpleasant" isn't "immoral" (ie murder) or "incorrect" (ie 2+2=5) then that unpleasant thing isn't "wrong", either.

May God bless and guide you all according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.