Our God — Page 199
Refutation of Arguments Supporting Atheism 199 though some details have yet to be resolved, we should accept it and leave the rest to God. Now I come to the actual answer. Harmfulness of certain things is expedient in that they sometimes help produce benefi- cial results. For example, snake venom is used as a remedy in some deadly diseases and, under the law of nature, this beneficial effect is inseparably linked with its poisonous effect. This harmfulness is also beneficial and advantageous in that it helps to indirectly pro- mote moral reformation and material progress. Every wise person will agree with me that occasional hardships and misfortunes are essential for the perfection of man’s morals. One who has never faced hardships and misfortunes in his life cannot achieve per- fection of his morals. Similarly, material progress is not possible without such challenges. Therefore, harmfulness in certain things is indirectly conducive to man’s benefit and progress. There must be many more, as yet undiscovered, benefits in it. One may ask, if these dangerous animals are actually benefi- cial for man, why are they destroyed and why does religion itself sometimes order us to keep killing them? As a general rule, nature requires a balance in everything, avoiding any gross deviation from the norm. The excess of things with obvious deleterious effects can cause more harm than good. Such things can remain predominantly beneficial if their number does not exceed a cer- tain limit. Therefore, in His ultimate wisdom, God has created these things and at the same time invested man with the tendency, and in certain cases explicitly ordered man, to prevent their excess beyond a certain limit. In this way, the balance of nature has been established. To summarise, that some things in this world have some