[BeksTeene]

Byron wrote:




Two things I gather from the responses so far:

2.Cockroaches and other 'icky' creatures were created in God's infinite wisdom, and do not have to conform to our aesthetic criteria in order to have their rightful place in the creation. The fact of their existence, their being, is in itself evidence of their being part of God's 'good' (not necessarily beautiful) creation. This is a rational enough way to understand things, but what about the fact that the existence of some creatures actually spells suffering and disease for humans? Didn't God make man the steward of creation? If we eat a piece of pork and get tapeworm, how can the parasitic existence of this creature which is now feeding on us, be 'good'?
I meant that the baboon's mother sees the truth about her offspring!

Look- from the Patristic, and I am sure from the Orthodox perspective, all of God's creation is good and hence it is beautiful.

Anything that to us looks ugly within this creation is due to our short sightedness brought on by sin or to the ravages of the Fall on this creation which also is brought on by sin. In any case though this hasn't changed the essential nature of creation, it only has distorted it.

Thus, as an example, if to us the tapeworm is ugly that is partly due to how we are blind to its created beauty. But also it is because we react to the way in which its present activity relates to the corrupt conditions of the Fall.

In Christ- Fr Raphael