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September 15, 1643 (Wednesday) - Mathilda Potter’s Perspective
Dearest Father,
I find myself in need of your counsel on a matter of such sensitivity that I dare not commit it to writing. No, I am not with child. Would it be possible for you to visit me here?
Mathilda
I sealed it with a sigh, knowing full well that the answer would be no, that his duties as curate would prevent him from leaving his parish.
In any event, my father would tell me the same thing he always did - either think it through logically or, if that doesn’t work, pray for guidance.
Sigh. Starting with thinking it through logically.
Is Anthracyda evil? If I believe evil is a shortage of good, then either nothing is evil or everything other than God is somewhat evil. Under this view, Anthracyda is only evil if humans themselves are evil.
If I believe in evil as a thing in itself, then I distinguish between those who take joy in the suffering of others, those who merely act from selfishness and do not pay attention to whether their actions cause others to suffer and those who care about others. Anthracyda does not appear to either take joy in the suffering of others nor does it seem to act from selfishness, and it does seem to care about the sufferings of other beings. It would not appear to be evil under this view either.
The only remaining allegation that Anthracyda is evil is simply the claim that all supernatural beings must be spirits and the only spirits on earth are fallen angels. Fallen angels are evil because of their rejection of God and their intent to lead humans away from God. The fact that Anthracyda has its own bible might be taken to imply such an intent, except that Anthracyda explicitly said that it would not disrespect my religion and asked me not to disrespect its religion.
But the Bible talks about unclean spirits, therefore implying that there are clean spirits. Anthracyda, at the moment, would seem to fall into the clean spirit category.
Thus, I must conclude that logically, Anthracyda is not an evil spirit. Young as she is, Sussana is right - not everything is in the Bible. After all, it does not name me or my parents.
The comment that Anthracyda made about being 110 million years old is concerning, however. What if it is playing out a very long strategy? But that way madness lies. I might as well suspect every rock and tree of having a long strategy of deception.
Shaking my head, I placed the sealed letter inside the bible laying on the table, postponing the decision of whether to send it.
Next - Fiona, Clarice and Sussana (September 16, 1643)