Dame Julian of Norwich

I’ll be honest – I think I am completely missing the point of this reading. Is Julian saying there is no sin because there are no accidents and God made it that way? If people make mistakes, but it is because God wanted it to be so, is it really a sin? Or just part of the plan? Again, I’d genuine appreciate someone taking the time to straighten that out for me since I don’t know much about Christianity on a detailed level.

One quote that I found relatively confusing was “For man beholds some deeds as well done and some deeds as evil, but our lord beholds them not so, for as all that exists in nature is of God’s making, so all that is done is rightly of God’s doing.” Now, it isn’t saying that all that is done rightly is of God’s doing, it says everything that is done is rightly of God’s doing. So where does evil and Satan’s temptations come in? I am truly not meaning to offend anyone, but I am sincerely wondering about it all. My understanding is that God is just and right (even though you are supposed to love thy enemy and somehow kill them off at the same time) so everything He made is right. That being said, people would be right no matter what, correct? And if nothing is an accident, it can’t really be a sin, right?

Julian also goes on to say, “for there is no doer but he.” Again, is she saying there is no evil or Satan to tempt people? Or, since God also made Satan, would he not also be right and good no matter what he did? Why would he be evil if that is the case? Or, is it that God made Satan to be evil to tempt people and see if people made the “right” choice? If that is the answer, it just leads me to believe that God is manipulative and not into sharing and loving like we’re led to believe.

If there is someone willing to sit down and discuss this with me sometime, I’d be really grateful. Truly.