Commentary on Statements of Faith: The Problem of Evil

Evil is a problem---no doubt about it! Here is a Christian perspective with answers to the six primary journalistic questions about it.

What is evil?

        Webster's definition is "something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity"; the Oxford dictionary says "bad, sin, harm". If we have any glimmer of an idea what evil is, these definitions are understated. The Bible's description of loathsomeness, pain, frustration, hopelessness, fear, horror, hate and terror hardly seems in the same league as the dictionaries indicate. Essentially, the Bible's definition of evil is "disobedience or opposition to God, and the consequences".

        Relevant Scriptures:

• They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity...envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice...gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful...they disobey their parents...senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless... Romans 1:29-31

Where did it start? And when?

        Most of us think of Adam and Eve and the temptation by the serpent (the Devil) in the garden of Eden. Unfortunately, evil goes farther back than that. The Bible pictures a magnificent spiritual being named Lucifer, who wanted to supplant God. He was subdued and expelled from heaven, but not completely crushed. This creature became Satan and it was he who appeared in the garden to tempt Adam and Eve. Their disobedience ("The Fall") is the origin of evil on earth and this fault, this propensity to disobey, has been inherited by every human being since.

        Relevant Scriptures:

• Jesus replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Luke 10:18.
• As in Adam all die... 1 Corinthians 15:22.
• ...the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men... Romans 5:18

Who does it?

According to the Bible, EVERYBODY!

        Relevant Scriptures:

• There is not a righteous man on the earth who does what is right and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20.
• ...every inclination of the thoughts of [man's] heart was only evil all the time.  Genesis 6:5.

Why is it done?

        We can't help it! Just as genetics and DNA seem to point back in mankind's history to common origins, we also have a common soulish or spiritual origin as well. We might almost say that "spiritual genetics" keep us doing evil, even when we don't want to, just as physical genetics keep us brown-eyed or musical or curly-haired, when we might want to be something else.

        Relevant Scriptures:

• For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'.  Matthew 15:19
• I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  Romans 7:18.

How is it done?

        Everybody knows how evil is done. Why re-state the obvious? Simply because evil comes in every shade. Great evils like the Holocaust or Pearl Harbour or the WTC attack (dare we even include Hiroshima as a great evil of war?) are probably no darker than organized crime that promotes the drug trade or prostitution. Over the ages, thousands, perhaps millions, have died because of the latter two vices. But that little lie or that hateful thought is still some shade of grey, it is disobedience to God's will.

        Relevant Scriptures:

• ...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.  Isaiah 64:6.

Should it be stopped? Why?

        If no effort is made to stop sin, it always escalates. Witness the Arab/Jew conflict in the middle east or the so-called Protestant/Catholic confrontations in Ireland, or the Hindu/Muslim massacres in India. What about the aunts or uncles who haven't spoken to each other in fifty years because of some disagreement?

        Relevant Scriptures:

• ...lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.  Matthew 6:13.

Can we stop it in ourselves? In others?

        Have you ever tried to go through a day without sinning? Good luck! But you can't do it. You may have cursed the alarm clock the moment you woke, you probably had vengeful thoughts against fellow employees or supervisors before you finished washing, envy of other's cars may have taken over before you got to work, and lust may have overwhelmed you as you passed through the lobby. You can't stop sin in yourself. Don't kid yourself about stopping it in others, even friends.

        Relevant Scriptures:

• ...when I hoped for good, evil came.  Job.30:26.
• ...the evil I do not want to do---this I keep on doing.  Romans 7:19.

What is the near result of evil? The ultimate result?

        The earliest result is personal unhappiness. This can spread as a mild disease, to infect your family, your friends, your workmates and neighbours. The same unease and unhappiness in others bumps into yours and magnifies to property and money disputes, to civil strife and full-blown war. God punishes sin with death, but after death there is further punishment.

        Relevant Scriptures:

• The soul who sins is the one who will die.  Ezekiel 18:4.
• ...you have punished us less than our sins have deserved.  Ezra 9:13.
• ...the evil man has no future hope.  Proverbs 24:20.
• ...with You the wicked cannot dwell.  Psalm 5:4.
• The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son... John 5:22.
• ...those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.  John 5:29.

What is the remedy for evil?

        How can we gauge the value of one wrong act or thought? It is like a gold ring with "just a dab of mercury put to it" from a broken thermometer. The gold is no longer pure and the ring will fall apart. How much mercury does it take to do this?---only a drop. A similar analogy might be drawn---how big a sin makes a person "impure"? The answer, obviously, is "any size". We may have the power to refrain from "really big" sins like murder, and even smaller ones like theft or pilfering, but who can resist envy or jealousy? As the size of the sin decreases (as we would judge), the power needed to resist it goes up astronomically. We need infinite power to resist the smallest sin. We haven't got it! We need help. And this is the remedy for evil---faith in Jesus Christ, God's infinitely pure, infinitely holy Son.

        Relevant Scriptures:

• Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of the people.  Hebrews 9:27.
• Christ has appeared once for all in the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.  Hebrews 9:26.
• You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Romans 5:6.
• ...the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  1 John 1:7.