Evil

There is a popular “question” among atheist that goes like this; “If God is good, then why does evil exists?” I have to admit. This is a very good question, but we are not allowed to answer ALL questions.

Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are. Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation. Proverbs 26:4-5

There you have it. Clear as mud.

Have you ever had someone ask you a question, but they asked in such a way that it was clear they were looking for an argument, NOT an answer? I have taken that bait many times, and those are hours of my life I can never get back. I have flushed time (and brain cells) down the toilet dealing with people like this. Jesus knew how to deal with them. He perceived their motive, and would just offend them. I was asked this question recently. The person WAS looking an answer, so let’s take a stab.

How can a God, who contains no evil, create a world that seems to have so much of it? Even the Bible records this paradox.

There are three things that amaze me—no, four things that I don’t understand: How an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman. Proverbs 30:18-19

Using this metaphor, the Bible asks the same question. How do you reconcile evil (snake) operating so freely in God’s created world (rock)?

To help answer this question, we have to define evil. What is evil? Did God create it? Let’s say I gave you a delicate and beautiful piece of glass. After taking it, you accidentally drop it. It is now hundreds of sharp jagged pieces. Did I create that? No, YOU did. Understanding evil requires you to understand free will.

As a child, I remember receiving a Lego set for Christmas. Immediately after opening it, my dad began building his masterpiece. After consuming all the pieces, the spaceship was complete. He was so proud of his creation, that he set it on top the television for 2 days. And for those 2 days, I was banned from playing with my Lego set. You see, though the Lego set was mine, I could not be trusted with it. I received my Lego set on Dec. 25Th. I received the freedom to play with it (destroy his ship, to create my own) on Dec. 28Th.

God created this world, and it WAS good. It was good, because He created it that way. But that all changed shortly after signing it over to us. Adam and Eve dropped it, and it hasn’t been the same since. God didn’t create evil, we did. God created a delicate, beautiful, but fragile world. And we broke it. When we try to pick up the pieces, we are in essence, doing GOOD. It is a GOOD thing to feed the hungry and give to the poor. By doing those things, we are repairing this ALREADY broken world.

Evil is an illusion in the since that, it doesn’t exist. Evil is just a word we use to describe a place where there is NO GOOD. Darkness doesn’t exist either. You can’t measure darkness. Darkness is term we use to explain the absence of light. Cold also doesn’t exist. We determine how cold it is by measuring how much HEAT is present. Cold is a word we use to explain how little heat there is. At -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, there is absolutely NO heat. You can’t get colder than that. They call this Absolute Zero.

In Exodus 4, God gave Moses a powerful lesson about evil. God tells Moses to go into Egypt and lead His people of out of the hands of Pharaoh. Moses protested and told God that they would never believe him. God told him to immediately throw down his staff. As soon as the staff was thrown down, it became a snake. The Lord then instructs Moses to grab it by the tail. When Moses reached out and grabbed the tail, it became a staff again.

When God created the world, he created it perfect, good, and straight. It wasn’t until man dropped it, that it became broken and bent. God didn’t create evil. Evil is the result of God giving us a world and us throwing it to the ground. All it takes is someone with the courage to pick it up by the tail. We are here to fix the world. We are here to repair it. We are here to restore it. EVIL is an effect resulted by GOOD not having an affect.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Why do we allow snakes to slither on rocks? Obviously, we’re afraid we might get bit.