Evil in less than 2 weeks

Marks of evil: Scarred Slave.

Evil is a complicated topic. There is much disagreement on the details of it.

I will be attempting to open the topic up to reflection and discussion on April 30th. (Bethesda EC Church, Reedsville, 9:30am)

To learn more or prep yourself for the class, you can read a few posts I’ve already done on the topic, here, or this one on hell here. You can read the information wikipedia has offered, and click here.

I highly recommend N T Wright’s work on the topic. “Evil and the Justice of God”. Really clever stuff!

Here’s a 2:47 minute video promo on the book:

Even more interesting (and NOT a promo piece for the book) is Wright’s response on Hell. About 3:16 minutes.

On April 30th, we’ll encounter “Theodicy”, also known as the topic of why a good God allows evil, and these such questions:

• What or who is evil?

• What is the point of evil?

• Why does God let evil happen?

• What should we do about it?

So, I’m putting those tough questions out to you. Maybe you’ll help me prepare for the class a bit better. What is a “must” to include in my lesson? What bit about “understanding” evil has been most helpful to you?

Thanks for your help.
-Lisa

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Spark My Muse

Lisa Colón DeLay writes often on matters of the attending to the inner life, creating a beloved community, spiritual formation, and consciousness. She is also a designer, teacher, speaker, and host of the weekly broadcast Spark My Muse since 2015. Lisa is Latina (born in Puerto Rico) and holds an MA in Spiritual Formation and is the author of "The Wild Land Within" (Broadleaf Books) and other books.

19 thoughts on “Evil in less than 2 weeks”

  1. GOOD questions. I don’t think I have any answers. :) But I, too, wonder: is “evil” just the scary movie, Satanic worship type stuff or is it anything that is anti-Christ? Tough stuff if it’s the latter. And what about the humorizing (is that a word?) of evil, like Dr. Evil in “Austin Powers”? Does the current generation really know what evil is? Do they care? Do we? The consequences of evil in the Bible were often swift and, to us, would seem unfair. Like whole families killed so the evil wouldn’t spread to future generations. Pretty sure that wouldn’t be a popular policy in today’s world. Those are my initial thoughts. Sometimes I have to let things simmer in the brain cooker for a while, so if I think of anything else, you’ll hear from me. Great topic!

  2. From a purely humanistic point of view, there is no such thing as evil. There is only the absence of good. It is similar to dark vs. light. There is no darkness, only the absence of light. Similarly, hot and cold. There is no such thing as cold, only the absence of heat.
    The dividing line between good and evil is relative to what each person believes. When you overlay everyone’s beliefs from Hitler to Mother Theresa, you get a huge gray area in which people struggle with what separates good and evil.
    Is it evil to speed, thus breaking the law? What about borrowing without asking, or getting a bigger TV because my best friend did, or tell a lie so as to not offend.
    We all tend to justify our interpretation of just where that line falls, and that is where the problem lies. The humanistic baseline is horribly corrupt.
    God’s baseline both transcends our perspectives and influences. We cannot move his line, though we try. Jesus tells us that only God is good, which really pushes the baseline way right. In fact, it could be argued that anything less that perfect IS evil in God’s measuring system.
    In the end, the judgement between good and evil comes on the measuring rod that he lays out. It is only through Christ that we can hope to land on the side of good.

  4. Jeff got it right, of course (although it is not a humanistic but a Christian argument): evil is in an important sense the absence of good. This view derives from the neo-Platonist philosopher Plotinus, through Pseudo-Dionysius (“What we are left with is this, namely, that evil is a weakness and a deficiency of the Good.” [from The Divine Names]) on into Augustine and ultimately landing right in the lap of C. S. Lewis: “All Hell is smaller than one atom of this world, the Real World. Look at yon butterfly. If it swallowed Hell, Hell would not be big enough to do it any harm. . . .Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good.” (The Great Divorce)

    Lewis does offer us one interesting refinement (if I’m getting Lewis right; I may not be): evil as the perversion of tragedy. Lewis argued (and I can’t find the exact reference; that’s why I’m tentative here) that even in an unfallen world there would still be suffering of some kind, tragedy of some kind: otherwise there would be no room for sacrifice, no room for pain. “I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes.” (Out of the Silent Planet).

    Evil, then, would be the “pure” danger, the “pure” pain of necessary risk or sacrifice, inflicted deliberately and without necessity. Maybe that’s the reason behind extreme sports?

    Jeff is also right about “the line.” Solzhenitsyn wrote that “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

  6. I like Kafka’s quote, “Evil is whatever distracts.” Though I feel it should taken a step further – evil is whatever distracts us from a relationship with God.

    God allows us the freedom to choose whether or not we pursue a relationship with Him. That basically allows evil to exist, but would we really have it any other way?

    What should we do about it? Seek God with all our hearts.

  7. I think the point of evil is power or at the very least the illusion of having power. My thinking is colored by my experiences working with teenagers and they are all power obsessed. Not power obsessed in the way Hitler was, but they are looking to establish themselves as powerful among their peers, looking to show their power and use their power for the entire point of power – self interest.

  8. I agree that selfishness has much to do with what evil we may do…. your explanation doesn’t touch on “evil” forces of nature, terminal diseases, or profound disability, and those types of things many will term “evil”… what say you to that aspect, Charlie? :)

    Larry: I think that’s a great response to evil has we choose it or not choose it, individually….But what of the evil injustice in the world? What about the unavoidable “evils” of this broken earth? How does “Seeking God” play out in these dimensions? Could you unpack what that “looks like”.

  9. I think many of the responses above touch on a foundational question that needs to be answered before the discussion can progress; namely, what is the scope of evil (i.e., what do you mean by “evil”) ? I would be more likely to group terminal disease, natural disasters, etc. as “evils” we experience in life. But are they Evil? And are we right to make a distinction between the two? Certainly, if we start to talk about Evil vs. evils we begin to wrestle with the controversial idea (at least, in today’s culture) of there being an Evil force out to cause as much destruction and chaos and death as possible. In this case, the traditional explanation of Evil as the absence of good or God begins to buckle under the weight of such a concept (how can Evil simply be the absence of good if it is actively trying to cause harm?) .

    Should we then distinguish between active and passive Evil? If there is an Evil force at work in the world, what makes us think it’s sphere of influence is limited to human hearts (as if that’s not enough)? Could it also work it’s destructive force in the natural world? If so, then shouldn’t we expand our notion of salvation to include the whole of creation, which would also seem to be affected by Evil?

    How many licks does it truly take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop? (sorry, I had to introduce a little levity – for my own sake, at least). Seriously though, I’m sorry to ask so many questions. I continue to wrestle with this topic along with all of you.

  10. Evil is as evil does………….
    Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
    Matthew 7:16-20

  11. As do I. The questions you pose are important. The more I study, the more I realize the foolishness of thinking I can make much sense of it. It’s a baffling topic once you really get started, and I don’t expect to to arrive at firm answers, but instead make sure it’s encountered in a deeper and more informed way.

    I really appreciate the responses of all of you, whether they be insights, random thoughts, or questions.

  14. Lisa,
    Interesting post as usual! I read Wright’s “Evil and the Justice of God” in a grad seminar on the problem of evil. It was one of the few books I read in the seminar that I liked. Another one is “The Problem of Evil & the Problem of God” by D.Z Phillips. It’s more philosophical than Wright’s but raises some important points regarding our conceptions of God and evil as well as how the argument is framed. One thing I appreciate about Wright’s book is his portrayal of the cross and the place for Christian response to evil. These elements are overlooked in most explanations of the problem. Keep up the great work as you prepare for Easter.

  15. I have thought long and hard about this Lisa…..

    I could come up with one thing…

    Anything that comes between My Father and I is evil.

  16. Evil, biblically, means one who does harm to people. An “evil” spirit is not one that is in opposition to God, except to do harm to humans.

    Why does evil exist? First, because God placed humans in charge over the earth. God gave a sliver of his sovereignty to humanity, and humanity chose to use that sovereignty for selfish, destructive motives.

    However, most evil is simply ignorance– not thinking about what harm we cause others–, judgment–punishing others for harms we think they have done– or systemic– participating in a system which benefits some by harming others. Satan, as an evil force, is the head of a system of judgment.

    We do evil to God by separating ourselves from Him by disobeying His will or by doing actions of hatred toward Him. We cannot truly harm God, but we can harm our relationship with Him and we can harm those who are made in His image. If we harm our relationship with God, that leads us to more evil, for all good things come from God.

  17. From John Milbank “Theology & Social Theory”

    “If nothing is evil insofar as it exists, then it is only evil in terms of its failure to be related to God, to infinite peace, and to other finite realities with which it should be connected to forma patter of true desire. Evil becomes the denial of the hope for, and the present reality of, community. “

  18. Lisa,
    I did a serious study (but lacking in good scholarly quoting) a while back on this subject. The main context was the evil nature of a person, which I eventually begin to think of as the “self-destructive” nature. Being a designer, I drew some diagrams and stuff to help explain myself… Take a look if you’d like – maybe its useful. :)

    http://truthandpurpose.com/?p=86

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