Does Evil Exist Today?
Neuroscientists answer “No, evil does not exist today”. These brain scientists say there is no such thing as “free will” with which to decide to commit evil. They proselytize that autonomous, conscious decision-making itself may well be an illusion. And thus, intentional evil is impossible. That we are all innocent, some afflicted with defects—“brain bugs” as one new pop-neuroscience book calls them—that cause the behavior formerly known as evil.
Even some religious thinkers continue to debate what evil is—and why a just and loving God permits evil and the hideous suffering it entails to prevail so often, or even—if they shift the blame to us (because God gave man free will to sin)—why God couldn’t have created a human nature that would not so readily choose immorality and wickedness.
Both of the above groups form opinions based on what they observe and learn in a very self-centered and confused world of people doing what is right in their own eyes. Their approaches deny and/or overlook what the Creator God has educated us in the Bible concerning this subject.
I like the modern parable with the interplay between a college professor and a student which begins with a question from the student. “Does evil exist?” The professor answers, “Of course, it exists. We see it every day in cruelty, crime, and violence throughout the world. These are nothing but manifestations of evil.” The student responds, “Evil does not exist, or it does not exist for itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is like darkness and cold. Darkness is the absence of light and cold is the absence of heat. Evil is a man-made word to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not faith or love. Evil is the result of the absence of Divine Love in the human heart. It is the kind of cold that comes when there is no heat and the kind of darkness that comes when there is no light.”
Using the student’s reasoning, we can begin to understand a little of the one thing that God told man and woman that they could not do in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:16-17) God did not want to create robots, so He created man with “freedom of choice”. With this God must provide the circumstances for man to make a free decision. They could eat of the Tree of Life and live eternally in the goodness and presence of God. However, if they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die which would separate them from the goodness and presence of God because they would then know evil is the absence of God and His goodness. The good news is that God has provided The Way through a redeemer and savior, Jesus Christ, for each of us to once again be in God’s presence and His goodness on this earth through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and eventually in an eternal Paradise with the Tree of Life in the goodness and presence of God. (Revelation 22:1-5)
Christian philosopher J. P. Moreland has noted, “Evil is a lack of goodness. It is goodness spoiled.” Or as Christian apologist Greg Koukl has said, “Human freedom was used in such a way as to diminish goodness in the world, and that diminution, that lack of goodness, that is what we call evil.”
“God is love” (1 John 4:8); the absence of love in a person is un-God-like and therefore evil. And an absence of love manifests itself in unloving behavior. The same can be said concerning God’s mercy, justice, patience, etc. The lack of these godly qualities in anyone constitutes evil. That evil then manifests itself in behavior that is unmerciful, unjust, impatient, etc., bringing more harm into the good world that God has made. As it turns out, we lack a lot: “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one’” (Romans 3:10).
God is not the author of evil; rather, it is the absence of Him and His goodness and love that defines it. Created in God’s image, we bear the responsibility to make choices that please God and conform to His will. He wills our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3) and does not wish us to sin (James 1:13). In repentance and faith in Christ, we have forgiveness of sin and a reversal of the evil within us (Acts 3:19). As God’s children, we walk according to this command: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
Christianity is the world’s largest religion with 31% adherents. It would be presumptuous to assume that all of these have truly accepted Christ as their Savior and Lord. God knows exactly the ones who are true believers (Romans 8:14-17) and have indwelled them with His Holy Spirit who is His presence on this earth. If you remove all the indwelled believers and the Holy Spirit from earth, then you have no presence of God with His goodness and love. And that is what is called “Hell” (lake of fire in Revelation 20) which is an eternal “evil” existence without the presence, goodness and love of God. True believers in Christ are seeing their “only glimpse” of the eternal Hell through the evil on this earth today and the majority of the earth inhabitants are seeing their “only glimpse” of the eternal Heaven through the Holy Spirit indwelled believers in Jesus Christ.
