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Evil FAQs

From the beginning of time, the problem of evil in the world has both drawn people to God as well as turned them away from Him. Evil can scare us into submission, and we often use it as an excuse for all kinds of behavior, including denying the existence of God altogether. Many do not believe evil exists and many others see it behind every bush.

The following is just the tip of the iceberg. Study on your own is always encouraged.

What is evil?

• Evil is not subjective, it is real – It is not a being, a thing, a substance or entity. It is not created and things are not evil in themselves.

• Evil is a corruption of good – the lack of good. It is as darkness is to light. Darkness is nothing in itself – simply the lack of light.

• It is misused freedom, good things in a wrong relationship – Evil appears when good is not where it is supposed to be.

• Things left to themselves do not improve – in fact they run down, fall apart, become corrupted, everything literally goes to hell, if left alone, or on its own.

• Like tarnish on a silver pitcher, someone must intervene to bring back proper order. It needs to be polished. Weeds need to be pulled, mildew in the shower cleaned, cars tuned, bridges repainted, streets repaved, carpets cleaned, clutter put away.

• But even the most diligent care or concern on our part won’t keep evil away or the process from continuing on and on – We need some help…

• Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 11:23-26 

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters. When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” NIV 

• Someone good needs to move into our clean house. We cannot leave it vacant.

There are three kinds of evil

Each one is a corruption of its original intent.

Demonic or Spiritual Evil – the serpent in the garden

• This preceded human sin because Satan and his demons were originally angels in heaven serving God. Once they were good, the most beautiful creations, but now are corrupted and ugly.

• Satan is a real and personal being.  He was the real cause behind Job’s suffering – but he still had to get permission from God first. Read the actual account below.

The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied.  “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Job 1:6-12 NIV

And he did strike everything Job had.

• Listen again to what Jesus says in Luke 22:31-34 to Peter

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But Peter replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”  NIV

And he did.

• Satan’s modus operandi is deception and lies. He appeals to our natural selfish desires to be in charge – to be the boss of ourselves, all the while using sinister and sustained personal attacks and temptation to encourage sin and sideline us from the greater battle.

• This greater battle is his epic struggle with God in the heavenlies – that started way before the incident in the garden.  Satan’s downfall was pride. He wanted to be God, not a servant of God and the battle continues to this day. (See Isaiah 14: 12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-18)

• His ultimate desire is that we believe he does not exist at all.  

Moral Evil – the evil we do – or sin

• This results from our current state of alienation from God and is universal to all mankind. We are born into it.

• It exists because long ago one man and woman betrayed a trust by believing the very clever lies of Satan over the truth of God. Adam and Eve misplaced their allegiance, misused their free will and sin entered the world.

• Sin can be blatant and obvious, but also very subtle, manifesting itself through pride, sensuality, fear, self pity, envy and greed. These are common to all men and women and if not properly dealt with will result in guilt, bondage, death, and hell.

• We cannot overcome it by our own efforts – someone needs to move in.

Physical evil – impact of moral sin on creation

This is the result of the winding down of creation and the effects of moral sin on creation, mankind, culture and society. It will manifest itself in natural disasters, disease, accidents, and the groaning of creation resulting in individual or mass physical suffering.

While we may think we are evolving into a better, modern, healthier, safer and saner society  – evil is taking its toll in the underbelly of our world, distracting us from God and encouraging us to believe only in ourselves – hoping we won’t bother to look under the covers, or do anything about it.

Not only do we need someone to move in – we need someone to recreate us and our world.

Does evil disprove God?

Well, this is the big question isn’t it?  Somehow many claim to believe that the existence of evil proves that God can’t exist because if He really was a God worth believing in He would certainly do something about it, keep bad things from happening, save all those starving children, keep our loved ones from dying, make our lives free and easy all the time……

But there we go again, making ourselves the judge of the Transcendent God, like we are His moral equal. Let’s consider the following.

• The fact that we are upset and concerned about outrageous evil presupposes there is a difference between good and evil.

• Where did that standard come from? From the moral law we received from God when we were made in His image. It’s still within us even though we are separated from Him, our conscience knows what is right and wrong.

• If you don’t believe any moral code or law exists, then anything goes – feeding the poor is no different than burning down an orphanage or blowing an airplane full of people out of the sky.

• And who decides? What one person thinks is ok may be the opposite of what another believes. Eventually our moral codes will rub up against each other and innocent people will be caught in the crossfire. What about them?

• It is self defeating to acknowledge evil and then claim there is no God.

• You can’t know a line is crooked unless you put it next to a straight line.

Why do we ask Why?

How does the world respond to evil?  Why do we expect better?

Why is it that only the horrible, monstrous cases, without any extenuating circumstances make us ask, “Why?”. One murder is no longer shocking  – But a schoolroom of children, or an entire building blown up gets our attention.

Some evils we accept as necessary because they have extenuating circumstances. Maybe there was a good reason for it, it’s understandable. We can see ourselves in the same situation doing the same thing. Or, perhaps we think the people must have deserved it  - had it coming, were asking for trouble.

We pretty much live in Denial – We focus on the good in the world and rationalize the bad. If we did acknowledge our evil potential, then we would have to change. We really don’t want to change, we just want to escape the consequences.

We think it would be wonderful if we would all try to make a difference. But, in a voyeuristic way we are drawn to evil, excited by it, entertained by it, and yet seem surprised when it becomes a reality.

We marvel at the readiness of normal decent people to harm or allow harm to others if the conditions are right – seeking to realize goals of security, ego gratification or satisfaction of bodily desires.

Most of us know we need to change from within and most of us want to – if we could still be in charge. Instead we try to produce justice, peace and prosperity by restraining ourselves and others – by putting restraints upon what would harm us. We make laws, we regulate, we judge.

Personal responsibility is no longer good enough. We know ourselves and we are not to be trusted. We need no training to sin. We blame others, we blame God.

Then we decide there must not be a God, because if there was – He would never allow these things to happen.

But we still ask Why?

Can evil be redeemed?

How do we respond to evil?

Can any Good come of it?

As Job was going through his numerous trials, he asked the age old and often asked question, “Why is this happening to me?”.

His wife’s answer was to “Curse God and Die” – she had stopped believing in God – but was still blaming Him.

His friends encouraged him by proclaiming it must have been his fault and he was only getting what he deserved.

What was God’s answer? He just showed him Himself and that was enough for Job.  Job’s suffering had brought him face to face with God.  It had hollowed out a big space inside him that only God could fill.

As Corrie Ten Boom said following her sufferings in the Nazi prison camps of WWII …….

“No matter how deep our darkness, He is deeper still.”

God can create Good from the sufferings caused by Evil.

• It brings us closer to God as we share in His sufferings – we don’t usually seek Him when all is well. We need to get to a place where we are not capable of controlling the outcome to give the control to Him. Rom.8:17, I Cor. 10:13, 2 Cor. 4:17-18
• It provides correction – hopefully we learn from our mistakes and develop experience and wisdom to help others. We learn right and wrong – even as we suffer the logical consequences.  Ps. 119:71
• It develops, refines and purifies our character – James 1: 2-4, John 15:1-2
• It produces courage, wisdom, temperance and justice – Rom 5: 3-4
• It protects us in the sense that it warns us of impending danger – Acts 20:30-32
• It will change our direction by scaring us to death – we run the other way. Prov. 20:30
• It provides that well needed wake up call – For many of us pain and suffering are the means by which we finally become motivated to deal with our sinfulness – we realize the limits of our control.
• It perfects our faith – Only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist. It allows us to see the promises of God in action. Heb. 2:18, John 16:33, 2 Thes. 1:6, 2 Cor.11:23-31,12:9, I Peter 5:6-9, 2 Tim. 1:8-12
• If we have absolute proof then faith is unnecessary.
• It prepares us for ministry as we learn from experience how to comfort, aid, advise, train, and walk beside others as they experience evil’s impact. 2 Cor. 1:3-7, 2 Tim. 3:10-17,

As others watch God work to overcome evil in our lives, they are moved to action, inspired, and become interested, engaged, and empowered to join the battle against it by teaming up with God. The world is watching. God is at work and He is using us.

Sdrawkcab delleps evil si live.

(Evil is live spelled backwards.)

COMMENTS: (In the PDF, your journal, or the Comment section for this post)

Share anything new you learned from the above information.

Share some examples of Demonic, Moral and Physical evil.

Consider and share your answers to any of the following questions.

What are some “necessary evils”?

In what ways are you drawn to evil?

How does evil draw people to and away from God?

How does the world respond to or try to control evil?

What are some different ways you have responded to evil?

In what ways does evil masquerade as good?

Our next post will be Large and In Charge 14: Journal 4:7 – Nitty Gritty.