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C.S.Lewis, the great apologist for Christianity, wrote about “evil”
many times. In his book ‘Mere Christianity’ for example, he shows that
people have an instinctive, or inherent understanding about what is “fair”
and what isn’t “fair. The same can be said about many other types of value.
It is universally accepted as “wrong” to lie, steal, cheat, hurt, injure or
kill another person without a reasonable cause. Justice also operates
universally, (that is, in all cultures, and at all times). This is clearly seen
by the number of codes, laws, and rituals which societies through the centuries
have devised in order to govern the behaviour of the people in them. And while
governing people has been the main task of governments of whatever kind, the
punishment of people has also been practised by all governments and societies
through all ages. For this we have had such things as torture, incarceration,
crucifixion, hanging, the electric chair, and so on. The punishment of
‘wrong-doers’ has been carried out by vigilantes, lynch mobs, juries,
officers of the law and other upholders of a generally recognised jurisdiction.
People have been placed in stocks, dunked in water, shot, burnt alive, crucified
and treated to hundreds of different forms of unpleasantness in order to either
repay them for what they have done, or to inflict revenge on them on behalf of
the victim (be it the state, the community or an individual).
The usual things which most people in most cultures object to are such
things as lying, cheating, unequal weights or measures, broken promises, lies,
murder, theft and so on. The usual expressions of these things include such
qualities as lust, dishonesty, hatred, jealousy, envy, avarice, lack of
self-control and so on.
So we have made some progress with the subject so far. We have come to
the understanding that, whatever “evil” is, it is acknowledged by all
people at all times as something which must be responded to. There is such a
thing as “evil” and it comes by many names.
The Christian response to the problem of evil is to call into the
discussion a very short but definitive list of rules from the Bible. The Ten
Commandments define accurately every separate form of “evil” we can discover
– or shades of evil, because it is not always easy to separate one evil
from another. A man may have lust and hate mixed together, or kill with
jealousy, or cheat in revenge in order to satisfy his greed. There are many
‘grey’ areas, but they all fit into the Ten somewhere.
The Ten Commandments not only define evil. They also describe it.
(Deut.5)
1.
Have
no other God than the God of the Bible.
2.
Make
no substitute God (as an idol).
3.
Never
use God’s name disrespectfully.
4.
Honour
the seventh day, the Sabbath.
5.
Honour
your parents.
6.
Don’t
murder.
7.
Don’t
commit adultery.
8.
Don’t
steal.
9.
Don’t
lie.
10.
Don’t
be greedy.
The list is totally inclusive, because there are no forms of behaviour
which humans do which are not found somewhere in this list. (The writer of the
list obviously knew humans very well!)
When Jesus referred to the Ten Commandments he ‘amplified’ them, or
made them far more difficult to keep than the mere letter implied. For example,
the person who claimed that he had never murdered, was suddenly found guilty of
hatred, which is murder’s equivalent. Likewise adultery was equated with dirty
thoughts. (Matthew 5 21 etc) Jesus added another lense to the magnifying glass
of God’s standards.
So “evil” is not only inherent in all humans, but also manifested in
much the same way by all people at all times, and in all cultures it is dealt
with by various forms of justice. This universality of evil rules out
cross-cultural fertilisation, because the same evil has manifested itself in
different nations separated by huge distances and huge gaps of time. There is no
basis for the claim that evil was invented. It has always been available, and
the fact that people have always tried to control and prevent it shows that all
people generally are aware of its existence.
One obvious ‘proof’ of evil is the fact that, almost without
exception, literally thousands, or tens of thousands of fictional stories
through the ages have revolved around an antagonist and a protagonist. The
‘goody’ and the ‘baddy’. The cowboy in white against the gang in black.
The wicked wolf and the innocent Red Riding Hood. The sweet children and the
wicked step-mother. The princess and the jealous queen.
Stories
abound with witches, wizards, trolls, gnomes, pixies and elves. Evil plans to
rule the world, kill the hero, destroy the town. Evil lurks at night with a
knife, carries a gun, clutches a bottle of poison. The whole movie industry
depends on ‘bad’ characters for its success. Without a worthy opponent,
where would such characters as Zorro, The Lone Ranger, Superman, The Flash,
Ironside, and all the other crime-fighters be? Evil mutates, cripples, hurts.
Evil manifests all the most obvious sins – greed, lust for power, pride,
dishonesty. In some deep way the human psyche seems to be tuned into a sort of
universal story, in which good always triumphs over evil, and justice is seen to
be done.This is always the most satisfying conclusion to a story. The villain
dies, the dragon is killed, the burglar caught, the evil mastermind destroyed.
There is a multi-million dollar industry based on good guys beating bad guys,
all variations of the classic fairytale.
But there is another aspect of evil which most of these stories contain,
which is not always obvious. Take Star Wars for example. In this series there is
a black-caped man called The Emperor, who is, apparently, taken over by “the
dark side” of some all-pervasive Force. On the other hand there is Luke
Skywalker, who uses the same Force to battle the “dark side”.
The point is, despite the fact that the Force is depicted as impersonal
(‘neutral’), it cannot operate as either good or bad unless there is
something else present by which we can measure it. Without some universal
standard of goodness, we would not know for sure whether Luke or the Emperor
were really evil. If there was no universal standard, we might wonder whether
the Emperor was perhaps really on to something useful, and Luke needed, in fact,
to be educated into the Emperor’s way of thinking? Perhaps evil and good are
much the same? Perhaps Luke should be destroyed because, after all, the Emperor
is actually on to a very sensible line? Perhaps the Force is so unbiased we
ought to regard life and death, love and hate, with an equally dispassionate
eye?
But Star Wars illustrates clearly that primary assumption which most
people make quite unconsciously – that evil exists because there is also
Absolute Goodness, and Goodness is an eternal, absolute standard by which we can
measure all the many different shades of evil.
If we stood Luke and the Emperor in a wide empty plain, they would appear
as two dots, like ants, tiny figures, with no particular distinctions, but when
we place the word GOOD along the horizon behind them in huge letters, suddenly
the Emperor turns black, and Luke turns a shade near to white.
Which brings us to the next point : Contrasts.
If I were to say to you “It was a hot day today” you would
automatically assess what “hot” meant by comparing it to a collection of
values already stored in your memory. Hot is “not cold”. Hot is related to
high temperature, sweating, fans, need for shade. The same can be said of most
qualifying words. By comparing the word we hear with a collection of variables
we already know, we can instantly gain an understanding of what the word we hear
means.
Take the following statements :
1.
The
snow was freezing!
2.
The
room was empty.
3.
There
goes a poor man.
Now apply the same automatic rule to “The Emperor was evil”.
Instantly you attach a meaning to the word “evil” as if you have known all
along what it was.
Some Eastern religions have beliefs which seem to blur the meaning of
good and evil. The Hindus think life is cyclical, and that everything which
happens to a person in this life is the product or result of a former life,
hence a lack of enthusiasm in trying to change anything. This terrible fatalism
has held millions of Indians in unspeakable poverty for many years, yet within
this system they still uphold the principles of the Ten Commandments and also
administer a justice system. This is somewhat contradictory to their beliefs,
but consistent with what we might expect to find if all humans share the same
universal inherent rules.
“Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream” may sound
all very good in principle, and be quite acceptable as an ‘eastern’ view of
life, but dream or not, the man who lies, cheats, steals or causes pain to
someone else will rouse anger and a sense of injustice, and also a desire to see
punishment administered to the offender.
The Ten Commandments march through all societies, regardless of what they
profess to believe. Even the Russian Communists, and Atheist Chinese, who have
both tried very hard to abolish God, or ‘external’ standards, still exercise
a governing style which reflects the principles of the Ten Commandments.
The Christian point of view, though often rejected, and much maligned, is
the most logical and consistent view. It contains a harmony of all the factors
regarding evil, and provides the most logical solution to it.
The Bible
outlines very briefly the origin of evil. It springs from a beautiful garden,
where everything is beautiful and harmless. There is no death, decay or aging.
The first humans are created with astounding intelligence. They understand
perfectly who they are, who God is, and why they are alive in the paradise which
God has given to them. They exercise their intelligence by learning, communing,
speaking, working and moving about autonomously. But at some point very soon
after they appear on the scene, they choose to go their own way, and as a result
they are held responsible and punished accordingly.
Evil is simply ‘doing your own thing’ rather than checking to see
what God wants.
But evil didn’t start on Earth. It started in heaven, where God had
already created beings called “angels”. These beings also had free will, and
they were given specific jobs to do, for their own happiness, but also to
reflect and display the love and majesty of the God who had made them.
Some of these angels, led by one Satan, became dissatisfied with their
work and wanted to be promoted, not just to a more important position, but to
the very height of God’s absolute rule over all things. This was like a
termite wanting to run as president.
God sent these angels, still full of emulation and pride, to the Earth,
where their leader discovered two rivals, Adam and Eve, already installed on the
planet. Satan of course did not want to share the planet with these humans, so
he picked up on the warning “In the day you eat . . . you will die” and
started work on the humans. If Satan could get them to disobey God, they would
be destroyed, leaving the planet to the angels.
But when Adam and Eve disobeyed, God slew a lamb and made clothes for the
humans, which they put on, thus covering their sins with a symbol of Jesus the
“Lamb of God” who was to come some 4000 years later.
Evil was there in the garden, in the form of free-will agents who chose
to do what they wanted rather than what God wanted. This is the essence of evil
at all times in history. The daily news brings us examples of the abuse of
freewill every almost continuously. Whatever the crime, it can always be reduced
to a breach of one or more of the Ten Commandments – thus vindicating God when
he says that all humans have sinned. In other words, all humans practise evil.
The origin of evil was pride, but it was displayed in the form of
Satan’s bid for self-advancement. His greed, disobedience, emulation and
covetousness were all combined, followed by hatred and a desire for revenge.
Since then he has lied, stolen and killed, and caused the deception, injury and
death of millions of humans – he is the most incurable being who has ever
lived – and sad to say, many humans are just like him. The same ability to
choose one’s way in life regardless of what God wants has spread through the
whole human race. This is why we have religions, wars, strife, massacres,
military coups, dishonest politicians, bank robberies, invasions, the KKK,
athletes who take drugs, tax fraud, espionage, divorce, domestic violence,
druggies and so on. And the result of all this rebellion against God has been a
world-wide industry called the justice system, with its lucrative sub-systems of
reformatories, prisons, insurance companies, police, army, navy and air force,
security firms, bodyguards and so on. Not to mention the vast array of weapons
both for offence and defence – all the result of the effects of evil.
But some people suggest that if evil started in heaven, and IF God is the
ruler over all He has made, (which He is),
then He Himself must have evil in Himself too? This point of view is
totally wrong. For a start it is quite illogical. Would a God who is evil create
evil and then destroy those who practised it? That would make God insane, not to
mention a hypocrite.
The problem is resolved when we realise that there is a First Cause and
Second Cause. The First Cause is undoubtedly God, because he created all things,
and is responsible for all things. He set the universe spinning, so he must
sustain and uphold it every nanosecond, otherwise it would collapse instantly.
Just as the bowling green holds the Ball, the Lord holds all matter and life in
his Hand. But when God created the
angels and Mankind, he gave these beings something unique – a free will. This
meant that whenever these creatures chose to do something, they would be
personally responsible for the consequences. In other words, God created
something which became a Second Cause.
Adam and Eve were intelligent enough to understand this principle (which
good parents also drum into their children). Adam disobeyed God knowing full
well the consequences. He had a very good memory, and, like Eve, he chose to do
what he wanted rather than what God wanted, even though he understood what would
happen if he disobeyed. When he disobeyed, God kept his word and brought in the
fair and just punishment.
Because God was the First Cause, he was responsible for maintaining the
basic mechanism and running of the universe, but because Adam and Eve were
responsible too, they could not avoid the consequences of their actions. As some
people say ‘The buck stopped with them’.
The chaotic misery which Adam and Eve inflicted on themselves has been
passed on, generation by generation, to the whole human race, right up to today,
and nothing has changed. Even when the Bible is presented clearly, people still
turn away and do their own thing. Just like Adam and Eve they use their free
will and disregard God.
Most people can recall childhood incidents when they were dishonest, or
greedy, or dirty-minded, or lazy, or angry, or hateful, or envious . . .and
because God is fair, he always allows the consequences of our disobedience to
follow. He allows us to reap what we sow. He usually lets us learn by our
mistakes. As many people have discovered as they lie in hospital, you cannot
smoke for years without running the risk of cancer, or eat junk food without
damaging your body. The laws of cause and effect always operate, regardless of
what we might prefer, and consequences always come, despite our wishful
thinking.
But one final objection quite often follows, and that is the problem of
evil in general. When we look at the world we see many people suffering or
dieing (because of war or
dictatorships or religious regimes) apparently through no fault of their own. Is
it “fair” of God to allow evil to run rampant through the lives of
“innocent” children and helpless people?
Take one example. A parent sees a child about to run on to the road, so
the parent quite rightly grabs the child and pulls it back just as a huge truck
hurtles by. The child has no idea why it was jerked back, and actually hurts
itself, falling on the kerb. The pain seems unreasonable and unwarranted. Should
the parent have stood back and allowed the child to be killed? No. Is God being
cruel by allowing the parent to hurt the child? No. If God intervened at every
moment when humans were negligent, human free will would disappear, and
accountability would devolve on to God.
Take another example. A person who has been very careful about their diet
suddenly finds a cancer in his or her stomach. Is God being cruel or sadistic,
by allowing that cancer to grow there. No. Is the cancer simply an inherited
problem caused by inherited faulty genes? Possibly. Should we blame God for
something ‘Adam’ caused? No.
There is no easy answer to questions like these, because no human can see
things from the heavenly point of view. We might be amazed at how fair and just
God really was if we could see things from his point of view.
If we see a parent pull a child out of the way of a truck, we might cheer
with approval, even though the child is hurt slightly in the process. If we
discover that the person with cancer has been eating food with a toxic spray,
which has triggered the cancer, we might say, with sympathy, that it was simply
a cause-and-effect situation, the result of ignorance, and the result of certain
‘laws of Nature’ which operated as they always do.
In some ways we can blame everything on Satan, but in other ways we can
just as fairly blame Adam and Eve. But the moment we blame them for the evil in
the world, we have to look at ourselves, because we too have not kept the Ten
Commandments perfectly. As soon as you or I sin, we in league with evil, and
part of the problem. There is no escaping this one. From childhood upwards,
every human is personally accountable to God, and subject to the consequences of
their own actions.
C.S.Lewis, in his last years, was stricken for a time by the death of his
wife. He asked all the usual question, starting with ‘why’, but he found
very few answers. In the end he had to accept that this is not a perfect world
and the one to come is the most important. (Life is short anyway, so why worry?)
He and his wife would one day be together again, for eternity. Death became, in
a sense, his best friend because it provided a doorway through which he could
pass to the happier life.
Which brings us to our final comments. There are four things which
are common to all people : pain, accident, cruelty and death. We don’t always
experience the first three in equal amounts, but we all partake of the fourth,
whether we are saints or the worst sinners alive. Death reaps 10 out of 10.
There is no avoiding it.
The greatest attempt to defeat the four things mentioned was achieved on
a cross just outside Jerusalem. Jesus, the Son of God, the Creator of the
universe, the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the perfect and sinless Son of God, came
to die for all the world. He who never sinned took the penalty for all sin in
himself, and then yielded up his life voluntarily on behalf of all sinners.
While most people would stand condemned before God if they were called before
him today, they can be covered completely if they accept Jesus as their Saviour.
His blood shed for them, his body given in their place. The perfect sacrifice
for the sake of a rebellious and sin-laden world.
When Jesus died, he gave the whole world the greatest opportunity it has
ever had to become a happy and healthy place – but the world didn’t turn to
him. Rome continued in its pagan ways, worshipping emperors and idols, burning
and killing Christians even as they proclaimed the gospel. Other nations have
come and gone, Christians have preached, but still today the nations are much
the same. Perverted versions of Christ have led armies across Europe and into
the Holy Land to kill other people, and mutated forms of Christianity have
spread here and there. Evil continues, so the consequences of evil also
continue.
Is there an end? The Bible predicts the final moment of evil, when Satan and his fellow-angels are destroyed, along with all those who have willingly joined his forces. The warning is clear; instead of discussing evil, we ought to swear allegiance to Jesus Christ and stand under his banner before the clock reaches its final stroke.