It is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil comes. -Jesus
One of the great mysteries in the Bible is the existence of evil. Why is there evil in creation and why do people do evil things? Why does injustice seem built into the fabric of the world? For Christians, who believe that God is love, the questions go further. Why does a loving God allow evil to exist? Where do we find God’s love in the midst of human suffering?
Evil makes a grand entrance in the third chapter of Genesis as a snake in the Garden, and makes a splashy exit as the Great Whore of Babylon in the Book of Revelation. How the Israelites understood evil changed a lot over a thousand years, but the existence of evil was never questioned. Evil was tangibly real to the Israelites.
The Hebrew word for evil originally referred to something that was worthless or corrupted. A wooden plow that could not turn over the soil, because the wood was rotten, was worthless. The decay that made the plow worthless was corruption. The resulting unplowed fields were evil, since they made a hard life even harder. Evil only mattered in the ways that it damaged people’s lives. It was seen in its effects, and the effects were all around them.
The world the Israelites lived in was evil, since it made survival difficult. This went back to Adam and Eve, whose unfortunate appetite for fruit caused God to curse the soil. Being helpful, God explained what the curse meant. People would have to work hard to stay alive, plant in ground that mostly grew weeds, have intense pain producing children, and spend their marital lives squabbling, until they ended up dead. You may recognize that world. If you are constantly swimming against the current, what you’re swimming against is the evil that makes nothing easy.
In addition to the soil curse, God inflicted additional curses for ongoing sins and disobedience. A short list included bad weather, natural disasters, plagues of locusts, leprosy, blindness, hunger, abdominal bleeding, corrupt judges, and war. These afflictions made a bad situation worse.
Finally, there was the curse of Cain, the progenitor of all human violence, who killed his brother because he thought Dad liked Abel best. We’re our own worst enemy.
Add it all together and you’ve got an evil world.
As the Israelites stopped being nomads, settling onto farms and living in villages, this view of evil became less satisfactory. It seemed unfair. As Bedouins living in tents, everybody had about the same stuff, and a lot of stuff was shared. But, once they settled down, that was no longer the case. People started to make money, and some people ended up with more than others, which can seem unfair, especially if they got it unfairly. Where’s the justice? Where’s the God who punishes sinners?
If you believe that everyone who dies, good and bad, goes to the same place called Sheol, as the Israelites did, you begin to believe there is never any fairness ever, and you begin to wonder about this God of righteousness. Why does God let it happen? Does God approve of evil or is God simply unable to stop it?
In Psalm Five, the writer finds it necessary to remind God of who God is supposed to be. God takes no pleasure in evil, he offers by way of suggestion. A righteous God hates liars, the violent, and the deceitful. The psalmist wants to see some action. “Declare them guilty,” he writes. “Let their evils be their downfall.” Give them what they deserve. The writer is beseeching God to do what God is supposed to do, because that has not been happening. He wants God to finally act, because the liars and thugs are coming for him.
This is when the idea of evil as an active opponent to God, the idea of Satan, enters into Jewish beliefs. Evil was no longer simply the result of sin. Evil induced sin. Evil had the ability to prompt, to tempt, to bring sin about. If God didn’t seem to always be in charge, that was why.
So, in addition to the evil world that makes us spend our lives working, and the additional punishments God sends for sin, and the evil people running amok, there was now a fourth source of evil, a malevolent spiritual power that intends to destroy everything. From this point of view, we are completely surrounded by intentional evil. You may be feeling the effects.
The Bible never tells us why evil exists in the first place, mainly because the writers of the Bible didn’t care about the question. They were more concerned about life being difficult. When Job wondered why his life turned evil, God told Job not to waste time on stuff he’d never know. The concern of the Bible, and of Jesus, is what sets evil into motion, not where it comes from.
Evil, as we know it, only exists in this world. For that reason, the only important question is why it’s here, and the unanimous answer is us. Evil cannot create anything. Evil isn’t inevitable. Evil only exists as a possibility. Evil is made real by our choices.
Jesus makes this clear in the Gospel of Mark. “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil intentions come.” Evil exists only as intention until people turn intention into action. As evil as the world appears, in a collective sense, we’re basically looking at ourselves. We can’t blame Satan. Instead, Satan gives thanks for the existence of humans. Without us, he wouldn’t be here.
Jesus then provides a list of all the evil intentions humans turn into reality: sexual assault, theft, murder, adultery, greed, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. The Letter of James adds gossip. These things wouldn’t exist if people didn’t act upon them, and the actions begin as desires.
Evil is always a choice, and evil acts are always chosen. There is no spiritual power that can compel us to do something evil, or even sort of bad. Evil may be enticing. It may offer certain rewards. But, even then, letting ourselves be enticed is a choice we make. That’s why Jesus says that evil comes from within. Satan doesn’t attack the world like Godzilla. Satan gets us to do it and doesn’t seem to have a problem finding volunteers.
Strange at it may sound, this also means that evil, by itself, is weak. It lacks the ability, the strength, to stand on its own. Something built through evil means eventually falls apart. It may take a while, but evil lacks internal power of its own. It’s empty, and so are evil people. It’s why evil people are never satisfied. Being empty, evil can never get enough.
But this is also why I believe, and trust to be true, that love eventually overcomes evil. The end is not evil, but good. Love and goodness are from God. Love and goodness are eternal; evil is not. Love and goodness convey the presence of God, and leave us full, rather than empty. The antidote for evil, in the world and in ourselves, is love.
The Jesus quote is from Mark 7: 21
Picture of person outside window is by Enrique from Pixabay
Picture of figure against a wall is by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Picture of two fishbowls is by Filmbetrachter from Pixabay
Picture of Road sign of Satan is by LoggaWiggler from Pixabay
Picture of choosing good and bad is by Fathromi Ramdlon from Pixabay
Picture of sunset is by Image by Xpics from Pixabay
Left a rather lengthy response on your Facebook messenger. Thanks, J Miles