The origin of evil?

Ideas like this lead us to ask some fundamental questions about mankind. God created mankind and his environment, and His description of man’s estate must be the judgement upon all other theories, wherever they arise.

Is it true, for example, as believers in the occult allege, that ungodly evil powers are responsible for all the wickedness evident in the world? The Bible utterly renounces this idea. Instead, it explains that the responsibility rests fairly and squarely with man. Consider the following passages:

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5)

“The heart (of man) is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

“Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:19)

Man cannot shrug off this responsibility by blaming something outside himself. If no one is looking, the temptation is strong to try and ‘get away with’ a wrong act that will benefit ourselves, rather than struggle to do something for someone else at great personal cost. This temptation is from within and arises unprovoked. Jesus explained that when evil thoughts are allowed free rein they can lead to violence and murder, and that uncontrolled desires lead to theft and adultery (Matthew 5:21-28). Yes, the Bible is right: man’s wickedness is great in the earth.

Sin and death

But God did not leave mankind floundering in its own wicked ways without also revealing how this came about, or without explaining the great plan He has for saving the world from the distresses man has brought upon it. When God first created the world there was no wickedness and no evil; everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Only when the first man and woman made the choice to disobey God’s command and do things for their own pleasure rather than His did mortality become a fixed principle in their natures. Prior to their active denial of the Creator, Adam and Eve had the prospect of an unlimited and idyllic life. But these hopes were dashed when, because of disobedience, they were driven from the Garden of Eden, and condemned to a certain death as mortality took its toll.

Their descendants inherited the same situation: mortal bodies, a defiled earth and, through their leaning towards sin, constant temptation. No man or woman has been free from these, the result being that the world has become full of wickedness. And all men and women die: there is no exception.

The amazing thing is that we all carry on as if this were not true; as if life will always continue. Against all the evidence mankind believes that there is some sort of immortality – if not for the body, then at least an immortality of the essential personality, often described as the ‘soul’. It may be a lovely thought, but we would be deluding ourselves if we really believed it. The wise man’s statement concerning the situation of man at death is chilling, but deep down everyone knows it is true:

“The dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy, have now perished; never more will they have a share in anything done under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5,6)

The dead have no contact with the living, nor can the living contact the dead; for there is nothing there: “They die and return to their dust” (Psalm 104:29). This basic fact has serious implications for all who believe in a spirit world, and think that messages can pass from here to there and that answers can be received. Anyone placing his hopes in such a system is deluding himself. All that can be learned from the dead is that without the intervention of God death is final, and man is helpless. Yet how often, even from those who profess to be believers in God and students of His word, is the opposite impression given?

This lack of understanding and reverence for God and His word should cause us serious concern. God is not like men who can be mistaken. We cannot choose to believe some things He has revealed and reject others as we would do with a fallible human being. We have to accept everything, or reject Him totally. To deny what He has revealed about man’s nature and destiny is to deny also His promises regarding man's salvation from sin and death. To believe that there is something in the world not of His making or contrary to what He has revealed limits His power and authority. Jesus claimed that “all power in heaven and earth” was given him by his Father (Matthew 28:18). This would have been untrue if there is another who has all evil power under his control.

In a fascinating passage in Isaiah’s prophecy God spoke to a Persian king who believed in equally powerful gods of good and evil, of light and darkness. As an explanation that Israel’s God is Lord of all the earth, He said:

“I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides me … I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:5-7)

The author of evil

If, as a consideration of other scriptures has shown, man is responsible for the wickedness which exists on the earth and cannot place the blame on anyone else, how can God claim to be the Creator of calamity, the Author of evil? The prophet Amos also said, “If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6).

We need to understand clearly what this means. In the Bible sense, evil is the consequence of sin. It is not sin itself, nor even the cause of sin. Furthermore, God’s response to sin has a twofold purpose: to expose sin for what it really is – disobedience of God’s commands – and to cause the sinner to appreciate the benefits of complying with His will. The introduction into the world of thorns and thistles, of illness and suffering, of pain and death was, as we have seen, because of man’s first sin when he transgressed God’s law. Man was the moral offender, but the physical consequences were God’s condemnation of his offence, designed also to be a constant reminder of his waywardness. Unlike the idea behind a supernatural force willing men and women to do wicked and sinful acts, God did not introduce these things as temptations designed to make man sin. God did not want man to die, He wants him to live! “God … desires all men to be saved”, the Apostle Paul said (1 Timothy 2:4). Evil is present in the world, not to tempt men and women to defy God, but to remind them of how He views transgression and sin, and what they lead to – how they are the natural precursors to mortality and death. In addition to being a rightful punishment of disobedience, evil and calamity exist as spurs to better things: as an encouragement to good, and not wicked ways.

The author of peace

God is also the author of peace. Only from Him can man learn what he must do to be pleasing in His sight, and how he can resist temptation. Ultimately, God has promised that He will rid the world of everything associated with sin:

“There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain: for the former things (introduced because of man’s first sin) have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

This promise is bound up in the work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. His work reveals the falsity of all beliefs in a spirit or hidden world under the control of a being alien to the ways of God. In Deuteronomy, immediately following the passage which warns against involvement in the whole spectrum of occult practices because they are deceitful, Moses told the nation of Israel this further important truth:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.” (Deuteronomy 18:15)

The nation was to have no contact with the defiling practices of the heathen peoples around, for God was promising to speak to them in a very special way, and to reveal Himself uniquely to them. He would send a prophet – one who speaks forth His word, putting man into the context of his past, explaining his present circumstances, and opening up the possibilities of his future destiny.