Taking a second look at evil

The "axis of evil"
He or she is "pure evil"
the battle of "good vs evil"
and so on

The idea of evil is quickly and easily applied to people and situations that seem horrific to us or society as a whole. At first glance, I guess we assume evil just means bad. Or maybe it means really, really bad. I'm not sure most people have much of an understanding of "evil" beyond some notion of , "it's just bad."


Maybe its worth some pondering to take a second look at "evil". Our expert "go to" resource, Wikipedia, says "evil" in general refers to something that is the opposite of good. A more specific context is often associating "evil" with profound immorality. Certainly the Bible speaks about "evil" quite often. Yet, the Bible is not about morality, but about a Kingdom and a King. There must be more to "evil" than meets the eye. So, what does the Bible add to the idea of "evil" that Wiki seems to miss? I thought it was worth a second look, what about you?

The word for "evil" in the Bible literally means "rotten to the core." This implies that when something or someone is "evil", the very inner or intrinsic quality is inexhaustibly BAD. The "evilness" is not determined by the outcomes associated with the person or thing, but the qualities that determine the person or thing in its very essence. Regardless of how good something looks on the outside, if the heart or essence is rotten, it is "evil". There is nothing that can be done to change it because the "evil" in endemic to the object. That's what "to the core" means.

The idea of "rotten" or bad seems to only have clarity when we compare it with the idea of "good". This may seem routine, but the idea of "good" is not so simple. There are two ways something or someone can be "good." First, there is the extrinsic way to view "good." That is, something or someone is "good" if the outcome from it (them) is beneficial or useful. You say "that is a good idea" when the idea is helpful in the quest for accomplishing something. You say, "that food is good" when something you eat is favorable to your taste buds or healthy. Positive impact on circumstances is the extrinsic way something or someone is considered "good." Since morality is a code of conduct that is considered right vs wrong, this meaning for "good" would include an extrinsic conformity to moral code.

But, the word most often used in the Bible for "good" is not extrinsically or situationally contingent. The word for God uses to describe creation, the word for "good" Paul uses when referring to our works, and even the word for "good" in Romans 8 that gives us the hope that everything will work out for "good" is not about circumstances. This word for "good" is an intrinsically oriented notion of quality. It means that something or someone is "good" in its very essence of being. In the Bible something is "good" when it possess the qualities of God, who is the source of goodness. Creation, the works of believers, and our ultimate well being is "good" because it is "of God." This is why Jesus points the rich young ruler to the "one that is good."

Hence, if "evil" is rotten to the core, then "evil" is anything or anyone that in its (their) very essence is not of God. "Evil" is enmity with God intrinsically or in one's inner qualities. For a person to be "good" and therefore not "evil", he/she must possess in the very core of their thinking, the mind of Christ. For an action (works) to be "good" and not "evil", the source of motivation must flow from the mind of Christ. To see "evil" as God wants us to see "evil", we must orient ourselves to the intrinsic qualities of people and their actions and not the circumstantial consequences that we witness. Assumptions about and insights into what God is doing in His Sovereign will must be our determinant of what is "evil" and "good".

You may never get an unbelieving world to see "evil" any way other than extrinsically. After all, Wiki has more credibility than God's word. However, if you are a Christian, seeing "evil" and "good" as God does requires a second look.

It is just one more way we ponder what it means "to walk by faith and not by sight" .... 

This is one of many topics young believers can explore in our course on Biblical Psychology available at http://b4worldview.com/homeschool/

"that the guilty may go free"

Every Sunday Christians sing about their guilt and bondage. BUT, does this message resonate deeply in the soul or is it a narrative that is just a theologically correct way to think? After all, western evangelical Christians focus more on fixing a world that is fraught with the evil of meaningless murder, terror, fraud and corruption. Christians fight for religious freedom and cultural purity - send money, presence and prayers to places of poverty and slavery. Christians in the Western civilized world seem to view themselves as "the fixers", not the transgressors, in jail and in need.

What exactly are reformed, evangelical Christians guilty of? What bondage are they freed from? Do they REALLY know it?

Consider what we have learned from psychology. sociology and philosophy about the human condition. Psychologists have found that social exchange is the dominant obsession of human nature. Balanced exchange is the basis for justice. Exchange is defined by transactions of cause and effect. What is right is what is deserved or fair. Sociologists point us to how humans conform to their world around them. How behavior is structured and conditioned by one's environment. Philosophers find that either the physical world is real and the invisible is an illusion or vice versa. Truth is determined by what we can reason from what we can observe. Rational inquiry is for generating our own ideas, NOT processing revelation of ideas we receive through the invisible realm.

Can it be that our guilt is that we identify with our human nature. Our bondage is a futility derived from a psychological debt of poverty, fraud, deception, perversion, greed, and so on. We depend on what we see to determine what is true. For instance, we observe issues with our sex and sexuality and conclude God's revealed design for men and women is not true. As long as things are fair, then they are "right." I've heard it said "we take God's good gifts, pervert them and then blame Him." We are in bondage to a culture that values tolerance above all else and thus must make all people equal. At the same time we witness the guilt of shaming others that don't agree instead of rejoicing in the differences. These are the psychological repercussions of the Fall.

It is proper and appropriate for Christians to address the poverty in the world, sex trade, children sold into slavery to work in rock quarries, random acts of murder, and many other social injustices. The question is how we view this mission? Is it an exchange (transaction) where we achieve great things for God in the physical world so He sees us in a favorable light OR are these atrocities in the physical world a picture of our own fallen nature separated from God? Do we see the mess in the physical world as a picture of ourselves as the ones guilty and in need of God's grace as the fix? Is the response to the evils in this world motivated by a thanksgiving sourced in the sense of one's own guilt?

Freedom granted by the Cross comes from a new identity. Being a redeemed child of God is a soul whose self-concept aligns with God's Kingdom, not a physical being in the cosmos. This transforms the soul from one that seeks rights, rewards, and religion as a creature to a soul that rests in the privileges, provisions and promises of the Creator. Trusting the unseen evidence of the Cross (faith) fundamentally changes a soul from identifying with "the outcome of things" (circumstances) to one that identifies with "the Source of things" (Sovereignty).

Identity crisis occurs when our head (Biblical learning) tells us we are redeemed, but our heart (inherited assumptions of our human nature) actually influence how we think, feel and act. This disharmony in beliefs is called dissonance. Dissonance distresses the soul. Exploring the ways assumptions of our human nature affect us mitigates the risk of dissonance.

The word "soul" is referenced over 100 times in the New Testament. Maybe the Bible is serious about psychology. When Christians recognize that trusting the human identity is the guilt and trusting their Spiritual identity is freedom, then the promise of an abundant and virtuous life becomes more of their experience. Dissonance diminishes. Identity crisis is relieved. The risks of abandoning the faith or living the joyless Christian life are reduced.

This is the heartbeat of the team that developed b4worldview, an online course available to anyone, but especially targeted to Christian teenagers who face a challenging world at work, in college and in relationships that are forming their future.

When young people declare "that the guilty may go free", we desire that this not only be a theology in their head, but a song in their heart.

Its worth pondering and maybe even giving it a try @ http://b4worldview.com/homeschool/