Reflection — Evil

By Steve Hall

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032622.cfm
Hoseah 6:1-6
Luke 18:9-14

From the prophet Amos we have this statement:

“Does evil befall a city, unless the LORD has done it?”
(Amos 3:6)

But the history of this kind of Biblical teaching goes a long way back before Amos.

“Vengeance is mine, and recompense.” (Deuteronomy 32:35) A better known translation gives us this version of the message. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord.”

Then, of course, we have today’s text from Hosea.

It is he [the Lord] who has rent.
He [the Lord] has struck us
I [the Lord] smote them through the prophets
I [the Lord] slew them by the words of my mouth

Biblical quotations such as these give God a bad press. More than one person has complained or left the Christian community or done both because of texts like these which can so easily be found in the Old Testament. Some clarification is in order.

The reason that the Old Testament is replete with statements about the evils, the punishments, the chastisements inflicted by God is simple. The existence of anyone or anything was understood to follow from God willing it to be from moment to moment, from second to second. This is no different than what we believe today though we seldom acknowledge it. Ultimately, then, everything comes from God, even evil. He was/is the ultimate cause of everything because it was/is by his will that the immediate source of the evil continued to exist. This is not to say that God is the one who originates or perpetrates evil; but it does help to explain why the prophets would say “does evil befall the city that the Lord has not done?”

So where does evil come from? There are a variety of possibilities. It may come from the natural hazards that accompany living in a physical world. It may come from malignant spirits. It may follow as the aftermath or aftershock of a previous evil. It may be a consequence of mankind’s fall from grace. How then should we understand these teachings which proclaim, in one form or another, punishments from God?

We have no trouble expending our energies to discover the ‘laws’ governing the physical world. Whether Newton’s laws of motion, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Einstein’s speculation on the ‘space-time continuum’ or any of a thousand more probabilities, hypothesis, theories, or laws. If the tree drops an apple Newton may get it on the head. If Einstein could travel fast enough he would get thinner. If we examined Darwin’s gazillionth generation we might discover that some changes have taken place. It is only with effort that we can make the apple go up. It is well nigh impossible to cook your dinner by adding ice. It is a losing endeavor to attempt traveling an infinite number of miles. Such laws offer limits which it is futile or dangerous to transgress. They tell us the stupidity of combining fire, oxygen and gasoline. They tell us that only the ignorant would attempt to stop a speeding semi by standing in its path. (My apologies to Superman.)

When it comes to moral principles or laws we should be no less astute. Neither should we be any less diligent in attempting to discover them and act accordingly. Just as there is an order to the physical world, so too is there an order to the moral world. But while attempts to violate natural, physical laws will lead only to frustration, attempts to violate moral laws come easy. The difference, of course, lies in the fact that physical laws describe how the universe actually works. Moral law, however, tells us how the conscious world should work.

Similarly, there are consequences — natural consequences — to ignoring these laws. If you live within the Judea/Christian framework, this should come as no surprise. While virtuous men have always wondered about the success of the wicked, the fruit of evil action will ultimately become evident. Even apart from the final judgment of God, there are negative effects; however, these do not always redound in this world to the perpetrator. Moreover, there’s truth to the saying that ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ I doubt that any of those who promoted tolerance could foresee how quickly tolerance would be understood as acceptance.

We are not immune to the recognition of evil in this world. We just need to define it by something or Someone other than ourselves.