The Gospels provide powerful evidence for the life, wonders (miracles), death, resurrection and glorification of Jesus, who was the Messiah and Son of God. St Paul provides us with the grounds of an early creed of the Church which testifies to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’s followers embraced beatings and even death (many were cruelly tortured and executed) for no material gain. They explicitly believed that Jesus was God’s Son, the Messiah, and that He died and rose again for the forgiveness of sins. His disciples eventually (yeah they were a bit slow) viewed Jesus as having divine authority and equality with God; Peter was the first of the disciples to proclaim this. If Jesus had not risen from the dead the Jews would have laughed at Peter or Paul when they claimed that Jesus had been seen arisen. Instead they converted in great numbers, including 3,000 at once. In addition after Jesus saved Peter from possibly drowning and calmed the wind His disciples worshipped Him as God (Matthew 14); and they also worshipped Him at the ascension (Luke 24:50-53). The evidence is before you. You can either accept it, or reject that Jesus was who He and others claimed. The choice is yours; you can ignore or accept the evidence.
Notes
1. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 3.3. 2. Strobel, The Case for Christ, pp. 33-34. 3. See Strobel, The Case for Christ, p. 114.
4. See Psalm 69:21.
5. Ibid., p. 44.
6. F.F Bruce. The Books and the Parchments (Old Tappan, NJ Revell, 1963) 178, cited in Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict (1972; reprint, San Bernadino, Calif: Here’s Life, 1986), p. 42.
7. Frederic Kenyon. Handbook to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (New York: Macmillan, 1912), 5, cited in Ross Clifford, The Case for the Empty Tomb (Claremont, Calif.: Albatross 1991), p. 33.
8. Strobel, The Case for Christ, p. 64.
9. John Morton. Man Science and God (Auckland; New Zealand: Collins, 1972), p. 217.
10. Text in italics refers to Zechariah 11:12-13.
11. www.forbes.com/lists/2005/14/Revenue_1.html. Accessed 31 August 2010.
12. Sources taken from The Official Catholic Directory 2009 (New Jersey: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 2009) as cited on www.usccb.org/comm/catholic-churchstatistics.html.
13. See www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=30147&lan=eng.
14. See www.semissourian.com/story/1552435.html. Accessed 17 July 2011.
15. Wolfhart Pannenburg as cited by William Lane Craig in The Son Rises (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984) p. 141.
16. Time, June 4, 1979.
17. Gary Habermas and J.P. Moreland. Immortality: The Other Side of Death (Nashville: Nelson, 1992), p. 60.
CHAPTER 16 EVIL: DOES IT EXIST?
When someone thinks of the topic of evil a horror movie may come to mind, such as Friday the 13th where some deranged murderer delights in another’s blood curdling screams. Maybe you are the sort of person left frightened out of your wits with all sorts of horrific images dancing mercilessly before your eyes as you try to sleep. Often many movies depict a colossal fight for life or an intense struggle between good and evil.
Another depiction of evil that one may recall could be one infamous date, 11th/12th September 2001 depending on which side of the international dateline you are on. We saw a large scale co-ordinated attack against civilians on the planes and in the Twin Towers in New York. Ironically the evil perpetrated was against people of all religions. What about the children that were made orphans that day? Or the parents that lost their children, and spouses that lost those most dear to them? What about those who did not have the chance to reconcile themselves with their Creator? If they were culpable of being separated from God then they were in fact robbed of eternal life.
The blatant killing of innocent life is evil. When these events hit so close to home, rather than being just a mere news story, we realise how frail we are. Sometimes the suddenness and scale of the tragedy is enough to make this reality shock us into action. We may have put religious observance of any kind on hold beforehand. Therefore we are challenged to return to church. We may naturally ask: Why does God allow this evil to happen to me? Why does he let us suffer? Other examples of evil in our lives could be a young mother dying of cancer. It is natural to question why she has to go through such suffering in the prime of her life. At times God’s very existence is questioned as a result of evil when one asks: If God exists why does He allow evil to happen to His creatures, especially to good people?
Goodness and Missing the Mark Aristotle held that all things desire goodness. Therefore St Thomas states that ‘the goodness of a thing consists in its being desirable’. In aiming towards the good all living things desire their perfection. According to St Thomas a thing is good in its very existence because ‘it is by existing (esse) that everything achieves actuality...’1 Therefore to say that something is good is acknowledging its existence. Humans continually aim at a good, finally a complete good. We are called to aim towards the good and even more towards perfection, but we don’t always do so. The root meaning of sin is ‘missing the mark’. An archer who misses the bullseye may miss it because a sudden gust of wind blows it off target or he or she may just be having a bad day. When it comes to sin we might miss the mark on purpose or because of unwilful ignorance as we didn’t know something was wrong or because of some unseen factor whereby we are not culpable. Missing the mark is only one explanation of sin. Essentially it is a violation of our relationship with God. If we wilfully sin, are truly repentant and want to make a fresh start we can ask our Creator for forgiveness and once again aim towards the good.
What is Evil? Evil is a certain lack, limitation or distortion of good. Therefore “evil always, in some way, refers to a good.”2 For example one who is involved in a major car accident may suffer through a limitation or lack of movement as a result. The evil could be moral evil through carelessness or physical evil in it not even being anyone’s fault.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen describes evil as either an excess or a defect of what is good. For example an alcoholic continually drinks an excessive amount of alcohol. Therefore he is more and more dependant on the alcohol for happiness. His happiness is not in caring for others but primarily turned in toward the self and thus selfishness is rooted in his soul. His freedom thus serves happiness.
Personal and Social Affects of Evil Although evil seems like a good it is in fact harmful to us. The harm or pain that is caused is interpersonal. Sin affects our under-standing and acceptance of our Creator, ourselves and others; and it weakens the will and darkens the intellect. The more we sin in a particular area do we not try to justify ourselves? Does not our judgement become clouded?
All sin affects others; there is no sin, not even one apparently done in secret that exclusively concerns the person committing it: ‘With greater or lesser violence, with greater or lesser harm, every sin has repercussions on the entire ecclesial body (Church) and the whole human family.’3 Therefore every sin has affects that are personal and social. This is evident when we consider that sin darkens the intellect and so someone’s judgement or conscience is weakened. So a sin has a wider impact than just on the person committing the sin. For example, sins such as adultery can lead to the breakup of the family and can impact negatively on future generations if the cycle is repeated. Additionally the sins committed by members of the IRA were social sins because they fuelled hatred, destroyed lives and even made people bitter against God and other people. Personal sins can also be social sins because we can’t truly emulate Christ and be His effective witnesses if we are closed from His grace (presence and action of God).
Sin is always a personal act because it is an act of freedom on the part of an individual person. The human person is free, though external and internal factors may mitigate the person’s freedom and so his or her responsibility and guilt. As sin affect’s one’s relationship with God by weakening the will and darkening the intellect, it makes it harder to discern and hear promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Sin also affects our relationship with God, self an
d others. For example, a sin such as adultery is an abuse of our sexuality and a breaking of a sacred covenant (marriage). It is also disobedience against God’s commandment not to commit adultery. The commandment is given to us because God knows the serious damage we do to our relationship with Him, ourselves and others as a result. Other lives are affected through such a grievous sin. There are other spouses and often children that are affected. Such a grievous sin means we disobey God. If we do not seek His mercy or love (forgiveness) then our disbelief can lead to distrust of Him and His love for us. As a result we do not seek to be fully human and are entrapped by our sin until we seek forgiveness, returning to God’s mercy and love. We are also hurting others and should discern whether we need to seek their forgiveness so that they too can be touched by God’s love through us.
Are People Evil? According to St Thomas, evil is not a being because it does not have a nature. He reasons that evil ‘signifies a certain absence of a good’.4 Therefore we must be careful of calling someone evil. It is what they do that is evil. However there is an element of evil that the sinner accepts and so one’s intellect is darkened. We are all created in the image and likeness of our Creator. Yes, it is so tempting to call a two year old evil who drives you crazy as they draw on the walls and flash their innocent smile. Or we might think someone is evil who maliciously backstabs us or viciously hurts us. Or we label someone as evil who sadistically murders an innocent person. But the person was created good and since evil is not a being it is incorrect to label someone as evil. It is the act that is evil, not the person.
For St Thomas there are three types of evil: ♦ Malum – absence of due good. It covers both physical and moral defects, for example, a crumbling tooth, a headache, a detention, a bad habit, or an evil deed.
♦ Culpa – moral fault, incurs blame or guilt.
♦ Poena – penalty (classical) physical evil which includes pain, or imprisonment. The absence of a good is not evil in itself; evil is the absence of a due good. St Thomas illustrates this fact regarding a due good; a man would be evil who had not the swiftness of a roe. But for St Thomas ‘the absence of a good, taken in a privative sense, is an evil; as, for instance, the privation of sight is called blindness’.5 When it comes to morals if you take away the due good of love, and replace it with its opposite it is clear that indifference, using someone as an object or hatred is the evil. Or take away any of the good characteristics of God, for example love, patience, mercy, compassion, and understanding and replace that due good with something that shouldn’t be there, for example envy (not being satisfied with what God has given us), hatred, pride, lust, adultery, and unforgiveness then once again you are left with evil; the due good has been replaced by a fake substitute, an evil.
Evil Depends on Good As already discussed, because we exist we aim for the good. An evil action uses all these mechanisms but introduces a sort of negation into the action. For instance Tommy’s teacher asks him why he didn’t do his homework. ‘My dog ate it’ he replies. The lie ceases to exist unless it is concealed. Because Tommy knows it won’t be accepted as truth he replies instead, ‘My sister got engaged and all our cousins, uncles and aunts came around. My parents made me spend time with them’. This time Tommy’s teacher believes him. The lie is concealed as truth; it pretended to be the truth. Therefore it had to negate the very order it lives by.
Although evil depends on good, it can’t destroy good. According to Aristotle if it could then it would destroy itself: ‘Nothing can be essentially evil since evil must always have as its foundation some subject, distinct from it, that is good... There cannot be a being which is supremely evil, in the way that there is a being that is supremely good because it is essentially good.’6 Following this line of thought St Thomas denies that creation by nature contains evil, for instance, Satan is a good creature who has been thoroughly corrupted.7
Living in Twilight In humans there is a desire to be less than we could be. Fr John Owens, my philosophy teacher calls it, ‘living in a twilight’. But as we come to know God more we want to love Him, ourselves and others more. Therefore the twilight is transformed into sunshine as we are transformed into the image of Christ, desiring and becoming more than we are, who we are called to be, fully human.
Evil consists when a thing fails in goodness. Evil can be divided into two categories: moral evil and natural evil. First let’s explore the former.
We can describe moral evil as being an action or intention with the desire to cause harm or pain to yourself or others. This is related to the absence of a due good, e.g. if you had the intention to hit someone and make them hurt, then you are replacing a good intention such as wishing them peace or loving your neighbour, with the bad intention and action. I was on the receiving end of this when I was bullied at school. The emotional and physical pain was a nightmare (see Set Free!”).
Moral evil is where you should be doing something good for your neighbour, instead you are doing something bad. At times doing nothing could also be an evil action if, for instance, you withhold love or ignore someone in need. The Gospel clearly illustrates that talents are to be used, that people in need must be helped. Therefore there are sins of omission.
If we take the example of Adam and Eve, we discover that humanity was in right relationship with God, self and others (including nature). Eve had just been presented to Adam as a gift to cherish, to love. The father of lies, the serpent, comes onto the scene. This serpent known formerly as Lucifer, meaning the angel of light, turned away from God’s graciousness and love, refusing to serve his Creator and betrayed Him. Satan’s rebellion resulted in his taking a third of the angels with him. Because angels have full knowledge of who God is their decision to follow God or disobey Him was final and is believed to have been made just after they were created. The serpent tempts Adam and Eve and they believe the lies of Satan, then disobey and reject God. They break the bond of trust, the bond of love:
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, ‘Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?’ The woman answered the serpent: ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, “You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.”’ But the serpent said to the woman: ‘You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad (Genesis 3:1-5).’ (New American Bible)
The serpent first seeks to bring evil into the world by replacing trust of God with disbelief. It thus twists the truth; you will see that the consequence of allowing evil into their lives is a spiritual death for humanity. Hence their eyes were opened, their disbelief causing them to lose their innocence.
The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it (Genesis 3:6). (New American Bible)
Therefore the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened to good and evil. They hid from God because they were afraid. Through their shame they realised that they had wronged their Creator by disbelieving, disobeying Him, and rebelling by desiring and trying to snatch His power. This is how evil entered the world as mankind came to know (meaning intimate knowledge) both good and evil. Humanity replaced love and the bond of trust of their Creator with disbelief, disobedience, distrust and rebellion. Thus love was in shatters when humanity substituted love and trust with evil.
Suffering and Evil The very existence of evil and suffering in the world is often a major stumbling block for people to believe in God. We naturally ask why humans have to suffer, especially when we witness someone close to us suffering or even closer to home, the suffering strikes intensely and mercilessly one’s own life.
As humans because of self-awareness we know that we are suffering and we naturally ques
tion why. We ask why one has to go through such a torturous ordeal. Suffering is inter-related with evil: evil is dependent on suffering, though not all suffering is evil. The fact is, without evil there would not be the level of suffering that there is – it is even postulated that suffering would not exist.
We have explored the awesomeness and splendid beauty of our universe with its inherent design which reveals a Creator.
In exploring the meaning of suffering much of my research has included Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on suffering. He says that “the existence of the world opens the eyes of the human soul to the existence of God, to His wisdom, power and greatness.8 Unfortunately the presence of evil and suffering can cloud such an image.
However there are people, even in our own life-time who have delved into the meaning of suffering and discovered a real mystery which has revealed to them even more a God of intense and personal love.
To the world often the words suffering and a loving God are an oxymoron which seems like they can never be reconciled, never able to relate to each other.
But when exploring the subject of suffering one can see in the Old Testament answers to why one has to suffer. Firstly we see the presence of evil and suffering enter the world when Adam and his wife, Eve tried to usurp God’s power. They freely chose to sin against a divine Being, a Being who created them out of infinite love.
Yahweh often punished those He loved in order to lead them to repentance and thus conversion. The sufferings inflicted by God include “an invitation of His mercy”.9 Thus the loving God disciplined His people. The Old Testament shows many examples of Israel, the Chosen People turning away from God by breaking His covenant, but no matter what they did God always called them back to Himself and was always faithful to His people. Like a loving parent God had to correct and discipline those He loved.
“Christianity proclaims the essential good of existence and the good of that which exists, acknowledges the goodness of the Creator and proclaims the good of creatures.”10 Through the Cross discipline and conversion thus create the possibility of rebuilding goodness in the person.
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