The Nature of Evil and the Solution to It

I'll primarily be talking about "sin" in this blog though from a different angle than my other blogs involving that.  There are two primary viewpoints out there in other worldviews to try to explain where evil comes from.  One is fairly deterministic in origin and uses the field of psychology to say that issues of evil are mostly issues of emotional and mental health disorders caused by bad genes that were passed down from generation to generation.  There would be some argument from this camp that we need less prisons and more mental hospitals where the mentally ill can be institutionalized and eventually this worldview offers the opinion that these mentally ill people should be chemically or physically castrated so as to not be able to reproduce and pass on their "bad genes" or they should be euthanized to be removed from the gene pool.  There is the idea that some sort of "Superman" can be made by keeping only the "good people" with good genes and eliminating all the "bad people" with "bad genes."  In practice though, this doesn't work because all of us sin and do evil things.  Even with the Flood that killed all but eight people who seemed to be the only "good" people left on the earth, that didn't solve the problem of evil because each of those eight survivors of the Flood still had a sin nature, so this argument doesn't seem valid and must be rejected.  

Another view is that all children are born good, but they are corrupted by bad influences in society (no one usually explains where these bad influences come from, but they might be willing to agree with the first group of people that there are some cases in which certain people are broken from birth--they just wouldn't call that the norm).  This second group would like to imagine that therapy and counseling are the answer to everything and that if a person would realize how much their actions are hurting themselves and other people that they would have to stop doing that because they this view says that no one intentionally hurst themselves or others.  There are a few problems with this view.  First, we don't have to teach newborn children how to do things that are evil.  They come out of the womb with a selfish ethic that the ends justify the means.  Young children will take what they want and fight others who try to take something they want.  If they cannot employ physical tactics yet, they instead resort to screaming and crying and throwing some kind of tantrum until someone gives into them.  We don't like to think of this as a sign of the evil nature that lives within them, but it really is.

Next the second viewpoint has an issue that if they are correct counseling should work more than it does in cutting down on what we call recidivism for those who commit criminal acts, get institutionalized (usually in jail where there is mandatory counseling) and then after they are "rehabilitated" go back out into the world only to, many times, commit exactly the same crimes again, or maybe even commit worse crimes that they learned about from others while they were in prison.  The situation I just described is more the norm than we want to admit, and it is why there are "three strikes" laws in many areas that after committing three felonies, there is a mandatory 25-life sentence for the third "strike."  We don't usually see criminals becoming better people after being in prison, we usually see them become better criminals after being in prison.  So, this issue too seems to not answer the question of the nature of evil or give an adequate answer to how to deal with it.

The Bible tells us both of the nature of evil and the answer to it.  In the beginning, God created everything good and perfect, but angels and humans that He created, He created with the freewill to obey Him or rebel against Him.  Once an angel rebelled, their destiny was set--there was no plan of salvation for them and the third of the angels that rebelled with Lucifer against the LORD became what we know today as demons.  Lucifer is known by several other names like Satan (The Tempter) and the devil.  He is pictured in the Bible as both a snake and a dragon, but he is also described as an angel of light and his name literally means "light bringer" or "son of the dawn" (it would seem like his glory was compared to that of the Sun).  Once Satan "fell" (was kicked out of heaven because of his sin), he was sent to earth (along with the demons that followed him) and Satan made it his mission to get God's crowning achievement in creation, mankind, to fall with him.  If Satan couldn't hurt God directly, he was going to attack him indirectly by hurting the ones God loved.  How would Satan do this?  Simple, he was going to convince Adam and Eve that God didn't really love them and hadn't been completely honest with them and that His rules were meant to keep them from experiencing something good that He was withholding from them.  God had only given Adam and Eve a couple of rules to start off with.  They could eat of any seed-bearing plant in the Garden of Eden, but they were not to eat of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that was in the center of the Garden.  They day they ate of it they would surely die (literally they would die die or they would doubly-die).  They didn't understand the concept of death yet because all they knew was the life that God had given them.  Nothing yet had died, but death was not something that God ever wanted them to have to experience--not physical death, and certainly not the spiritual death that is separation from God.

However, when Adam and Eve gave into the lust of their eyes, the lust of their flesh, and the boastful pride of life with which they were tempted in the Garden, humanity fell and was separated from God.  They became a part of the kingdom of this world that Satan had been given dominion over, and all those who were born to them were born as citizens of the kingdom of this world with a nature that was bent towards rebellion against God.  That's something I talked about in are-we-being-judged-for-adams-sin-or-our-own.html, but evil people do evil things because they have evil hearts.  That's the short answer to the nature of evil.  Each of us naturally has an evil heart and without a miracle we will be inclined towards the "darkness" and not the "light."  Jesus even says this in His parable about the tree and its fruit where the "tree" has to do with the nature of the tree and the fruit has to do with the thoughts, words and actions that come as a byproduct of the "nature" of the tree.  An apple tree produces apples because it is an apple tree.  It does what is natural to it and it produces that fruit.  So it is that the works of the flesh are evident for those that are controlled by their "sin nature," 


Galatians 5:16-23
English Standard Version
​
Keep in Step with the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

We see here that there are works of the flesh and they are contrasted with the Fruit of the Spirit.  This blog is not going to deal with the Spirit-filled and Spirit-controlled life so much other than to say that each man can only have one master and will be mastered by sin or by the Spirit.  We can only have one of these natures.  Jesus said it this way.


Matthew 7:15-20
English Standard Version
​
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Matthew 12:33-36
English Standard Version​
A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,


Matthew 15:10-20
English Standard Version
​
What Defiles a Person
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”


Isn't it strange that the very things that Jesus says defile a person and make them unfit for the kingdom of heaven are the very things we are told that we need to accept, tolerate, and now may even be told that we have to celebrate when evil people want to do the things that are consistent with the evil in their hearts?  Let's take a look at another passage from 1 Corinthians that says this as well.


1 Corinthians 6:9-11
English Standard Version
​9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

There it is again!  There's something about having a new nature that will change us on the inside and the outside (the inside appears to be changed first, which then causes a change in behavior).  1 Corinthians uses words like "washed" and "sanctified" (made holy) and "justified" (declared righteous) to describe what happened and says that it happened in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  So it seems that there is some need for a new nature that we as Christians would call the need to be "born again."  We see Jesus tell Nicodemus of this need in John 3.


John 3:1-15
English Standard Version
​
You Must Be Born Again
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

We see here that even the wise people like Nicodemus were confounded by man's greatest need.  How could a man be "born again" and receive a new nature?  Surely it was not meant that they were to be physically born again because physical birth is what got them into this broken state in the first place.  No, Jesus is talking about needing to be born of the Spirit.  Jesus says unless a man is born of water and the Spirit that man cannot enter the kingdom of God (let's save that discussion for another blog as it probably deserves its own), but we see a theme here of "washing" (by water) and "by the Spirit" that we've seen in several verses so far.  Then Jesus makes the point that we know someone is born of the Spirit not because we see the Spirit but because we see what the Spirit does (the Fruit of the Spirit that was talked about in Galatians 5) much like we don't see the wind, but we see what the wind does so we know the wind is there.

So, it seems that it is possible for men to be born again and their nature to be changed so that they are controlled by the Spirit of God and that the Spirit acts through them and does what is pleasing to God, but that the natural man who is controlled by his flesh will not naturally do the things that the Spriit wants him to do because the flesh and the Spirit are opposed to each other.  So, it would seem that "regeneration" or being "born again" is the answer to the nature of evil or in short, the gospel that changes people from the inside out is the answer to the problem of evil in the world today.  We can look more into what this means as we study more in these "Faith and Culture" blogs, but I hope you walk away from this one realizing that no one but God alone is good, and only the Spirit of God working through those that have been born again can produce what God would truly call "good works."  Also, I would hope that you would see that there are only two possible "kinds" of people.  Romans 5 calls them those who are "in Adam" and are controlled by their flesh.  Their end is the death that was promised when Adam and Eve sinned, and they are in rebellion against the LORD and will be separated from Him for all eternity.  The other kind of person are those who are "in Christ" and have been made "new creations" or "new creatures" in accordance with not only Romans 5, but in this verse from 2 Corinthians.


2 Corinthians 5:17
English Standard Version
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.