“the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.”
What is evil? “The opposite or absence of good. One form of evil, physical evil, is a result of the ‘state of journeying’ toward its ultimate perfection in which God created the world, involving the existence of the less perfect alongside the more perfect, the constructive and the destructive forces of nature, the appearance and disappearance of certain beings. Moral evil, however, results from the free choice to sin which angels and men have; it is permitted by God, who knows how to derive good from it, in order to respect the freedom of his creatures. The entire revelation of God’s goodness in Christ is a response to the existence of evil.” [1]
Search: What is Evil?
Why did God create evil? We have to remember that evil is the lack or the absence of good. God did not create evil because everything God creates is good. The subject has the ability to move away from God thus creating a void between him and the ultimate good, God. “Freedom makes man a moral subject. When he acts deliberately, man is, so to speak, the father of his acts.” [2] God did not create evil, he only allows it to exist. If something exists, it exists either because God wills it or God allows it.
Why is there evil? Why does God allow evil to exist? There is no concrete answer to these questions because only God knows this answer, and He reveals His mysteries to us in the fullness of time. In other words we will understand the reason for certain evils when we need to know and if we are open to knowing. God has however shed enough light on this for us to give some truth and solace to understand why there is evil and why He allows it to exist.
There is evil because there is free will. God allows us to follow Him or walk away from Him. Our first parents, Adam and Eve had broken the harmony of perfect justice, peace, and holiness of all creation. By our parent’s fall we are deprived of original holiness, but we are not totally corrupted. We have a wounded by this sin. [3] Some may say why would God allow the effects of original sin, to exist and be passed down throughout the course of human history? The answer lies within God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Pope Saint Leo the Great says on this matter, “Christ’s inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon’s envy had taken away.” [4] St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “There is nothing to prevent human nature’s being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, ‘Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’; and the Exultet sins, ‘O happy fault,… which gained for us so great a Redeemer!’” [5]
How can good come out of evil? There are countless examples of good coming out of evil. For example, in the Old Testament we read about Joseph being sold by his brothers to a slave trade. The brothers sell their own brother and then they lie to their father, saying that he was killed. Joseph would be sent to Egypt where he would eventually become a prince in Egypt. When a famine strikes Joseph’s family they come to Egypt where they unexpectedly reunite with their brother Joseph. They go to Egypt seeking food and they find a brother. Instead of striking out vengeance toward his brothers, Joseph showers them with mercy. Joseph says to his brothers, “It was not you who sent me here, but God…You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.”(Gen. 45:8, 50; 50:20; cf. Tob. 2:12-18)Just because we may not see the good come out of some evil act does not mean there was some good that came out of it to someone or something somewhere at some point in time. Joseph is a type of Christ. Jesus Christ was betrayed by His own people. “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.” (John 1:11) Through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, He is now seated at the right hand of the Father. May all of us who hunger and thirst approach the thrown of the One we once betrayed, that He might shower us with mercy. The greatest example we can share as Christians is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. “From the greatest moral evil ever committed – the rejection and murder of God’s only Son, caused by the sins of all men – God, by his grace that ‘abounded all the more,’ brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption.” [6] All this being said, we should remember, “evil never becomes a good.” [7] Meaning it is never okay to commit evil to bring about a good.
Is evil as powerful as God? No. There have been many heresies; Manichaeism is one, throughout the Church’s history challenging this fact. Some have believed in dualism, which is the teaching that good and evil are equal and battling it out to see who wins in a permanent conflict. There are others, Gnosticism is one, who have looked upon the physical world and seen it as evil and the product of the fall of Man. Both of these are incorrect. Whether we are talking about the evil one, Satan, or the evil actions of a human being, they are not as powerful as God. The only unforgivable sin is to doubt or deny the fact that we can be forgiven. If we positively state that we cannot be forgiven, we are saying that the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not good enough. In other words we are saying that our sin is greater than His grace. Are we ready to make that claim?
How do we know that Satan and God are not equal in power? Satan was created by God and thus subject under God. The same can be said for any person who does evil. They are still the subjects of God. They have their days of sowing and will also have the day of reaping or harvest. Jesus promises this in the Gospel Reading today. God has already won the victory. God is more powerful than any creature or any act a creature of His can make. As Saint Paul writes about God’s power through Christ crucified is “the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Cor. 1:24-25)
Are people born evil? People are not born evil. God never creates anything that is evil. As state above, we are conceived with Original Sin and are wounded, but we are not inherently evil. All men are born in the image and likeness of God thus we are good, however, though we are made in God’s image this does not mean we follow in God’s actions or goodness and righteousness.
“We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God ‘face to face,’ will we fully know the ways by which even through the dramas of evil and sin – God has guided his creation to that definitive Sabbath rest for which he created heaven and earth.” [8]
What is the opposite of evil? The opposite of evil is charity. We must remember that evil has a limit, a breaking point. Goodness and charity however are boundless because God is limitless. Many people see for example the 10 commandments as negatives; “thou shall not this” and “thou shall not that”. What we must remember to ask is why? Why is it in a “not”. For example the fifth commandment is thou shall not kill. This is telling us not to commit a negative. Killing someone takes a human life. However, this is the point of no return because once a person is killed you cannot bring them back. Death is bad in the sense that death entered into the world by Original Sin and Satan. We cannot undo a killing. However, the opposite of death is life. Life is good because God creates it. We are called not to kill yes, but the commandment is about giving honor and respect to the dignity of all human life. We can never do enough to show this dignity. There is no limit to showing peace, love, patience, kindness, and gentleness to another person. This is beauty of God! Where there is an end point to a negative or evil there is no end to the good, charity, and God. “The reason is this: the commandment of love of God and neighbor does not have in its dynamic any higher limit, but it does have a lower limit, beneath which the commandment is broken.” [9]
[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary pg. 2245
[2] CCC 1749
[3] cf. CCC 404
[4] Sermo 73, 4: PL 54, 396
[5] St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 1, 3, ad 3; cf. Rom 5:20
[6] CCC 312
[7] CCC 312
[8] CCC 314
[9] Saint John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, 52