I believe evil is as real as I am.
So, to think of evil as a “concept” is to be willingly blinded by a clever subterfuge.
And just as I believe about the true nature of love, I believe about the true nature of evil.
Neither originates in man.
Man chooses and takes sides.
We are entertained and laugh about zombie movies, but the kernel of truth in them is that this is what satan, the prince of this world, or the prince of darkness, as he is called, does to unprotected human souls.
He removes life and replaces it with walking death and misery.
The word live spelled backward is evil.
I use this word play to remind me that evil is anti-life which is another way of saying it is pro-death.
Evil is the destroyer of love and relationships as well.
And what the devil and his minions do is always evil because this is their nature. They cannot be redeemed, only resisted, but not through our own power and might.
But here is where it gets real tricky — Evil doesn’t always look bad.
Evil entices by making promises it will later gleefully break.
Evil lies and justifies and accuses the righteous for what evil routinely does.
Don’t fight evil. Turn evil over to God.
Evil plays good people for fools and our only reliable defense is to stay close to God. The following passage is helpful if you want to better understand the power struggle between good and evil, God and satan, and how men choose sides.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
[Minor observation: The ancestors of these Jewish scribes and Pharisees once were slaves in Egypt. Later their nation became slaves to the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively. At the time of this exchange with Jesus they are under the boot of the Romans. This means their statement above is a lie and they know it. They created this phony national history to try and hold on to their personal power. This will lead them later to set up Jesus’s execution by the Romans.]
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.”
They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Which one of you convicts me of sin?
If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
John 8:31-47 (ESV)
God does not create or use evil ever.
God is holy and is purely good. To think otherwise is a trick from evil’s side.
As I have written in earlier posts God is love and one of the attributes of love is a respect for the Beloved. This means we have free wills to choose. This opens up the possibility for evil to exist and sadly many choose to go that direction because they were promised power and life. In the end they will obtain neither.
So here you and I are, having been born into a world where evil exists and for a limited time is running wild. Recognize this is not new.
Yes, it’s a mess right now but one day Evil will come to its end.
…and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Revelation 20:10 (ESV)
Choose wisely.
Very well said