Why Evil pt 3, The Nature of Evil

The statement of the problem of the nature of evil could be 1.  God created all things 2.  Evil is something 3.  Therefore, God created evil.  So what is evil?  Many people believe God made evil because He made all “things”.  But, God said, “looking back on all His creation, It was very good” Genesis 1:31  So, if everything God made was good, then how can evil be real?  The answer, evil is not a “thing” or substance.  How then can evil be real but not a thing?  Augustine found a satisfying, enduring answer: Evil is a real lack, privation, or corruption of a good thing.  That is, evil does not exist in itself.  To illustrate, Evil is like a wound in an arm.  The wound does not exist in itself, a totally wounded body is  not a body at all.  Evil is like rust to a car, a totally rusted car does not exist, it would just be a brown spot in the road.  Evil is like rot to a tree, a totally rotten tree is not a tree at all, it’s topsoil!  So, like a wound, rust, or rot, Evil is a real lack, privation, or corruption of a good thing.  So, you can say 1.  God created all things. 2. Evil is not thing. 3. Hence God did not create evil.  But don’t misunderstand, evil is not a mere absence of good.  For example, the power of sight is absent in a rock and a blind person.  By nature a stone is not supposed to see, so there is no privation of sight.  However, a human by nature is supposed to see, to be blind is a real privation.  So to say evil is a privation, or a lack of some good that ought to be there, does not mean evil is unreal.  Isn’t Satan totally evil?  He is completely evil in a moral sense, but not in a metaphysical sense.  Insofar as he is a creature of God, he has intelligence, power and free will as remnants of good that God gave to him as a created angel.  But he uses all his God-given good powers to do evil; he is ever, always, irretrievably bent on evil.  God is the author of everything, including evil, in the sense that He permits it, but not in the sense that He produces it.  Just like parents give children limited freedom to learn from their mistakes, even so God does with His children, but in no way does God “author” evil in the sense of producing, promoting, or performing it.  Just as Joseph told his brothers who left him for dead, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” Genesis 50:20, even so God overrules the evil intent of humans to accomplish His ultimate good.  Of course, explaining evil as a lack in good things does not explain where the lack comes from.  All it explains is the nature of evil as a real privation in good things.  Where the corruption came from is another question.  So we will look at the origin of evil to provide you some more food for thought. Excerpts from chapter 2, If God, why Evil? By Norman L. Geisler, I encourage you get this book and read all of Dr. Geisler’s research and 50 years of knowledge in theology, philosophy, and apologetics on the college or graduate level.