If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.
~ CS Lewis
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will…. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the Son of Man, that you care for him? You made Him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned Him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under His feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. But we see Him Who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone… For it was fitting that He, for Whom and by Whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the Founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have One source. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,… “I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in Him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given Me.”
~ The Encourager, in Hebrews 2
Oh beloved, it is true.
There is something that looks like it is in competition against beauty and life and wholeness. We call it evil. And, it is true that evil looks like it exists. But, the truth of the matter is that evil does not really exist in and of itself.
Evil is always a twisting or downgrading of that which is whole.
So when we see the evil in this world, it is not that it unstoppable by a less-than-infinite god. Nor is it something he could have stopped, but did not. Evil now is put in its context. It is limited. It is running out of time. And its use now is to always bring about a greater good in a universe that declares the glory of G_d.
It’s really not that hard to see.
Music becomes some sort of terrible rhythm and beat to pull us into violence and sin.
Medicine is manipulated into chemistry that alters our state of consciousness.
Wisdom is twisted into cunning schemes.
Beauty is dressed down into pornographic advertising.
Strength is turned into strong-arm strategies and tactics.
Art is degraded into nearly psychotic representations of nothing.
Can we see it though?
Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.
~ Simone Weil
All of this flows in one direction. None of what evil does, or is, or produces is original. Evil always takes something that is whole, and makes it less than whole.
This is exactly what sin is in our own lives.
When we fear, we give into terrible short-sightedness.
When we lust, we refuse to appreciate and only want to consume.
When we rage, we try to wrestle control down into our tiny little, tempestuous teapots.
When we lie, we temporarily mar the hallowed halls of Truth (which reigns eternal).
Everything about sin is about falling short of, and living under our Design.
So, hopefully the question is obvious… Why would i (or you, beloved reader) ever want to live so short of the astounding glory of creation and of G_d? Has our pride so blinded us as to think that our own little wigleings and ragings and bingings is ever going to build something that will last?
Surely not.
Tonight is your night. Time to understand just what evil really is. It will never win. It will only consume itself – and us in the course – if we live and walk in its path. And then, it is most surely time to let yes be yes, and no be no – in all of our doings, that we may walk free.
Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.
~ Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight
