LIE: Evil is more powerful than good

Lie:      Evil is more powerful than good.

Truth: Good is much more powerful than evil.

God did not abolish the fact of evil: He transformed it. He did not stop the crucifixion: He rose from the dead. — Dorothy Sayers, The Greatest Drama Ever Staged

Light overcomes darkness – every time; so also warmth overcomes cold, reason beats irrationality, and smiles and laughter win over frowns and frenzies. There’s a power in goodness that transcends and overcomes evil, but good power doesn’t look like ‘normal’ power because most don’t think of goodness as a kind of power. That’s because power is normally associated with intimidation and violence. To most, power simply means a louder voice, more muscle or a bigger gun.

God built goodness into the fabric of the universe and it speaks in every man’s conscience. The moral order outranks and opposes the use of violence against the innocent and judges it for its violation. Goodness rightfully stands opposed and above all evil. But the question is, how does goodness overcome evil? And how can evil be defeated by goodness? It seems, at least on many fronts, evil seems only to be accelerating. But doesn’t all the sophistry of a higher moral universe ring hollow? It shouldn’t. We have good reason to believe that good is much more powerful than evil.

What is evil?

Evil is not easily definable and comes in many forms, but most of us know it when we see it. Evil exists in persons, in institutions, and in environments. It has common motivations, actions and effects. For a scholarly exploration of the nature of evil, see for example, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/concept-evil/

Some people actually question the existence of evil, usually chalking it up to a form of mental illness or claiming that it’s an outdated concept. Regardless, we need to try to define evil carefully.

But first let’s look at what evil is not.

Harm can be caused by many things, but we must make a distinction that, simply because someone is harmed, does not mean that evil has been committed.

What evil IS NOT:

Evil is not present when harm is simply caused by:

• incompetence or inexperience
• accident, error, oversight or omission
• misunderstanding, delusion, confusion or ignorance[1]
• neglect, laziness or sloppiness
• fear, anxiety or paralysis
• directionlessness, aimlessness or opportunism
• threat, coercion, duress or intimidation

I’m defining evil narrowly. To be evil takes both the desire and the intent to harm, or to withhold good. But evil is rarely pure. The fact is we all have sin; therefore, we all have some evil. In other words, for example, in our neglect, we are also aware that our neglect may, or even will, cause harm. That knowledge, whether fully conscious or not, means we carry some culpability. But only God knows how much.

So then what is evil?                                                                                                              

Evil – a diabolically-inspired desire and intent to directly or indirectly see or inflict mental, physical or emotional harm (or impede the benefit thereof). The desire and intent is followed by related acts or omissions.

What is good then?

Good – a Spirit-inspired desire and intent to unselfishly initiate mental, physical or emotional benefit (or impede the harm thereof).

Diabolical evil

All we can see outwardly is the harm that is caused – for example, the injury, illness or loss. But whether and to what extent that harm is caused by evil we cannot see. Harm can be caused just as well by incompetence or neglect or fear or error as it can be by direct intent.

It seems that diabolical evil aims to indirectly cause harm by degrading humanity’s natural abilities. Diabolical evil creates the environments where harm can more easily grow and flourish – environments like calamity, disorder, false reality, confusion, and human degradation. Out of these environments, people react out of fear, panic, anger and lust.

See also the LIE: I’m immune to deception

One huge environment that Satan is cultivating is human degradation. Through oversaturation of media and technology, humans beings are losing their ability to think, feel, remember, speak and even move and act. This general malaise creates an environment where we are more likely to make mistakes, misunderstand, be more anxious and neglectful. This can only result in harm to human beings and indeed to all life.

For example, obesity is now epidemic in America. From the CDC:

The prevalence of obesity was 39.8% and affected about 93.3 million of US adults in 2015~2016. Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer that are some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion in 2008 US dollars; the medical cost for people who have obesity was $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.^[2]

Several behaviors contribute to the causes of obesity, especially among young people. A good portion of these causes stem from a technological, screen-based world.

This also from the CDC:

Behaviors that influence excess weight gain include eating high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages, not getting enough physical activity, sedentary activities such as watching television or other screen devices, medication use, and sleep routines.[3]

Is evil winning?

Evil appears to be a giant snowball rolling downhill; or an exponentially growing wave that could engulf the world. Without a sufficiently large ‘backstop,’ what could possibly stop it? The good news is a large-enough backstop against the tide of evil does exist and has stemmed that flow many times in history. It’s called the judgment of God. There is a ground on which the snowball and the wave will crash. It may produce a massive crush of suffering, but there will be a reckoning. Every debt must eventually be paid. Or as the saying goes – ‘pay me now or pay me later.’

Evil is powerful, but the ground on which it will eventually crash is of a far different order. We may think evil is winning because we wrongly assume that good and evil are relatively matched. But nothing could be further from the truth. We too easily forget who we’re talking about – we’re talking about the eternal God who made heaven and earth and who holds the life and breath of each one of us in his hand.

Jesus demonstrated this kind of good versus evil in his face-off with Pilate:

Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” — John 19:8–11 [emphasis added]

John’s irony is subtle but powerful. Jesus appears to be the vulnerable one, yet Jesus actually mercifully withholds judgment from Pilate (he subtly reminds him of that). Pilate’s wife warns her husband: “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” (Matthew 27:19). Pilate ends up washing his hands in view of Jesus’ accusers, apparently trying to wash ‘the greater sin’ from himself, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.” (Matthew 27:24). No doubt Pilate knew in his gut this was no ordinary man.

Evil appears to be winning only because God is so merciful. Make no mistake, evil men and women and their systems will be judged, but God waits because he desires that all men turn from their evil ways. God will make everything right at the right time; he alone is qualified and authorized – yes, because he’s God, but also because he’s the only one who sees well enough to properly avenge and vindicate all those who wait for and trust him.

In this vein, Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge:

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” — Luke 18:1–8

God may appear to be an unjust judge, even a judge who doesn’t care. Yet even unjust judges surrender when someone is persistent enough. But God is not unjust; he desires ‘to avenge his own elect who cry out to him day and night.’ But not giving up takes a faith that stares down the persistence of evil. It takes believing that God is the only just judge to whom all men are ultimately accountable.

Good overcomes evil

Tyler Durden, the alter-ego from the movie Fight Club said, “On a long-enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” No one will escape the appointment that awaits us all: death. And given enough rope, evil will eventually hang itself.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. — Galatians 6:7–8

Let’s bring this down to earth. Imagine a weary traveler who solicits a room from an orderly and loving family. The traveler is welcomed and sups with the family at the evening meal and then, in the night, while the house is sleeping, he gets up to steal the family silver (his first evil: theft). The father awakens and discovers the traveler’s deed, and then, in his attempt to escape, assaults the father, striking him on the head (second evil: assault). The traveler escapes with the silver in tow, but is later apprehended by the police and hauled back. The traveler then denies that he stole the silver (third evil: deceit).

At this point the father could have pressed charges, which would have been his rightful prerogative, either with relish or bitterness or even compassion. Or he could have allowed him to go free, with a self-righteous smugness, or, as the story from Les Misérables, the father, Bishop Myrial, forgives Jean Valjean and, turning the other cheek, tells Valjean that he forgot to take the silver candlesticks too.

From Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, here is the pivotal scene that changed Jean Valjean’s life for good. It shows how good overcomes evil. I quote it here in its entirety because I simply can’t bear to abbreviate such a passage.

“Ah! here you are!” he [Bishop Myrial] exclaimed, looking at Jean Valjean. “I am glad to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away with your forks and spoons?”

Jean Valjean opened his eyes wide, and stared at the venerable Bishop with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of.

“Monseigneur,” [Bishop] said the brigadier of gendarmes, “so what this man said is true, then? We came across him. He was walking like a man who is running away. We stopped him to look into the matter. He had this silver—”

“And he told you,” interposed the Bishop with a smile, “that it had been given to him by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom he had passed the night? I see how the matter stands. And you have brought him back here? It is a mistake.”

“In that case,” replied the brigadier, “we can let him go?”

“Certainly,” replied the Bishop.

The gendarmes released Jean Valjean, who recoiled.

“Is it true that I am to be released?” he said, in an almost inarticulate voice, and as though he were talking in his sleep.

“Yes, thou art released; dost thou not understand?” said one of the gendarmes.

“My friend,” resumed the Bishop, “before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them.”

He stepped to the chimney-piece, took the two silver candlesticks, and brought them to Jean Valjean. The two women looked on without uttering a word, without a gesture, without a look which could disconcert the Bishop.

Jean Valjean was trembling in every limb. He took the two candlesticks mechanically, and with a bewildered air.

“Now,” said the Bishop, “go in peace. By the way, when you return, my friend, it is not necessary to pass through the garden. You can always enter and depart through the street door. It is never fastened with anything but a latch, either by day or by night.”

Then, turning to the gendarmes:—

“You may retire, gentlemen.”

The gendarmes retired.

Jean Valjean was like a man on the point of fainting.

The Bishop drew near to him, and said in a low voice:—

“Do not forget, never forget, that you have promised to use this money in becoming an honest man.”

Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything, remained speechless. The Bishop had emphasized the words when he uttered them. He resumed with solemnity:—

“Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”

This is not a passive but an active good. It mirrors the active assault, with an ‘assault’ of generosity and grace. Good here carries its own force.

Of course this was the shocking turning point in Valjean’s life and which triggered his remarkable transformation. This reveals the character of the good that we as Christ-followers are called to give. It is no run-of-the-mill good, no pedestrian morality; the good to which Christ calls us is the kind of good he showed: the radical and shocking good of the cross. Hear Paul’s words:

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. — Romans 12:19–21

This kind of good triumphs because it is deeply right and reveals the heart of God.

The good of the cross shocks us that God would go to such extremes to love and save us. It leaves us speechless and reduces us, humbles us, like Valjean, to despise the evil and violence within us, and in disgust turn from it to the grace that God lavishes on us. This is our calling as Christ-followers, to demonstrate this kind of radical good of the cross. Jesus said:

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. — Luke 14:27

Christ has shown us the way to overcome evil in this life and so we have the opportunity now to declare and demonstrate – in words and actions – this truth and rescue souls before their days end. Until then we cry out – day and night if necessary – to our just and merciful judge and lavish on our enemies the same grace that we have received.

See also the lie: I am defeated, part 1 and part 2.

[1] Most theorists believe that ignorance caused from self-deception is morally culpable.

[2] https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html captured on September 8, 2018.

[3] https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/causes.html captured on September 8, 2018.