12.30.2011

On Evil

There is a truth evident in scripture that many are reluctant to accept - one that most believers would rather not even contemplate. It has the power to turn a friendly discussion into a fierce debate. Because of this, I warn you - if you would prefer to remain calm, if you would rather not read something absolutely infuriating, make haste and click your way right out of here. For those intrepid souls who remain, however, read on. Do remember, though - you've been warned.

“I form light and create darkness, I make well-being [good] and create calamity [evil], I Am the L-RD, who does all these things.” ~ Isaiah 45:7

How can we understand such a verse? How does it pertain, if at all, to the acts of sin, hatred and violence we witness daily? Has G-d simply left us to our own devices? Why does He allow evil? Even worse, does He actually cause it? Who's in charge here?

Mankind is replete with sinful desire. He cares not for G-d's instruction and, by and large, revels in his rebellion. He commits all manner of sinful acts against others - most of the time completely intentionally. Yet, Isaiah, when speaking of HaShem, didn't write, "I form light, but man forms darkness, I make well-being and man creates calamity, I Am the L-RD and I'm responsible for only the good stuff." He wrote something quite contrary.

You might ask, "Isn't man the author of evil?" And while, yes, man can be an author - man can’t truly “create”. Man, then, is an author of acts of evil - an engineer, an architect. And like those craftsmen, he’s able to arrange elements and materials that previously existed, but not to speak realities into existence himself. The heart of man is depraved. His intention is to manipulate and distort reality, as much as he's able, into self-centered acts. In man's desire to worship himself, essentially, he becomes an agent of, or vessel for, evil. His rebellious will formulates many dark devices - but he is merely manipulating these pre-existing, created elements of power, exaltation, the ability to cease life, to his own benefit. Man did not create these elements. Man cannot. G-d did. Isaiah did not misquote Him.

This, of course, is not to say that G-d is “evil”, as many have, unfortunately, come to understand the situation, but that He is the Creator of absolutely everything - including free will. Having created beings with free will, G-d has allowed the evil equation. If you give your child the freedom to make any decision they like, you're fully aware that the wrong, harmful decision is well within their grasp. And while they didn't create that option, they're compelled to attain it. It's an inescapable reality - a fallen being will fall, repeatedly. What's particularly astounding about G-d giving us free will is that He, obviously, foreknew absolutely everything we'd do with it. That's a bit unsettling, isn't it? Is it possible that even our concept of what evil is has been corrupted? I believe it has - and that corruption wouldn't be such an issue if we didn't subconsciously incorporate it into our theology.

Clearly, we can only comprehend so much (or very little, actually) about the nature of HaShem. Just as clearly, our own ideas far too quickly fill in the voids. So, what is this concept "evil" to which we refer so casually? Is it not man taking the attributes of G-d onto himself? Isn't that, basically, what Adam and Chavah did? Was their act in Gan Eden truly evil? Disobedient, certainly - but diabolical? It might not seem so, but it absolutely was, if you understand that all power, glory, exaltation, honor, knowledge, worship, life, and the cessation of life, belongs to HaShem. When man puts on these elements himself, when he distorts these re-purposed powers for his own gain, when he attempts to exalt himself over G-d, his intention can only ever be what we refer to as evil. Century after century, man composes his epic poem of malice from an exalted glossary of attributes stolen directly from G-d. History has recited this dark work for so long, attributing the ownership to man, that many falsely assume G-d to be hateful, absent, or simply a myth. The distortion has finally eclipsed the reality.

Can G-d be jealous? Yes. Can He be vengeful? Certainly. He can hate. He can kill. But is He evil? Of course not! These attributes, which we wield in destruction, are G-d’s alone to possess. We, as His creations, have no right to possess them (as Mashiach Yeshua has made clear), much less, project our own distortions and lack of understanding onto The Eternal One. When ha satan embodies these attributes, why does he do so? Is it not to “be like G-d” – to exalt himself over G-d’s Creation? It is no different with man. What are pride, murder, rape, slander? Some will simply say “evil”, and while that is certainly true, to be more clear, more rational – these are mere distortions, or misappropriations of power and control. These are acts of power perpetrated by otherwise powerless, created beings. To create darkness, you must place an obstruction before light, but you haven’t actually “created” anything at all – you’ve merely concealed or distorted something else.

Though we are unable to comprehend HaShem, we surely know enough to understand that He is completely unlike us. We also know that if we, mankind, were to cause something “evil” to happen, chances are, it would be because our motivations were self-serving to begin with. It's unwise to project this, our own sinful nature, onto our Creator, however. HaShem accomplishes all things in perfection – even seemingly chaotic things – for His glory. Our understanding of time, events and purpose is finite – His plans, infinite. Many are uncomfortable with this, though. They so desperately desire a god who behaves and thinks like they do, that they fabricate a deity like themselves – or what they think a deity should be like, rather than what He actually is like. Introducing, the mentality behind the whole of man’s bloody interaction with his fellow man throughout history - most often, in the name of religion.

Perhaps you disagree with the ideas I've put forth. I hope that you do, actually - as I'm still trying to figure things out and enjoy these types of discussions immensely.

What is "evil" to you?

8 comments:

  1. Shalom Luke,

    Great post!! This subject is one that is very interesting and important to understand. And when it comes down to it, it all falls under 2 categories: either 1. G-d's imposed will or 2. G-d's permissive will.
    Nothing escapes the Almighty! No one catches Him by surprise for He knows the beginning from the end!

    To better explain what I mean let me give an example that really helps to clarify my stance. If by some miracle someone knew how many children he would have and on top of that you would also know the future of these children. Now the first child this person has ends up to be a drug dealer and hurting many innocent people. Then the next child born to the individual is killed in some accident at a very early age (G-d forbid). As the future continues to be revealed to the person he sees that his third son ends up being a great child and a very successful person in life and dies at a very old age happy with a beautiful family (B.H!). Now while the individual is seeing all this future revealed to him, he must make a decision. Would you have those kids even know you knew that the first 2 would be criminals and the third would be such a blessing?? Would you forfit the right of the third child (the blessing) because the first 2 'willed' to do evil, they wanted nothing to do with correct council. FREE WILL/CHOICE. This is what it comes down to.

    In my finite understanding G-d sees all the souls that will ever exist from before creation. Should He not let the righteous come into existence because some of His creations that He has given free will to decides to do the opposite? G-d did not creat robots, we can choose to love and obey our Creator or not. The thing is that we are all held accountable for our decisions whether we know it or not.
    But you want to hear something that will blow your mind away? Even those who are totally evil serve G-d's purpose, the Hitlers, the Judahs Isacariot's etc etc, all these served the purpose. Shocking? Yes it shocks me too, but G-d ways are way higher then mine! G-d did not make these individuals evil, they have free will.... But their choices still served the Creators purpose in His plan.

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  2. Hey Rey, Thanks so much for your thoughts on this. Because of your response, though, I fear I may not have communicated my idea adequately.

    I know the "nature of evil" and "free will" discussions are usually presented hand in hand - almost interchangeably, but my aim is less about "free will", and more about will, period.

    In my asking "what is evil?" I'm basically looking for thoughts as to whether "evil", as we've come to understand it, even exists. I think many people imagine "evil" simply as the opposite of "good" - that they're equals - some sort of yin and yang thing. Many believe that the forces of good push against the forces of evil - or that good people battle evil people, etc. I'm starting to think that this perspective is unprofitable.

    Now, I'm not pushing for some kind of pluralistic, moral relativism or anything like that - far from it. I think that what I'm getting at is this: while mankind is completely sinful, we've unnecessarily, and lazily, thought of others as "evil" and ourselves as "good" for too long. It's created irreparable stigmas in peoples' mind that have made them incapable of showing love to one another.

    Just as Adam and Chavah weren't "evil" per se, but were totally disobedient - and they wanted to be G-d in their own lives, I think we're all still doing the same thing. Maybe getting hung up on who or what is "evil" removes emphasis from the real issue - namely that we're all imitating ha satan (who's only thought is to elevate himself above G-d) rather than Yeshua (who made Himself low, disrobing Himself of all His G-dly attributes, just to come close enough to show us the love of HaShem). What makes wanting to be like G-d (satan's way) and wanting to be like G-d (Yeshua's way) different? Pride and selfishness versus humility and obedience.

    I've been spending a lot more time lately contemplating my actions. Rather than thinking, "Man, I shouldn't have done that - it was wrong." or "Why did I say that evil thing?", I've thought, "What attribute of G-d was a distorting there? Was I seeking adoration and praise for myself? Was I trying to elevate myself over another?" The answer is always "yes".

    Previously, I would have just talked to G-d about my sin, but now I'm able to analyze it a bit more and it's so much more brutal. I'm not just doing something wrong or sinful - I'm stealing glory directly from G-d. Glory that I don't deserve and attributes that I have no right to - that belong to Him alone!

    I can tell you this, it has added much necessary weight and perspective to my sin. I needed more gravity. I needed to gain a bit of G-d's perspective on why I behave the way I do. I'm awfully sinful and this has helped me to forget about leaning on some kind of "forces of evil" excuse when I sin. It's helped me to call it exactly what it is: stealing the attributes of G-d and taking onto myself the will of ha satan.

    People might think I'm crazy, and I'm certainly not able to articulate this the way I would like, but I know that there is something here to look into - and I'm going to continue processing it - G-d willing.

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  3. It is quite cute that you worried about the possible bad influence that your interpretation could have on a possible reader. You have the same paternalistic attitude that i have seen in my denomination..but it doesn't appear you are crazy :)

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    1. Thanks, Maria. I appreciate your comment, but I'm not sure how to respond. For now, I'll thank you very much for stopping by. :^)

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  4. I agree completely with your idea of evil connected to pride and arrogance. There are other folders to the evil theme but it is essential the menace of arrogance. If you consider that the apostles had many flaws but only one shows signs of arrogance and it is Judas. In many religious orders to be obedient is the essential part of their discipline. When you have decided that your cause is the right one even if your superiors are wrong you are going to observe obedience in name of the cause and the common good that you recognize most important even if the leadership will be in fault. In the case of Christianity would be obedience to the apostolic direct descendants of the apostles. “What you tie on earth will be tied in Heaven”. Judas thought that Jesus was not supposed to make use of the expensive oils that Mary bought for him. It was an act of arrogance to think to know what was better to do…Arrogance lost him…I don’t know if in a final way or not. Only God knows and I would respect any decision He makes about salvation.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment, Maria. I really appreciate it. I think I understand what you're saying, but it's important to remember that arrogance has many faces. It's root is thinking yourself higher than others, which, obviously, we all do from time to time.

      For example, when Peter denied Yeshua three times, he was putting himself (and his own safety) above Yeshua. Fear of persecution prevented Peter from identifying with his Messiah. How often do we make similarly arrogant choices - choices that are based only on our own selfish interests today?

      Let's not forget that the disciples also argued over who would be greatest in the Kingdom. That's certainly arrogant. And not to defend Judas needlessly, but the scriptures don't say specifically that he was the one who took issue with the oil. In Matthew it just says the disciples, so we can imagine most of them, if not all, felt the same way.

      At any rate, Judas' failure to recognize a Messiah that came in a different manner than how he was expecting Him to come was what caused him to stumble into darkness. Incidentally, it's that same expectation that causes so many to continue to reject their Messiah even today.

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  5. Dear Luke,
    I read scriptures better when others speak me about them as in this case with you. The storytelling is for me appealing as the visualization. I read it through your eyes in this case. When you wrote that the scriptures don’t mention Judas as the one who complains specifically about the cost of the oil. I told myself 'somewhere I got it wrong and for sure it was a film’s fault because I visualized it. It is time to get this story strait” and I went on line and discovered the two different versions of the same story in the Gospel..Meaning that the way I remembered having it read it or visualized it was right and yours too. As with a family with many siblings you get different details about the same memories seeing it from different corners and different ages so happen with the Gospel. There are the different personalities, ages and maturities of the disciples that remembered in different times the events. I was referring to the John's version of the story without remembering or knowing your version. I like the fact that many wrote of Jesus after his death…it makes the narrative reaches. Mark doesn’t’ name the woman who bought and brought such an expansive gift to Jesus.Johns doesn it.It is the only true luxury that we find Jesus indulges…and the fact that the price is recorded in the Gospel is quite peculiar. It was a price to be remembered :) I read somewhere that corresponded to a salary of a worker….The apostls are right…The Lord had taught to care for the poor and now instead it was ok to buy such an extravagant thing…Well in this case Jesus had been anointed as a King., with a perfume oil that was worth it of a king…When he was born there were the three gifts for a king from the Magis and then before he died for the second and last time he is treated as the King of Israel he was…It is humanly touching, I heard from the Rabbi Singer (Liah’s link on roshapina) that if He were ugly and it was described as such we would not have been loved as much. It is wrong…Buddha is not physically cute in the way he is portrayed but people likes him anyway :) What does have all this to do with evil? Another aspect of evil is for me the way we are inhumane…A small part of this is represented by the story of the oil…Jesus was thinking about being anointed with the oil of a king for the first and last time just before he had to die and the disciples were judging him… How many times have I being incredible selfish or self-centered with the people I loved most on earth and this just before they died... as for the disciples with Jesus? I am sure they regretted very much having being so not able to share with Jesus his only and last indulgence on this earth.But we have to forgive ourselves as Jesus would have too... otherwise we are going to desparete and being tragically lost as Judas

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    1. You touch on some really interesting points, Maria. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm actually preparing one of the ideas you've mentioned here for a future post. But yes, you're correct. John's gospel does mention Judas specifically. Somehow, I completely forgot and I apologize for that. Since the other three accounts don't, they've carried more weight in my memory, I suppose. Thanks again so much for sharing your perspectives here recently. I look forward to hearing your ideas on other posts here, too. G-d bless you, Maria.

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