Why Not Destroy All Evil On Earth?
This is one of the first questions which people ask me when they find out that I believe in the loving and almighty God. It would seem that this would be a simple solution – just destroy all evil. Certainly, this idea is not new. It was contemplated and debated by philosophers, scientists, and writers. But they all eventually came to an understanding that this problem was unsolvable.
Where Does Evil Attend?
That which we identify as evil, is not only a war, somewhere far away from home, or an epidemic in Africa, not only hunger, or the problem of orphaned children – it is much closer. It’s a husband who beats up his wife, and a mother who degrades her daughter, it’s a son who humiliates his parents, and a friend betraying his friend in the most crucial moment. It’s a bride, cheating on her groom, and the sales-clerk who sliced off more than it cost. This cruelty is depressing, and we would really like to live in a more pleasant environment.
But if we measure ourselves by God’s measurements, it would be quite easy to notice an unpleasant picture – there is plenty evil inside us. Though we think of ourselves as “not so bad”, upon further inspection we’ll discover many sins that are evil. In the depths of memory, hidden far behind secrecy, lays reminiscence covered by dust. Reminiscence that you are ashamed of. Dostoevsky claimed that the more decent a person looks, the more unpleasant memories he has which he would like to forget. There was a time when we all stole, lied, insulted, or were a reason for someone’s tears…
And yet, every person considers himself better than others. Once, a journal published these driver polls: it turned out that most of them (80%) considered their driving skills above average. But even without statistic numbers, it’s quite clear that most auto drivers don’t deserve such a grade. The questions of morality look similar. As a rule, a person thinks that he is no worse than others and maybe even a little better. It is so firmly engraved in his way of thinking that he’s not capable of giving himself a true assessment. You tell a person of his sinful nature, and he starts defending himself, “I am not worse than others. I drink only on holidays, and almost never cheat on my wife.” He perceives himself pretty decent which gives him the right to judge the whole world. But practice shows that unfortunately, even with minimal power, (at home or work) a person in not able to fully get rid of his egoism. Therefore, if gained all the power, he would most likely have created a planet for himself as a resort, rather than engaged in solving the problem of evil on it.
The Extent of Evil
The problem of the extent of evil was brought up by many philosophers, writers, (both classics and contemporaries) and while they all enclosed their own meaning – still defined it differently. For example, an entrepreneur considers taxes evil, but for government workers, it is a benefit because they get their salary out of the tax budget. For a farmer, drought is evil, but for the grain merchant, it is great, because he makes more profit. Another example; stealing is considered evil, but if we remember how back in the days of extreme poverty and hunger a mother of many children stole grain from occupants to feed her family, it is no longer classified as evil. Fighting is considered evil, but what if you do it in self defense? Even human laws are not able to fully determine the degree of evil since they themselves are constantly being amended.
A question occurs from all this; which evil is subject to be eliminated first? Of course, mentally we all dart off to destroy murderers. And then who? Thieves, adulterers, drug dealers, liars?… This list can go on and on, and the priority will always be the evil that we point on.
Maybe we should only destroy the worst evil, like murderers and burglars. The problem is that by removing the worst evil, we will continue to destroy the worst of the remaining “lesser” evil with the same enthusiasm.
But our happiness will not last long. Of-course, compared to murder and burglary, lying seems as a very small problem, but after the elimination of these, liars will become the next worse evil. And eventually all will return to its places. Time will pass, and new burglars and murderers will appear, and again, someone will want to cash in on someone’s grief. Some will realize their desire, perverted by sin, while still others will want bloody fights. It is even possible that the situation will become worse than it first was.
Evil Is Impossible to Destroy
As we said before, every person considers himself better than the other and justifies himself with the fact that there are people much worse than him. While suggesting to God to destroy all evil, people themselves, for thousands of years cannot eliminate the corruption in them. If embarking on the journey to eliminate evil, then we all are subject to be destroyed.
Let’s look at simple and logical reasons about eliminating evil once and for all.
For example, what if we block the entry to bad thoughts? Science fiction writers have repeatedly come to the utopianism of such ideas. By limiting himself in evil, a person loses his free will, and that means death to personality.
Understandably, it’s not an escape. It’s not just impossible to forget how to think thanks to some block in the brains, but also a crime against freedom of choice. God wasn’t the One who came up with murder and drugs. It was people who Apostle Paul characterized as inventors of evil things. God gave us freedom of choice, and this makes us individual personalities and not puppets.
“Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.” Romans 14:22
Evil lives in a person as though an iceberg under water. The attempts to destroy it are equivalent to the removal of just the top of a gigantic iceberg because after it’s liquidation, the bottom part moves up and everything returns to its ordinary cycle.
Is There A Way Out?
People haven’t found a solution to this problem, but there is one in the Bible.
“Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6
Only He is able to show people the real core of evil. The Bible says,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…” Jeremiah 17:9; “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, authorities, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:21–23
Each person is extremely corrupt and is not capable of eliminating evil without outside help, just like a person who is drowning in mire will not be able to get out of there by himself. If the one who realizes his sad state cries out for salvation, God will be the One Who helps him, He will resolve the problem with evil by changing the heart. And He talks about it in His Word.
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 26:26
This is how God shows His powerful almighty hand, He found a way out of a hopeless situation.
Yes, a person will continue living in a world full of evil, but the only difference is that now he can become a source of good and light. And what is most important, in His heavenly kingdom, God will forever take care of the problem with evil – sin and evil will no longer be there!
When it seems hardest to pray, we need to pray the hardest.
V.N.