Evil and What God Has Done With It

My Brother, My Enemy…The Entrance of Evil The world does not understand evil. Therefore, it either ignores it when it doesn’t have to face it; Or it reacts in dangerous ways which actually joins forces with it (complicity) Examples: Collateral Damage? The IBC project released a report detailing the deaths it recorded between March 2003 and March 2005 in which it recorded 24,865 civilian deaths. The report says the U.S. and its allies were responsible for the largest share (37%) of the 24,865 deaths. The remaining deaths were attributed to anti-occupations forces (9%), crime (36%) and unknown agents (11%) “The line between good and evil is never simply between “us” and “them.” The line between good and evil runs through each one of us. There is such a thing as wickedness, and we must distinguish between small and low-grade versions of it and large and terrible versions of it. We must not make the trivial mistake of supposing that a one-off petty thief and a Hitler are exactly alike, that the same level of evil is attained by someone who cheats in an exam and by a Bin Laden.” N T Wright A 2014 Washington Post/ABC News poll revealed that a majority of white evangelicals in America support the use of torture by the CIA* * “Christians More Supportive of Torture Than Non-Religious Americans” by Sarah Posner, Religious Dispatches, December 16, 2014 From Postcards from Babylon-- the Church in American Exile By Brian Zahnd The Tear in the Fabric of Creation (Genesis 3) Question: In the temptation, what was the “bait” (the attraction)? • To be like God ( independent and self determining) • To have whatever you want Good for food ( passion/consume) Pleasant to the eyes (possession/gather more) Something to be desired to make wise (position/power to control) The primal sin of humanity consisted in putting the knowledge of good and evil before the knowledge of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer “That is one of the further dark mysteries of Gen. 3. There must be some substantial continuity between what we mean by good and evil and what God means; otherwise we are in moral darkness indeed. But it serves as a warning about what God should and shouldn’t have done.” N T Wright And Jehovah God taketh the man, and causeth him to rest in the garden of Eden, to serve it, and to keep it. And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, `Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat; and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die.’ Gen.2:15-17 (Young’s Literal Translation) Enter Evil (Genesis 3) Man’s choice: Trust God, or think and act independently • When Adam and Eve chose disobedience - they chose to define good and evil for themselves and were then enslaved to sin. Our truest freedom is in obedience to God - that is the highest knowledge of good and evil - but when we disobey we are enslaved to death and sin. • In making that choice, they chose to be independent of God, Who is life. “In dying you dost die” • In him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. Jn.1:3 Results Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (in Adam)— Rom.5:12 For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. Rom.8:19-23 What Man Does Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. What God Does Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:13-17 The Source of Evil What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:1-4 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7:21-23 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Gen.4:8 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. Gen.4:15-17 The Development and Spread of Evil (Gen.4:18-24) “The Song of the Sword. These verses are written in a poetical style, with the parallelism of clauses characteristic of Hebrew poetry. It is the first instance of Hebrew poetical composition in the Bible…It is generally supposed that Lamech’s Song is intended to represent his exultation after the invention of metal weapons by his son Tubal-Cain. The new possession inspired primitive man with confidence and eagerness for savage retaliation.” Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended. So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord. Gen.6:6-8 Wrath--The Principle of Cause and Effect For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven…they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. Romans 1 Why is it getting worse? For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work. However, the one who holds him back will do so until he is taken out of the way II Thess. 2:7 …evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. II Tim.3:12-13 Why is it getting worse? For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work. However, the one who holds him back will do so until he is taken out of the way II Thess. 2:7 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. II Tim.3:12-13 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Rev.21:1-5 Does John literally mean there will be no more sea, or is this a metaphor for something else? But the question is…. Between evils entrance and exit what has God done that will ensure the end goal? And what must we (His church) be doing to help facilitate His end objective? Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36 (Jesus) who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father Gal.1:4