Evil has been defined as both the opposition of good and the absence of good. The common understanding of evil is that it is a negation of good, or the absence of good. For example, if there is a tornado, the odd weather patterns, out of the control of humans, must be accepted as part of a larger scheme of Nature, causing evil, not necessarily by the design of a malevolent force, such as the devil, but as the permissive will of God, or even, in the long run, the perfect will of God. We do not understand our own part in the history of evil. We cannot understand the death of a young soldier walking on a sunny street in London today by two crazed Muslims anymore than we can understand the death of the children in Moore. Such evils are beyond rational explanation, and even scientific examination.
Nature, as created by God, is objective and not subjective. A tornado is however, subjectively evil, as it kills and destroys people and things dear to people, but not in the same way which abortion or homosexual relations are objectively evil. Intrinsic evil must involve a decision. If there were no houses and merely the plains of Oklahoma to meet the tornado's power, we would not even think of it as evil.
Who decides tornadoes? Nature works as it was created to be, by forces, mostly beyond human control.
People who create evil choose that evil for many reasons. Ideology is merely one. Selfishness and pride are the most common reasons for evil.
God in His discussion with Satan in the Book of Job allows evils, even the death of children, to afflict Job. The story teaches us many things, but one is that we cannot understand God or His Ways. We simply cannot.
However, evil is something which is obviously growing around us.
That there is a lack of perfection in the world of Nature and in our own natures seems too obvious to mention, and yet, people ask constantly, "Why does God allow this?"
Perhaps we are entering into a time of great trial because of the great sins of nations, like the passing of the SSM bill here yesterday, or the ideology of Islam. Those are human constructs and it is much easier to understand the evil perpetrated by humans than those objective and remote natural evils, such as drought or flooding.
It is important not to think that evil is inherent in nature. God is in control of Nature. It is one of His creations, like animals and plants. There is a scheme of things in God's Plans which we cannot see, being finite. One can say, with Augustine, that evil may be used by God for punishment and trial and, indeed, that is so. Therefore, even catastrophes are in a mysterious plan, which we cannot comprehend, but accept in humility and patience.
Human evil based on free will choices and here is the Catholic Encyclopedia on three aspects concerning evil. When trying to deal with evil, we must consider
- the omnipotence, omniscience, and absolute goodness of the Creator;
- the freedom of the will; and
- that suffering is the penal consequence of wilful disobedience to the law of God.
And more
There is therefore no "summum malum", or positive source of evil, corresponding to the "summum bonum", which is God (I, Q. xlix, a. 3; C. G., III, 15; DeMalo, I, 1); evil being not "ens reale" but only "ens rationis"--i.e. it exists not as an objective fact, but as a subjective conception; things are evil not in themselves, but by reason of their relation to other things, or persons. All realities (entia) are in themselves good; they produce bad results only incidentally; and consequently the ultimate cause of evil if fundamentally good, as well as the objects in which evil is found (I, Q. xlix; cf. I, Q. v, 3; De Malo, I, 3). Thus the Manichaean dualism has no foundation in reason.
To be continued...
