“Alright,” Josef said between bites of cheeseburger. “Now, you said that you had some questions about the nature of evil. Is that right?”
“Yeah,” Alex answered. “That’s right. Thanks again for taking the time.”
“Of course. So, go ahead. What are your questions?”
“Well, I guess the first one is, is evil real?”
“Absolutely.” There was no hesitation in Josef’s answer. “Evil is definitely real.”
“Do you really believe that?” Deb interjected. “If you really believe evil is real you definitely seemed pretty nonchalant about its high holy holiday during your sermon. In fact, you didn’t even mention it, but you were ok with talking about trick ‘r treating and your church hosts a Halloween party. If evil is really real wouldn’t the church stay far away?”
“Whoa there. That’s a lot of questions and accusations. Let me see if I can answer them for you. First of all, yes, evil is real, but that doesn’t mean that we have to talk about and focus on it all the time. In fact, as Christians, we’re told to think about things that are good, not evil. Secondly, Halloween being the ‘high holy holiday’ of evil is a bit of an overstatement. Yes, there are a lot of evil elements that are pushed during this time, but much of the history of the holiday, and even the name is derived from the church."
"Wait, so are you saying that Halloween isn't a night when evil reigns?"
"I'm saying that evil is very real, but it's not necessarily everything that people think it is. In fact, although it's very real, it doesn't really exist."
"What? You lost me there. Evil is real, but it doesn't exist? What does that even mean?"
"Let me explain it like this. You know what darkness is, right?"
"Sure."
"What is it?"
"Excuse me?"
"What is darkness?"
"It's darkness. Night. Black... I don't know."
"Exactly. You can't define what it is, because it doesn't exist. There is no such thing as darkness, though it's very real. Darkness is not something, it's nothing. It's not the presence of dark. It's the absence of light. Darkness is only what we call the state of being without light. In the same way, evil doesn't really exist, it's merely the absence of good. When goodness and righteousness is missing, we call that evil. Now evil is very real, but it, in and of itself, doesn't really have any power, and like the smallest, dimmest light obliterates darkness everywhere that it is able to reach, the smallest bit of goodness obliterates evil everywhere that it is able to reach. Does that make sense?"
"I guess, but if you're saying evil doesn't really exist and is powerless, why is there so much of it, and why does it seem so pervasive, and why is it celebrated on Halloween?"
"I said, in and of itself, it doesn't really have any power, not that it's powerless. You see, evil can't replicate itself. Evil does not possess the capability of creation, but it can influence. It can corrupt, and when it does, whether it's a person, creature, spiritual being, system, etc… it gains agency. It uses that agency to further corrupt and influence by destroying goodness and righteousness. Evil grows through destruction, but, unlike what you may see in movies, it is not some nebulous thing that prowls the world.
"Evil was never created. God didn't sit down and make evil and say, 'It is good.' Rather the potential for evil existed, because it was possible for people or angels or whatever to choose to abandon good. The moment that happened evil was born, and it is very real and opportunistic, but it is a void, not a thing. Therefore, the best, and only, way to combat it is to focus on and nurture the good. In fact, when we focus on destroying evil, it often gives it more power, because the more we focus on destroying it the less we think about things that are good and true and noble and the more we become 'dark' or evil in our thinking.
"So, you see, evil is both incredibly hard to get rid of, because you can't fight it and kill it like a flesh and blood foe, but also incredibly easy to get rid of, because you don't have to fight it. We need to acknowledge it. Like darkness, it is ever present and touches every part of our lives, but we don't need to fear it."
Alex was speechless. He'd never thought of evil in that way before, and it left his brain spinning, trying to comprehend all of it.
Part 23: 9
Part 25: 7