God's Permission of Evil

Considering the daily reports of the evil which surrounds us and which appears to be encircling the globe, perhaps it would be beneficial to again spend some time in reflecting on the matter:
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God is the Ruler of the world. He holds all creation in the hollow of His hand. Nothing can happen against His will. If there is evil in the world, therefore, is not He accountable for it?

These reflections must come to every thinking man. They must puzzle many a good man. That there is evil in the world and lots of it, and of the worst sort, is evident. Right at the start of creation, we see Cain guilty of murder. From that time on it has been murder, adultery, lying, stealing, slander and all kinds of wrong-doing. And yet God has forbidden evil under the heaviest penalties. He has thundered against it by the most solemn laws. By threats and calamities He has shown His prohibition and detestation of it.

Is He powerless therefore to prevent it? Is He a Ruler who cannot enforce His laws? If He does not want evil in the world, why does He not stop it?

About His hatred of evil there can be no doubt. He positively and solemnly condemns it. Is He therefore helpless? "I call heaven and earth to witness this day that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed shall live" (Deut. xxx, 19). These words of God Himself give us the answer.

Yes, God does forbid evil. He hates it, He condemns it, He does not want it. And He could stop it. If He wanted to He could change our nature and make us bond instead of free. But He has given us free will. We are not bound to do this or that. He could force us to do right and avoid wrong. But that would be granting us freedom and denying it by the same act. That would be a contradiction.

And, as God cannot contradict Himself, He will not prevent evil by compulsion. He has made us free men, free to do or not to do, to choose between good and evil. We could not be free, we could not choose, if there were not evil as well as good. He permits the evil in order to leave us freedom of choice. But He forbids us to abuse our liberty by choosing evil.

If there were no evil in the world, there would be no virtue, for virtue means doing good and avoiding evil. But how could we avoid evil if God did not permit its existence? God therefore permits evil in order to allow man the exercise of his freedom as regards right and wrong. Were no evil possible, there could be no conquest of virtue over vice, no noble struggle of right against wrong, no triumph of, justice over iniquity. Man would be a bondsman to necessity, not a freeman with liberty of choice, for with no evil there would be no choice between right and wrong.

Man values liberty above all else. For it he will sacrifice everything and risk even life. God in giving us this greatest of gifts realized our responsibility and the danger of our abusing it, yes, even the possibility of our using it against Himself. But for His all-wise reasons, He gave us this wonderful if dangerous endowment. He wants us to use it to serve Him, to do justice, to do good and avoid evil. But He will not force us, for to do so would be to take back what He has given. And God does not .reverse Himself.

Moral evil is not something in itself, but a negation. It is a refusal on the part of man to do his duty. It is using our free will against the purposes of its Giver. This results in all sorts of disasters. Injustice, calumny, bodily disease, feuds, wars and such, are for the most part the consequence of the abuse of out free will.

Everything in creation is good in itself. Evil means using a good thing in a wrong way. For instance, morphine is a good thing in itself. When used rightly it relieves pain and saves life. No hospital care could be conducted without it. But when used wrongly, it constitutes an abuse and becomes a vice. Instead of being good, it becomes evil. But the evil is not in the morphine, but in the will of the man who uses it wrongly.

Evil is a negative thing, the lack of conforming to God's prescribed way of acting; but, for displaying His goodness and for giving to mortals opportunities of practicing the noblest virtues, God permits it. By allowing us liberty of choice, by permitting evil, God shows us His marvelous patience.

See how at times He endures the transgressions of sinners for years and years, patiently bearing with them, warning and entreating them to be converted and live. And when they turn away from evil, behold how His mercy is poured out upon them, restoring them to His friendship. See His love for the sinner by what He suffered in order to redeem him from the consequences of evil.

Finally, consider how His justice is glorified if, after love and patience and forgiveness, the sinner still goes on defying Him. For after death, the judgment, when God will justify all His ways and deal rigorously with those who abused their liberty instead of using it as He directed.

In the parable, Christ forbade the cockle to be uprooted, lest the good seed should also be plucked up with it. "An enemy hath done this," He said, when the cockle was reported to Him. You see He disclaims responsibility for the cockle. It was an enemy act. The sinner, perverting the use of his free will, is the enemy, the cause of the evil that is done. And Christ said: "Let both grow up until the harvest."

This was the permission of evil. It was allowed that good might come of it. Not only good on the part of God by manifesting His patience, mercy, love and justice, but good also on the part of man. For in turning away from evil, the sinner triumphs over it. In combating evil, the good man is tried like gold in the fire and found worthy of companionship with God.

In praying for those who lead evil lives the pious exercise charity. The holy missioners in trying to reclaim the sinner exercise that zeal which characterized Christ Himself. Evil, then, in God's providence works out good. It enables the just man to look upon heaven as the reward of victory. It saves this world of men and women from being a mere machine.

God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. He made all things besides man for man, but man He made for Himself. All men return to Him, either to glorify His mercy and to live by reigning with Him, or to display His justice by eternal banishment from Him whom they despised and whose laws they defied by choosing evil. God is the best judge of whether or not the permission of evil is worth while. He sees the present and the future, He knows all things, and He has decided on the tolerance of evil.

A soldier might think that a bayonet charge was a cruel order. Bloody it might be, but the commander may see peace and victory where the soldier sees but wounds. The Commander of the world's forces knows what is best and He has a heart, for He is none other than our Father in heaven. Our heart, with all its feelings of mercy and kindness, is His handiwork. All our tender feelings come from Him. No one can give what He has not got.

In God, therefore, there is mercy and consideration beyond that which we can conceive. We may safely trust Him to know and to do what is right and best. Our part is to do what is right and to do it as best we can. That is the best way to lessen the evil which we deprecate.

No matter how we look at evil it is a mystery. Our purpose has been to show that, if it is beyond our complete understanding, it is not beyond God's wisdom who knows how to draw good from evil. One of the joys of heaven will be to see how God has done this. Man's life on earth is a warfare. God has so stated. Since, therefore, we are not confirmed in good, as the angels are, we must by our own free will do good and avoid evil, and thus win life's battle.

Then we shall receive the reward of victory. Then shall we see face to face, not only God Himself, but all His plans. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the mind of man to conceive of the things God has prepared for them that love Him." Let us serve Him now. Afterwards we shall understand Him, and share in His blessedness forever.
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Adapted from The Hand of God, A Theology for the People
by Fr. Martin J. Scott, S.J.(© 1918)