Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.
-Galatians 5:19-21
Opposed to good is evil. Contrary to virtue is vice. These are the qualities not only of the villains, but also the darker side within the heroes. These are the things which turn everything bad in the narrative. They are the things that need to be overcome for a good ending.
Another characteristic of evil in my philosophy is that it is an intruder. We established that good was the original natural state, and that evil is a corruption. This is inconsistent, for example, with a worldview in which Yin and Yang, light and dark, were both in existence from the very start. Good and evil do not need to be in balance. In fact, there is no such thing as balance between good and evil in my philosophy.
Evil is an Absence
What is darkness? It is an absence of light. It is no accident that light and darkness are commonly paralleled with good and evil. The relationships are very similar. Evil is not a thing in itself. Rather, it is what comes about through an absence of good. It is the lack of love, the lack of kindness, the lack of faithfulness, the lack of self-control.
Because evil is an absence, it cannot create. Evil can only corrupt and destroy. This gives evil a parasitic relationship with good. Since evil is a corrupting and destructive force only, it cannot exist without good being present to create something for it to feed off of.
But wait. I just said that good and evil are like light and dark. Darkness can exist without light, can’t it? In fact, isn’t darkness the natural state of things? It takes energy to create light, and darkness just is.
Here is where human perspective tends to be rather limited. We are familiar with finite light sources, but the source of good isn’t something measured in battery power or lumens. God is infinite. His presence is everywhere and His standards are everywhere. He created all things and actively sustains all things. It is only in our limited perspective that darkness can seem the default, and that is because we live in a realm wherein God has withdrawn a portion of His presence. Beyond the domain of mankind, God’s goodness is fully felt.
Why isn’t His goodness on full display on earth, then? This is answered in another of evil’s aspects. I mentioned that good and evil are not in balance. That is an understatement. God’s goodness utterly annihilates evil. Human goodness is like fumbling around at midnight with a flashlight. Some righteous people get so far as to set up a floodlight. The goodness of God is the sun coming up.
We All Possess It
The problem and the reason why God restrains Himself from eradicating all evil is that we humans are tied to that evil. We are the shadows. Every human being is born with a nature of rebellion against God and a tendency towards evil desires. He is waiting for us to voluntarily choose to turn away from evil and be remade in perfect goodness so that we will be able to stand in His presence.
Which leads us to another aspect of evil. It is a choice. One’s upbringing and natural disposition may influence how easy or difficult that choice is, but it is always a choice. Deeper than the teachings of parents or the physical urges of the body is the innate conscience. Everyone has a sense of right and wrong that exists beneath reason and justification. Someone born into a society of murderous cannibals will have the conscience suppressed, but it will still be there to be suppressed. Someone born into a society of saints can still choose to turn away and seek his own pleasures.
The universality of this choice to do good or evil also means that the villain of the story is never the only obstacle. The story can’t be as simple as “destroy the bad guy and the world is saved”. Even as the protagonist of the adventure is battling the dark knight, he has an enemy lying in wait within himself. Once the big bad is gone, someone else will be watching in the wings ready to take advantage of the situation. It may even be the hero himself. Even King David fell to the level of adultery and murder.
The inverse is also true. Those who commit evil have the choice to turn away from it. Redemption is always an option, no matter how far gone a person may seem. The worst villain in the story can decide to carry out the most heroic act. Saul the Pharisee can become Paul the Apostle.
And although it seems as if evil will be with us forever, that is not truly the case. Although God restrains Himself from immediately striking down everyone who commits evil, there will one day be a reckoning for all. The time will come when the sun rises.