Can Evil Be Made Good?
In a word, no. But God can bring good out of evil.
It has been recently asked, "what does it mean that God 'redeems' evil?" Christians view God as perfectly good, and we believe that God would not have permitted evil in the world if not for some greater good that comes from it. Part of that greater good is his redemptive work.
To attempt to explain this redemption is not easy and not a little frightening. I run the risk of belittling evil, of causing real victims of evil (all of us!) to think I'm making light of it. Nothing could be further from my mind. Can God make evil good? No, it is, on its own, horrible. But what can he do with it?
It has been recently asked, "what does it mean that God 'redeems' evil?" Christians view God as perfectly good, and we believe that God would not have permitted evil in the world if not for some greater good that comes from it. Part of that greater good is his redemptive work.
To attempt to explain this redemption is not easy and not a little frightening. I run the risk of belittling evil, of causing real victims of evil (all of us!) to think I'm making light of it. Nothing could be further from my mind. Can God make evil good? No, it is, on its own, horrible. But what can he do with it?
First, a story. In the earliest history
of the Hebrew people we learn of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, father of twelve
boys. One of them, the second to last, he loved above all the others, and he
gave this one special favors. Dysfunctional parenting hasn't changed over the
centuries, and this one had a predictable effect: the others hated him. His name
was Joseph. One day the brothers almost decided to kill him, but then they
noticed a caravan of slave traders and sold him instead. They deceived their
father into thinking he was dead, and they carried on from there as if he
was.
Joseph ended up in Egypt, where he distinguished himself by his excellent service and began to advance. His master's wife tried to seduce him and he refused, and in anger she convinced her husband that he had tried to rape her. So Joseph ended up in deeper trouble yet--the dungeon.
There he met Pharaoh's baker and butler, and there again he distinguished himself by his supernatural wisdom. Later, when Pharaoh was troubled by disturbing dreams, the butler recalled Joseph and advised Pharaoh to bring Joseph out of prison to get his counsel. This Pharaoh did, and when he saw Joseph's wisdom he made him the number 2 ruler of Egypt.
The dream and the counsel had been about a coming region-wide shortage of food, to be preceded by years of plenty. Joseph oversaw the creation of a large stockpile that saw them through the lean years. Even Joseph's brothers went to Egypt to buy food. They met Joseph but did not recognize him. There, after a period of testing their hearts, he finally revealed himself to them and the family is happily reunited there, including their aged father, who passed away in Egypt. The story of Joseph closes with this:
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
"You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
The evil done to Joseph (not only by his brothers but by his first master's wife) resulted in great good. This is a clear illustration of how God can redeem evil. It is not the only one; the killing of Christ is a stronger example yet. But it has the virtue of being more down to earth and yet clear.
It took years for Joseph's evil experience to see their good fruition. More often, perhaps, the good outcome is never seen clearly. Yet if a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa can affect the weather in North America, as the chaos theorists have found, it's hardly a stretch to say that all actions lead in a string of unnoticed connections to unseen effects; but God oversees all and orchestrates them to his desired end.
What is that desired end? It is that which is good in God's eyes. Ultimately, it is a universe that reflects his glory, which in God's case is not ego-centrism, it is simply right, or as I wrote once before,
God's goal is a universe that reflects his glory. His goodness is expressed in his love, holiness, righteousness, justice, and wisdom. What is good for humans is to come into a knowledge of God, to know his many-faceted goodness, and begin to share in his character: to become complete in Christ. This is with a view to eternity, so that temporary/temporal pain may be good if it produces eternal growth. This is nothing more than the common idea of delayed gratification, though magnified to a large scale.
It is not up to us to decide what the good is, and those who insist on making that call will never be persuaded by what Christians have to say about it. I'm prepared for that to be the case, and I have no illusions that this argument will convince persons who want to stand against God's definition of what is ultimately good. I'm content to know that it is coherent and supported by God's self-revelation and his acts in history.
The Bible does not teach that every evil results in a good outcome for every individual. God causes all things to work together for good, it says, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. For them every evil will be turned around for good, in eternity if not in this life. For those who reject Jesus Christ the future is dim.
I close here with a note of context, and one of my favorite sayings: this is a blog, not a book. It would be silly for me to suggest or for the reader to infer that this posting answers all the questions of how evil fits into God's good plan. This is part of a series of posts, following not long after another related series, and it all ties together. Let us recall, for example, that most evil is mankind's doing, allowed by God in view of his desire to give humans genuine free will. The specific question that was asked recently was along the lines of "was the Holocaust good? Were the Soviet gulags good?" Of course not. But they were the product of free men (mostly, probably also women as well) acting freely. God said he would, in effect, put fences around human evil actions, but not that he would stop it entirely. To do so would apparently violate his plan for allowing human freedom. Would you prefer we were all automatons?
Fourth in a series:
1. Solved: The Logical Problem of Evil
2. What is "The Problem of Evil?"
3. Is God Likely, In View of Evil?
4. Can Evil Be Made Good?
5. Fences Around Evil
6. Reflections on the Mess We Live In
Joseph ended up in Egypt, where he distinguished himself by his excellent service and began to advance. His master's wife tried to seduce him and he refused, and in anger she convinced her husband that he had tried to rape her. So Joseph ended up in deeper trouble yet--the dungeon.
There he met Pharaoh's baker and butler, and there again he distinguished himself by his supernatural wisdom. Later, when Pharaoh was troubled by disturbing dreams, the butler recalled Joseph and advised Pharaoh to bring Joseph out of prison to get his counsel. This Pharaoh did, and when he saw Joseph's wisdom he made him the number 2 ruler of Egypt.
The dream and the counsel had been about a coming region-wide shortage of food, to be preceded by years of plenty. Joseph oversaw the creation of a large stockpile that saw them through the lean years. Even Joseph's brothers went to Egypt to buy food. They met Joseph but did not recognize him. There, after a period of testing their hearts, he finally revealed himself to them and the family is happily reunited there, including their aged father, who passed away in Egypt. The story of Joseph closes with this:
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
"You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
The evil done to Joseph (not only by his brothers but by his first master's wife) resulted in great good. This is a clear illustration of how God can redeem evil. It is not the only one; the killing of Christ is a stronger example yet. But it has the virtue of being more down to earth and yet clear.
It took years for Joseph's evil experience to see their good fruition. More often, perhaps, the good outcome is never seen clearly. Yet if a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa can affect the weather in North America, as the chaos theorists have found, it's hardly a stretch to say that all actions lead in a string of unnoticed connections to unseen effects; but God oversees all and orchestrates them to his desired end.
What is that desired end? It is that which is good in God's eyes. Ultimately, it is a universe that reflects his glory, which in God's case is not ego-centrism, it is simply right, or as I wrote once before,
God's goal is a universe that reflects his glory. His goodness is expressed in his love, holiness, righteousness, justice, and wisdom. What is good for humans is to come into a knowledge of God, to know his many-faceted goodness, and begin to share in his character: to become complete in Christ. This is with a view to eternity, so that temporary/temporal pain may be good if it produces eternal growth. This is nothing more than the common idea of delayed gratification, though magnified to a large scale.
It is not up to us to decide what the good is, and those who insist on making that call will never be persuaded by what Christians have to say about it. I'm prepared for that to be the case, and I have no illusions that this argument will convince persons who want to stand against God's definition of what is ultimately good. I'm content to know that it is coherent and supported by God's self-revelation and his acts in history.
The Bible does not teach that every evil results in a good outcome for every individual. God causes all things to work together for good, it says, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. For them every evil will be turned around for good, in eternity if not in this life. For those who reject Jesus Christ the future is dim.
I close here with a note of context, and one of my favorite sayings: this is a blog, not a book. It would be silly for me to suggest or for the reader to infer that this posting answers all the questions of how evil fits into God's good plan. This is part of a series of posts, following not long after another related series, and it all ties together. Let us recall, for example, that most evil is mankind's doing, allowed by God in view of his desire to give humans genuine free will. The specific question that was asked recently was along the lines of "was the Holocaust good? Were the Soviet gulags good?" Of course not. But they were the product of free men (mostly, probably also women as well) acting freely. God said he would, in effect, put fences around human evil actions, but not that he would stop it entirely. To do so would apparently violate his plan for allowing human freedom. Would you prefer we were all automatons?
Fourth in a series:
1. Solved: The Logical Problem of Evil
2. What is "The Problem of Evil?"
3. Is God Likely, In View of Evil?
4. Can Evil Be Made Good?
5. Fences Around Evil
6. Reflections on the Mess We Live In
Posted: Mon - May 29, 2006 at 07:36 AM |
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Published On: Dec 06, 2007 01:04 PM
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