Real Evil

One of the reasons that we as a society have moved from a black-and-white view of morality to the idea that morality is various shades of gray is the reliance on human beings as the standards of good and evil. But human beings are sinners (Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9; Isaiah 64:6) and therefore cannot perfectly reflect real good. But they are also not perfectly evil, but still reflect some of the original moral character God created them with (Romans 2:14,15; James 1:17; Ecclesiastes 7:29). This means there is a danger for those who do hold to a black-and-white view of morality and who are in search of real good and real evil to glorify or vilify certain individuals or groups beyond what is justified by the circumstances. Now God is the source and standard for real good (Psalms 25:8; Mark 10:18; Nahum 1:7). Evil cannot have a source in the same sense because evil is a corruption of and a rebellion against good. But the chief instigators of evil in our world are in the spiritual realm (2 Corinthians 4:3,4; Hebrews 2:14,15; Ephesians 2:1,2), and they are the ones we battle (Ephesians 6:10-13; 1 Peter 5:8,9; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Therefore, we can put human beings in perspective, for they are all knowingly or unknowingly serving something beyond themselves. We need to look elsewhere to find the real standard and the real enemy. And we need to deal with other human beings in the light of those facts.