What To Do About Evil

           Throughout History, people have wrestled with the problem of evil, especially when they have felt overwhelmed by it. A lot of our art, literature and movies reflect this struggle: SLEEPING BEAUTY, LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE BROTHERS KARAMOZOV to name of few.

            Symbols of evil have evolved: Darth Vader from STAR WARS, the swastika, and the Pittsburgh Steelers uniform. (Okay, the last one represents the view of die-hard Dallas Cowboy fans.)

            Nowhere in the Bible is there any attempt to answer the question, “Why does a good God permit evil?” Evil is a fact. It is real. It will be here until Jesus comes back. So now what?

            This issue lies at the heart of Revelation 6-7. In the first four seals, we see how evil has been wreaking havoc throughout history. Each of the four horsemen represents harm to humanity: conquest, war, famine, and death.

            By the time the fifth seal is opened, you want to join the martyrs around the altar crying out, “How long, oh Lord?” Where is this powerful, risen Christ of chapter one? Of course, he is present in chapter six—He is the Lamb.

            As one commentator has noted, the cry of the martyrs reminds us that we want God's work to get over with in a hurry, but God will not compromise. By the end of the first century, many Christians were asking the question, “If the Kingdom has been established by Jesus, and if I have been redeemed by Jesus, why are all the Roman armies still around? And why are there so many of them? And why are they so powerful? If the gospel declares God's love to the world, why do the Roman authorities put the people who believe in this love into prisons and upon crosses? Christ lived, died, and rose again, and yet the world is getting worse, not better.

            Still, power emanates from the lamb. Throughout history, He has judged evil, and He will continue to do so until He brings about the end of this world. Until then, we behave, as Eugene Peterson writes, like the angels.

            Evil does not dismay them. They carry out God’s commands. Evil exists, but God contains it. God’s work continues. The angels serve at His command—and we do too.

            It is staggering to consider what God could do through us, if we took evil more seriously. I don’t think we recognize the work of the Devil, as God does.

            Just this past week, a friend sent me an article from CNN about pornography. The one item in the article that screamed out to me: if members of churches ceased accessing porn, the destruction to the porn industry would be like an economic tsunami. It would survive, but it would be severely damaged. That is but one example of how the church has compromised itself in the mission of God in an evil world.

            Like the beings in heaven, we Christians press on in worship of our God. We don’t always comprehend the spiritual forces around us, but we join the battle.

            Earl Palmer, in his commentary on Revelation, calls attention a classic encounter in the C. S. Lewis novel, THE HORSE AND HIS BOY.

            A boy named Shasta is on a dangerous mission. He is seeking to warn the king of an impending attack.

            In the darkness, riding an unfamiliar, disobedient horse, Shasta becomes aware of a presence, and becomes very afraid. It is the great lion, Aslan, but Shasta does not know this.

            He calls out, “Who are you?”

            The being, Aslan, replies, “Tell me your sorrows.”

            Shasta does. He tells him how he lost his parents, how he was raised by a stern fisherman, how he has had terrible experiences with beasts, how he is cold, hungry and thirsty.

            Then Shasta is shocked by Aslan’s response—you are not unfortunate. As Palmer writes, “… Shasta learns many things about his own life and journey, and the path where even now he has a task to do. The danger is still real, Shasta is still tired and hungry, but he has been blessed, and he now knows where he is, dangerous as it really is, is still where he should be, and even where he wants to be. But best of all, he has met the great lion himself, Aslan.”

            We, too, have met the Lion... of Judah. We have met the Lamb. We travel with God in a world full of evil. We do so with gratitude, praise, and worship.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. It is nice to be right for once. I picked the Packers to win the Super Bowl, but I would have loved to see the game go into overtime. Incidentally, Ted Thompson, the Packers’ phenomenal general manager, grew up in Atlanta. That’s Atlanta, Texas.

2. I saw a nice article about Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy being recognized for their faith last week during Super Bowl festivities.

3. The internet with YouTube and everything else is challenging the copyright world. Tim Henderson passed along this quote the other day from Academy Award winning director Francis Ford Coppola:

            “Don't worry about whether it's appropriate to borrow or to take or do something like someone you admire because that's only the first step and you have to take the first step...

            You have to remember that it's only a few hundred years, if that much, that artists are working with money. Artists never got money. Artists had a patron, either the leader of the state or the duke of Weimar or somewhere, or the church, the pope. Or they had another job. I have another job. I make films. No one tells me what to do. But I make the money in the wine industry. You work another job and get up at five in the morning and write your script.

            “This idea of Metallica or some rock n' roll singer being rich, that's not necessarily going to happen anymore. Because, as we enter into a new age, maybe art will be free. Maybe the students are right. They should be able to download music and movies. I'm going to be shot for saying this. But who said art has to cost money? And therefore, who says artists have to make money?”

            I definitely do not agree, but I find it interesting that Coppola was willing to voice that opinion.

4. I am badly in need of mathematical redemption, so I started last week reading King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry by Siobhan Roberts. I am hoping this book will jumpstart my understanding of geometry like Walter Isaacson’s excellent biography—Einstein: His Life and Universe—jumpstarted my understanding of physics.

5. Congratulations ETCA girls’ basketball team. Not only were you undefeated in district play, you were never even behind in a game. Good luck this week in your pre-playoff warm-up with 3A public school Van Alstyne.