I. INTRODUCTION
The current use of the North-South divide in demarcating global Christian religion is not new. It originated as an economic and political convention to distinguish the First World and the Second World in the North and the Third World in the South. Thus, the churches in the North include the churches in North America, Western Europe, and the developed part of East Asia; while the churches in the South comprise the churches in Africa, South America, and the rest of Asia, including the Middle East. However, the demarcation line can arbitrary depending on the institution that creates the line.
Nevertheless, although the Jewish roots of Christianity came from the global South, the official seat of Christianity resides in the global North in Italy’s Rome, from where Christianity spreads throughout the global North and back to the global South where around 60 percent of Christians currently live.
This new demarcation of Christian diversity will be explored thereafter over the problem of evil from the perspectives of traditionalists and modernists. Section II explores the fundamentals of the existence of evil and the reality of the devil. Then, Section III explores the problem of evil through the diversity of definitions used among different churches in the global North and the global South.
II. EVIL AND THE DEVIL
A. The Existence of Evil
One single proof that evil exists is the commission of evil acts in the history of mankind, beginning in the primordial times when mankind disobeyed God (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:6) and the first murder occurred (Genesis 4:8), which constitutes the problem of evil in history. If evil does not exist, then evil acts cannot be rationally justified to ever happen or possible. Moreover, evil affects mankind whether they believe in evil or not because the existence of evil does not require that man wills evil to be. In fact, evil is regardless of what human wills; thus, each person cannot freely will evil to be so.
Christianity refers to these evil acts as sins, which no human being can avoid to commit in his or her lifetime, except for Jesus Christ, the God-Man who saved the world and mankind from the power of sin or evil. Moreover, inasmuch as sin entered the world through man (Romans 5:12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:21), evil continues to plague the world through man essentially through bad company (Deuteronomy 13:14; 1 Corinthians 15:33).
B. The Reality of the Devil
Biblical tradition made it clear that the devil had been spoken about to have existed since the primordial times. It was present with the primordial human parents Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when it manifested in the form of a serpent (Genesis 3:1-6) and even way before the appearance of mankind on earth when the Morning Star fell from heaven to earth (Luke 10:18; Isaiah 14:12). During the war in heaven, the Morning Star who manifested as a huge red dragon called the Devil and Satan, was prevailed upon by Michael and the angels and was thrown down to with his angels (Revelation 12:7-9). Since then it had “mowed down the nations” of the world (Isaiah 14:12c), all the descendants of Adam and Eve, with deception and great fury (Revelation 12: 9, 12).
The Morning Star, which Jesus referred to as Satan, tempted Jesus in the desert for forty days (Luke 4:1-12; Matthew 4:1-11). Less than thirty years earlier, it hunted the infant Jesus for a kill (Revelation 12:3-4). It tempted Peter with braggadocio (Matthew 26:33). It incited Judas Iscariot to sell Jesus for “thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:14-16). It tried the faith of the apostles since the night before Jesus’ death (Matthew 26:31-32). It deceived the Jews to kill Jesus and his disciples (John 16:1-4; Mark 14:1).
However, Christianity believes the Devil’s time is short as it will be later thrown into the “pool of fire and sulfur” (Revelation 12:12; 20:10).
III. EVIL AS A PROBLEM
A. Challenges in Relation to Evil
The ultimate challenge of contemporary Christian leadership is to define an accurate and actionable moral theology that is faithful to the teachings of Jesus, which can effectively guide the faithful in dealing with their encounters with evil in their daily lives. These moral guidelines must be sound in helping Christians avoid the snares of evil while empowering them to act decisively in crucial and difficult decisions to make that can affect their lives and those of others in the community and society.
Christian leadership of today must be able to provide clear guidelines and norms that can be applied effectively in the specific and highly variable situations of living. Must natural law, the blueprint of God’s will and reflection of eternal law provided in nature (e.g. eyes are for seeing, ears for hearing, etc.) (cf. Bokenkotter 321), be absolutely followed in all situations or at least under very few exceptions? Is there such a reality as an intrinsically evil act, or every act is relative to something (e.g. context or situation)? Should a doctor, for instance, not commit an evil act when she kills the fetus in an ectopic pregnancy to save the life of the mother? Should the mother have the higher right to life than the fetus? Should a mother commit an evil act when she has her fetus killed for whatever reason without risk to her own life? Will an evil an evil act committed when such killing, for instance, is performed with direct intention to kill (e.g. abortion) or even when death is simply permitted to take place (e.g. end-of-life situation)? Is sexual organ replacement (e.g. in transgender operation) an evil act considering it violates the finality of the naturally birth-given (i.e. God-given) sexual organ?
Failure of the Christian leadership to guide the flock in making these crucial decisions can lead the flock to evil acts that will corrupt their soul, their family, and their society. Those leaders who failed to responsibly fulfill their mandate of caring for the Lord’s flock will be answerable before the Lord over such failure of leadership. Those who accept a leadership role of the Lord’s sheep must satisfy the three directives that Jesus gave to Peter before Jesus ascended into heaven: “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).
B. Defining Evil
Definitions from the Churches in the North
Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic theologian, defined ‘evil’ as a privation of goodness or perfection, which a creature (i.e. the devil) introduced against God’s intention. Conversely, Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan has been interpreted to understand evil as an aberration of the good, which is often an outcome for wilful and deliberate avoidance of the pursuit of knowledge. Based on his three differentials (i.e. things that make a difference to human good), he identified evil (i.e. sin) as intertwined with intellectual development and redemption (i.e. grace). In effect, human good cannot be dealt with apart from evil.
Meanwhile, Anglicans, which had its numeric power and leadership shifting towards Africa, believes that evil is a secondary factor of martyrdom than heroism. In a sense, death by martyrdom appeared to be more willed and welcomed by the martyrs than by the slayers’ evil, almost to the point of saying that the slayers simply responded to the martyrs’ resolve to die and not to their inherent evil.
Definitions from the Churches in the South
David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox author, defined evil using the traditional ontological definition of privatio boni (‘the absence of good’). Thus, on the basis of God’s perfect goodness, every evil that occurs in time – every death of a child; every unprecedented calamity; every act of malice; everything purposeless, cruel, diseased, pitiless, and cruel; and more – essentially puts in arraignment the goodness of God.
Pentecostals, which currently predominate Africa, tend to view evil from the view point of Africa’s particular contexts, which are, in nature, socioeconomic (e.g. injustice, poverty, oppression, etc.), medical (e.g. sickness, death, etc.), and supernatural (e.g. evil spirits, witchcraft, etc.). However, there seemed to be a problem in clearly understanding the relationship between evil and sin; that is, which one causes the other? Does unforgiven sin accumulate to lead to or bring evil? Or, does sin flows directly from evil? Moreover, there seems to be uncertainty in the manner with which evil must be dealt with. Should it be eradicated or should it be allowed with divine patience? In a social context wherein institutional and preternatural evil forces are paramount, Pentecostals behaved like a protest movement against submission to these evil forces.
C. Dynamics of the Definitions over Time
A dynamic Christian faith is a growing and more illumined faith over time. The definitions of ‘evil’ among the churches in the global North and the global South are expected to grow in depth over time if these churches are dynamic in their living up and understanding of their faith. However, the diversity of Christian denominations today, particularly in the Protestant tradition, can contribute in an unpredictable but varied way to the definitions of ‘evil’. Literalist and legalistic traditions may not be expected to grow in their understanding of evil though. The rigid structures of their theology will not be capable of understanding more deeply the phenomenon of evil. Christian churches with rich and dynamic theological traditions, such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and certain mainstream Protestants (e.g. Anglicans), may encounter insights into the mysteries of evil and the Devil.
IV. CONCLUSION
Understanding evil and the Devil is as complex and essentially beyond human capability without the aid of grace as understanding the mysteries of the natural and, in fact, the preternatural. Thus, a student of Christian faith under the spirit of ecumenism may have to spend extra time keeping abreast with the current theological discussions on the problems of evil and the reality of the Devil in order to better understanding this profound mystery. Perhaps, the only feasible way to deal with the mystery of evil and the Devil is to respect their existence and refocus our sights into the love of God and in understanding the specific methods that the Devil use to influence human will and actions with evil deceptions. Perhaps, that is the only effective way to live a faithful Christian life today.
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