Article January 17, 2000 Issue

SEEING THROUGH EVIL RESTORES ORDER

Harvey A. Burley

One morning a few years ago, I woke with this concept flooding my thought: evil has no origin. This was not a new concept to me, but it had never before come with such force.

In an effort to grasp it more fully, I looked for any Biblical justification for these words. Statements from the books of John and Genesis quickly satisfied me that this concept had Biblical authority. The first statement, from John, establishes God as the creator of all: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (1:3). The second, from Genesis, shows God's creation to be entirely good: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (1:31). If God made all, and all that He made was good, then evil truly has no origin.

As I prayed about various matters in the following days, I found this concept helpful. But then after a few weeks, some unusual things took place. For no reason whatsoever, I felt anger toward many relatives and friends. In addition, while driving my car I committed four fairly serious infractions in just one day. Then, a few days later, I thoughtlessly sailed through a red light, startling drivers all around me.

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