Good & Evil

What do Christians Believe About Good & Evil?

"Goodness" difficult to define so relate to God
Bad things in the world cause suffering
- Moral evil - people deliberately creul or dishonest or uncaring (human wickedness)
- Natural evil - floods, diseases, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes (no human fault)
If evil in the world then ther must be a power of evil - the Devil
Devil tries to persuade people to be evil
No Devil people choose to be evil

1 of 7

Enemy of God, rules hell and tries to make people turn away from goodness
Story in Apocrypha as not suitable for Bible
Lucifer was 1 of the archangels, God told angels to bow down to 1st human but Lucifer refused so God threw him out of Heaven - he fell to Hell and became the Devil
Few references but tempts Jesus for 40 days
God more powerful than Devil so good stronger than evil
God created people with free will so people can choose to be bad over good
Do believe Devil is real but people choose to be evil with no power influencing them
Buildings and people can be possessed by Devil so ceremonies to remove Devil
Jesus drives out demons
Performed these as it was expected at the time but now recognised as mental diseases
Belief in Devil scared people to attend Church regularly in Middle Ages

2 of 7

Bible begins with story of newly created world where everything was perfect
Adam and Eve given free will but humans often choose to do wrong
Evil came into world when Adam and Eve deliberately disobeyed God
All humans where then separated from God
They were given a perfect environment and the only rule not to eat from the "Tree of Knowledge"
Only return to God through sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross - redemption
The story known as "The Fall"
People are born with a natural inclination to do wrong - "Original Sin"
All humans are born contaminated by origninal sin
Way of showing the weakness of human nature

3 of 7

4 of 7

Book of Job
Satan asks God's permission to test Job to see how devoted to God he is. God is confident of his devotion so gives permission. Job loses his wife, children, animals, wealth and health but does not lose faith in God.
3 reasons for suffering suggested:
- Suffering is a test - see if he deserts God and when Job does not lose faith he is rewarded
- Suffering is a punishment for sin - Job must have greatly sinned so had to search life for unconfessed sins and repent. Job had always been faithful and good.
- Suffering is part of God's plan - God's plan is so far beyond human comprehension that we must admit ignorance and accept what they cannot understand

5 of 7

Only God can understand why we suffer
God cares about people
Jesus suffered a terrible death so God does not ignore suffering but knows what it is like and shares our pain
Suffering pulls people closer to God as realise dependence on Him
Best way to cope is to trust in God or pray about difficulties as know God is listening and trust God to address them. 4 types of prayers:
- Prayers of intercession - asking for God's help
- Prayers of thanksgiving - thank God
- Prayers of confession - asking for God's forgiveness
- Everyday prayers - talking to God everyday
For prayers to be successful must be persistent
Pray = important way of talking to God in difficult times - before arrest and trial Jesus prayed
Sometimes it appears that prayers are not answered
God has plan which people don't understand so people should accept that God knows best

6 of 7

7 of 7