Evil

Even though the day is nice and everything seems to be going well in my little world, I know that this place I call home is full of suffering. Even mentioning the word suffering is mundane because it is such an inherent part of life.  This world is not perfect, and we can only imagine what a perfect world might look like. For now, the question is: why? Why is there suffering? Why does evil exist? People have been trying to answer this question since the dawn of time.

The Genesis account traces the existence of sin back to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve lived in the garden free of shame. God gave them one rule to obey: they must not eat from one specific tree or they would. Satan tricked Eve telling her that eating the fruit would not make her die but would rather make her like God. Both Adam and Eve ate from the tree, thus bringing evil and shame into the world. Evil exists because missed the mark; they trusted the word of a serpent over the word of God. The motive behind this crime was pride; Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. Adam and Eve were guilty by action and motive.

The Koran seems to suggest a different understanding of evil. Evil comes from Satan, and evil exists because of his temptations. Humans may commit evil, but they are not the source of evil. Surah 6:43 says, “Satan has caused to look attractive to them the [evil] deeds they had been perpetrating." This is different from the Genesis account, which portrays humans as the sources of evil and suffering in this world.

In some ways the Genesis account of evil is similar to the Confucian understanding of evil. It is the absence of good or right action. In Confucius’ Analects it says, “Merely set your heart sincerely upon Goodness and you will be free of bad intensions” (4.4). Goodness and right intention are the aim, while badness and bad intention would be evil. Both Genesis and Confucius portray evil as an action and as a motive.