Evil - through an Author’s Eyes
“If God is good, then why is there evil in the world?”
This question has been asked by voices choked with heartbroken tears. It has been grated out in the darkness with bitter bile. It has been tossed out flippantly with jeers by those who sneer at the idea of a loving God. It is one of the great, seemingly-unanswerable questions. It is the shared burden and inheritance of Adam’s fallen race.
While we are unlikely to arrive at the one, all-satisfying answer on this side of eternity, I believe that this answer does exist. Someday, I hope to hear the answer from the only One who really knows the reason.
Until then, I grope toward that light that I can’t yet see. In this, my imagination is my ally.
As an author, as a storyteller, I am in a privileged position. In the terminology popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien, I engage in “sub-creation” as one made in the image of God. Sometimes, it’s only by walking in another’s footsteps that we can truly understand them.
It’s been said that you shouldn’t criticize someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. This is good advice because, if you’ve done so, by the time you criticize them, you’re a mile away … and you have their shoes. Apologies for the dad joke. I’ll show myself out.
But, returning to my more serious theme, by copying the movements of another, we truly begin to understand what they mean. I’m an amateur blacksmith, and I have learned first-hand the meaning of the expressions “strike while the iron is hot” and “too many irons in the fire”.
They take on new meaning when you’re dashing back and forth between the flame and the anvil.
As an amateur author, I now have a different perspective on the problem of evil than I had before I began writing stories. I now know that there must be conflict for a story to be compelling. I understand why Professor Tolkien wisely observed,
“… it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I know that there are authors who brag about “torturing” their characters. That’s never been me.
I love my heroes. I want them to thrive – to grow. For some, the satisfying ending to their story is for them to fall in battle, doing what they are supposed to do, remaining faithful to the very end. I despise my villains. I want them to get what they deserve for the consequences of their evil actions. At the right time, I will ensure that they receive justice, if I cannot find a satisfying way to redeem them. If they do repent and turn, when I’ve done it right, it serves to magnify and glorify the cause of righteousness.
In all things and at all points in my stories, I as the author am working for the ultimate good of my characters, working to tell a glorious, redemptive, beautiful story in which their actions will meaningfully advance the final outcome. When they suffer and struggle against the plans of the Enemy along the way, I am right there. Whenever the proud rebels finally bend the knee, I’m cheering louder than anyone.
I’m not stupid. I see the obvious resonance, overtones, and parallelism with the real world. That’s the point. What I do, childishly playing with my toys, is a faint shadow and a blurry copy of the Reality. Do I love my characters? He loves me far, far more. Do I hate the actions of my villains? It cannot compare with the attitude of omnipotent, eternal holiness toward the petty, whiny rebellion of my sin. Do I rejoice in the restoration of one lost sheep? How much more does Heaven rejoice over me!
Andrew Peterson captures this beautifully in the lines of “Is Anyone Worthy?”
Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)
Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)
But do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through? (We do)
Do you wish that you could see it all made new? We do)
Is all creation groaning? (It is)
Is a new creation coming? (It is)
Is the glory of the Lord to be the light within our midst? (It is)
Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? (It is)
It is good that we remind ourselves of this, for we all live in a world where the beauty has been broken. The uncomfortable truth about the problem of evil is that we are part of it, although not its ultimate source. We have joined the rebellion. We are under the curse.
But now we live in “the good part” of the story, for the Author has already intervened. In the Incarnation, we see the Word made flesh. In the Resurrection, we glimpse the glory that our last enemy’s days are numbered.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory.
“At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door … But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.”
Authoring stories, using our imagination to put ourselves in the shoes of another, and teaching these things to our children – all of these help us to come to grips with the reality of life. The fact is that whether we ask why a good God allows evil to exist with sneers, jeers, bile, or tears, we cannot escape the question. Nor can we answer it. Not yet. For now, the door is locked.
But one day, we shall see. We shall know. We shall get in.
Michael Somerville is the author of several short stories, as well as an in-progress high-fantasy series called the Tales of the Broken Realm. He loves telling stories of hope about ordinary characters doing their small part to help heal a broken world. By day, he pays the bills as a hands-on storyteller and project manager, leading and envisioning professional teams in the "real-world", even as he is busily building and illustrating imaginary worlds in his evenings and on the weekends.
Outside of work and writing, he enjoys a wide range of hobbies, including playing music with his family and friends on keyboard or guitar, drawing, sculpting, painting, sewing, and blacksmithing, or walking the length of the Appalachian Trail in his home neighborhood in the Shenandoah Valley, where he serves as a Board member on his local civic association.
Most important to Michael are his family and his church. Michael and Jessica celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2026 and are happily raising three wonderful daughters. He serves actively in his local church, playing music on Sunday, teaching the older elementary kids, and leading a “small group” full of wonderful saints. He hopes to hear "Well done" one day, and plans to keep serving his true King until then.
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