Over on this Triablogue post, I’ve had a bit of an interesting discussion.  It’s about to drop off the main page (which is the equivalent of blog purgatory), so I wanted to put some comments on my own bog.  The post itself is on the strawman aspect of the Problem of Evil.  In the comments section, I noted that atheists (such as Daniel Morgan and John Loftus) never bother to define evil when they bring up the Problem of Evil.  If “evil” is undefined, then there is no “problem of evil.”

Ironically, a fellow named Doubting Thomas made the claim that the Bible itself never defined what evil was.  I pointed out that, if such a claim were true, then it would be impossible to argue that there is a problem of evil for the same reason as above–if evil is undefined, there is no “problem” of evil.  To his credit, Tom agreed with this assessment, but continued to insist that the Bible never defines evil.

But is that the case?  Obviously Scripture is not a “dictionary.”  That is, it is not a list of words with definitions after them.  This does not mean that Scripture leaves its key concepts undefined in the least though, anymore than the fact that I do not define every single word I use in a blog post means I don’t have any meaning in mind as a write.

The problem here is the idea of postmodern deconstructionalism.  Ultimately, it’s the belief that words don’t actually have any meaning at all, not just that the Bible doesn’t.  This, of course, becomes self-refuting (for how can you use words to argue words have no meaning?).

But let us look specifically at whether or not Scripture defines evil.  I gave specific examples in the comments (click on the link to the Triablogue post to read them) where the Bible said, “X is evil.”  X can be either a behavior (e.g. supressing the truth) or a specific action (e.g. killing a man).  It doesn’t matter; the Bible describes many different things as being evil.

As a result, we can say that “evil” is defined by the Bible as a list of those behaviors, actions, thoughts, etc. that are specifically called “evil” (or one of the synonyms of evil, more commonly used in Scripture, such as “unrighteousness” or “sin”).

The Bible, therefore, does provide a bare-bones list of what is evil.  Thus, we have the context to determine what “evil” is when the Bible uses the term outside of specifically linking it to something.  In other words, when the Bible says, “The soul that sins shall die” we know what “sins” means because the Bible has elsewhere established what behaviors, ideas, etc. are sinful.  This statement does not need a “sins are X, Y, Z…” definition.

Words are primarily defined by their usage.  These meanings are nearly always more general, with lots of room for variation and nuance.  The specific context of the author who uses a general word will provide us with the specific nuance the author intends.  Using this principal, we can indeed understand what the Bible speaks of when it speaks of evil.

In other words, there is a Biblical definition of evil.  It’s defined by the entirety of the Bible and the scope it is used within the pages of the Bible.  There is no specific, short-sentence form, but such a form is rarely found outside of the dictionary (and then, only in pedantic philosophical books that seek to look at one specific nuance of a word, or an explicit technical term).

So, if you want to know how the Bible defines evil…read the Bible.