THIS is an important question we have to ask ourselves. If they are real, what is the good? Is it God; is it transcendent; is it definable? Traditional language speaks of Satan as an embodiment of evil, and an agent in his own right.
Evil is an aspect of human choices and actions, a failure to honor the sanctity of other human beings, as well as the abuse of creation with its inevitable human consequence.
In some contexts, it may be useful to speak of these undeniable tendencies in us by personifying them and, in effect, externalizing them, but historically this has been dangerous – it has empowered Satan, so to speak. He appears in the Book of Job to prepare the occasion for God; overwhelming statement of his power when he speaks from the whirlwind.
If he is, in effect, God’s devil, this certainly complicates the concept of evil. We notice that when Satan is involved, there is no adversary on the side of good but God himself. This implies a Manichean equivalence between them that our monotheism cannot tolerate.
Addressing human evil – greed, hatred, generalized irreverence – will keep us busy till Doomsday, and do more to oppose Satan, granting him whatever existence is appropriate to him, than anything else we can do. God made us capable of good, and Moses, Jesus, Paul, James and others make clear what they mean by the word. It is humble and circumstantial, as when God wipes tears from all faces.
Jesus forgave his executioners and Joseph forgave his brothers. In both cases they knew a long, providential history, lay ahead as a consequence of actions that, viewed in the terms of any other understanding, were purely evil. God is the God of history. Events take on their ultimate meaning in his good time. And vengeance is his.
We preclude grace when we react to events as if we were their sole judge. All this is to say that the things that stay in our hands and our judgments – patience, humility, mercy, love and faith – are the things of light. Darkness is as it presents itself, hypocrisy and self-righteousness being relevant here.
We are not ready yet to pass judgment on 2017. It might be the year that lets us know our democracy is stable and vigorous at deeper levels than one bizarre administration can touch. It could be exciting to see what resources can be brought to bear on this problem. We Filipinos have been made sharply aware of how much we have been able to assume in the way of dignity and competence in our government up to this point. It will be a long time before we take them for granted again.
Meanwhile, it must always be remembered that Leni Robredo won the popular vote for vice president by a margin that would be considered a solid mandate in any normal year. We have adhered to the constitution, which is a good thing. But Duterte is not the Philippines, and we hope the Filipinos will see this very clearly in the next four years. Are good and evil real?
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