Different world views handle the contrast between good and bad in different ways.

In Chinese philosophy the polar and contrary forces that are interconnected and interdependent are pictured as the yin and the yang. This is part of the Taoist world view that views all that exists as natural and complementary.

Buddhism, for example, is world-denying in relation to evil. This approach was imperfectly popularized in George Lucas’ Star Wars movies as a force that had a good side and a dark side. To accommodate Western values, the good side was supposed to win in the end. Victory of good over evil is not essential to classical Buddhism, however.

In Buddhist thought, both evil and good are inherently part of reality. Both are ultimately of little importance. Attaining a personal state of perfection supersedes them both. The personal goal is not to fight for any kind of moral good, but to shed all desire and attain a state of Nirvana, where even the self eventually disappears like a droplet in an ocean.

Christians sometimes unwittingly incorporate bits and pieces of Eastern thought into their understanding of good and evil. We can question whether the words themselves are artificial and unnecessary. We might be tempted to discount the use of the word evil. We may even view attempts to fight evil as foolish. If evil as an essential part of reality, perhaps opposing it is as foolish as attempting to fight gravity or declaring war on the color blue. How dare we criticize anyone’s moral choices? Maybe genocide and the degradation of women is right for another culture.

Some in our culture seek to hold to a difference between good and evil, but reduce the conflicts to a small of a scope as possible. Some of the zeal to redefine most behavior as legitimate follows this line of thinking. If there are few things that are truly wrong or immoral, then the conflict between good and evil is less of an issue. Legalizing drugs, removing speed limits, lowering the drinking age, legitimizing all kinds of sexual relationships, and erasing as may restrictions on personal choice as possible becomes attractive. The battle with evil is easier because there is now less to fight. And the island of non-compromise loses more and more real estate to the waves of relativism with each passing day.

The Bible insists that evil is not a natural part of the world. It is a consequence of the historic fall and a broken relationship between God and man. Human rebellion not only impacted the personal relationship between God and the human race that was created in his image, but it also changed the order of the created universe. Romans 8:22 states, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth together until now.” The fall thus brought mankind and the physical world into an unnatural state.

From a biblical perspective, evil is not an essential part of reality, but an intruder. Therefore we have good reasons to resist it, combat it, and deal with those who would perpetuate it. And because of the revelation of God we can understand the trans-cultural principles that define God’s prescriptive moral decrees. We are not to accommodate evil as one would adapt to less oxygen in a city 6,000 feet above sea level. We have a mandate and an obligation to fight the flawed ideas, values and practices that devalue and damage the human race and the world in which we live.