Good and Evil

I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:5-7 ESV).

The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church located in Washington, D.C. It is one of the most beautiful structures in D.C. Thousands of people may walk through the church to see the stained glass and spend a quiet moment at one of the many altars constructed inside. One oddity that many do not know about is the fact that Darth Vader is depicted on one of precipices of the church. As construction wrapped up in the mid-1980s, Washington National Cathedral invited schoolchildren across the country to design decorative sculptures for the west tower. Christopher Rader of Kearney, Nebraska, submitted a drawing of the Star Wars villain. His design came in third and was placed on the building’s northwest tower along with the other winning entries: a raccoon, a man with large teeth and an umbrella, and a girl with pigtails and braces. I found it unbelievable that this image would have been placed on the cathedral. Then I remembered the centuries old problem many people struggle with as they try to understand evil in the world. Non-Christians almost always raise the question, “If God is good and God is great (all-powerful) then how can there be evil in the world?” Further they go on to postulate that since there is evil, there must be no God; or if there is a God, he must not be good or he must not be all-powerful. For many years, the problem of evil was seen as a way to show that Christianity was logically inconsistent. If Christianity could be seen to be logically contradictory, then it had to be false. The truth is the struggle can be summarized with a more accurate declaration of God is good; God is all-powerful; God created the world; the world shouldn’t contain evil; but, the world contains evil. So, there is the conundrum. The Bible doesn’t teach that there shouldn’t be evil. In fact it is the existence of evil that helps us understand the true nature of righteousness. I know there is little comfort in that declaration; however, the comfort comes from the knowledge that Christ has overcome evil and death. One day an end will come to all of the unrighteousness that people are faced with today. Jesus will rule with perfect peace and harmony. That is the secure hope in which we live today. Darth Vader or not, good always wins when the opponents are our God and any evil.