But even we who are made in the image and likeness of God don't act haphazardly. Everything we do is conditioned by the natures we have and the conditions in which we find ourselves. No good thing we ever do can be done except by God's grace. And when God gives that grace, it never fails to produce the good he desires for it. As Augustine prayed to God, "Grant what you command, and command what you will."
The good we do is by God's grace, but the evil we do is not. In fact, it is the complete lack of God's grace. Evil in and of itself does not exist. It has no existence by itself. Rather, evil is the absence of good and the absence of the grace of God, similarly to how darkness is the absence of light. A room with no windows and no lit candle is dark because it is empty. It lacks substance. You cannot add more darkness to it. Darkness only has 'existence' by nature of it lacking light. So if you light a candle in this darkened room and the light fills the darkness, it will shine it's brightness and overcome the darkness and no matter how hard you try, you cannot 'add' more darkness, because by itself, it has no substance.
Similarly, evil has no existence by itself and rather is created when the light of God is extinguished by sin and transgression. The Spirit being quenched, as St. Paul says. Therefore one can see that God is not the author of evil (what blasphemy to even consider such a thing, in fact, this is sin against the Holy Spirit, the only unforgivable sin mentioned by Christ Himself!). Rather, evil is created by rational beings (men and the fallen angels) and comes into existence because of our separation and estrangement from Him, Who is Life and the Source of Life. Apart from God, there is nothingness. Darkness. Emptiness. With God, there is fullness. Light. Life.
By endowing us with the gift of free will and creativity (the very
essence of being made in the image of God), we have been given the freedom to choose between these two extremes, namely, good and evil, life and death, existence and nonexistence, being and non being.
And when we choose the later, not only are our souls affected, but our environment around us as well. In fact, all of creation suffers from each sin we create. Each evil we bring into existence into this world affects the people and the world around us, including even the movement of tectonic plates. For had we been good stewards and obeyed in righteousness the will of God in our dominion to the world He gave us, then never would there be such a thing as a natural disaster, nor an earthquake, nor a tornado. But just as it was in the Garden (and as it will be in the Kingdom), the lion will lay down with the lamb, and the peace will be an everlasting peace.
Glory to God in the Highest! May we open our hearts to You and learn Your will, so that by following Your will and obeying Your commandments, we too might rejoice with Adam in the Kingdom prepared for us before the foundation of the world!
