In moral theology, there is a distinction between “natural” evil and “moral” evil. The one happens because we live on a planet with tectonic plates and an ocean warmed by the Sun. When cells “forget” to die, they become cancer cells. Plague bacilli live for centuries, waiting for the trigger for another outburst. as do anthrax spores. Mother Nature has a plethora of ways to kill us, besides the obsolescence of aging alone.
“Natural evil” is evil because it is harmful to us, but without any intelligent intention to do so. We spend a lot of time and effort avoiding natural evil, although choosing to build buildings that are not earthquake-proof or hurricane-resistant in areas where those disasters routinely hit is common.
Which brings us to moral evil. We sin either by commission (doing what we know is wrong), or omission (not doing what we know is right). Part of Christian teaching is that sin is unavoidable. We cannot but sin. There is an intrinsic mystery to this that natural evil lacks. Living is itself a chancy thing, with birth difficult for us with our big heads, and death, like taxes, being the inevitable result of life. Even if we take our statins, eat organic vegetarian diets, build sustainable dwellings far from faultlines, etc., etc., death will come to us.
Death itself is not evil. It is intrinsic to life. The death and destruction wrought by…
