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The word "evil" is used in God's Word to primarily describe the force that opposes God and His work of righteousness in the world (Romans 7:8-19 "... But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire ..."). There are also isolated examples where it is used for any disturbance to the harmonious order of the universe, such as disease (Psalm 41:8). The ultimate source of evil in the world is Satan [refer to "Satan"], also called "the devil" in Luke 8:12 and "the wicked one" in Matthew 13:19.
Evil also comes from the hearts or inner desires of people as told by (Mark 7:20-23). It does not come from God because in James 1:13 states "for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He himself tempt anyone".
Anyone who does evil or any wicked act. In Mark 7:20-23 "He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"
This is where actions portray that evil will occur or has already occurred without the presence of evil. For example, someone that buys illegal drugs or enters a strip club implies that something evil is about to happen when in reality both incidents may be very innocent. The illegal drug purchaser could be in need for a science experiment not involving the ingestion of the drugs and the person entering the strip club could be passing out Bibles. Whatever the case, the evil is implied and should always be avoided. The Apostle Paul states it clearly in Romans 14:20-21 "... but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall."
The world looks at evil with filtered glasses. For some reason the, so called, right of a mother to abort her unborn child is not considered evil while the murder of a young child is evil. For the most part evil is the intentional doing bad or hurting another living, breathing creature.
Evil is actually the force that opposes God and His work of righteousness in the world. The ultimate source of evil in the world is Satan [refer to "Satan"] but is also created by our own sinful nature.
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