Question of Evil

I was having lunch with friends yesterday, (very special friends I might add) and the old paratrooper said he asked someone if there is more evil in the world today (than before.) The answer was "no, but there is more awareness of evil now,"( with the communication technology and all.) I didn't get to share my thoughts at the time, and I will have to say I didn't really think about it much until later last evening, so here are some of my thoughts now. I think there is more evil, because thee are more people. Just take murder for example. There must be more murders today because there are more people than ever before. However, if you ask the question, "Is there more evil per capita?" that is totally different. For example, the first murder, recorded in the Bible, of course is Cain's killing of his brother, Abel. At that time before the murder, we think there were just four people on earth, Adam, Even, Cain and Abel. When Abel was killed, that reduced the world's population by 25%. (And I may be wrong about there only being 4.) However, if there were one or two more at that time, do we think that there ever was a time, or ever will be a time when 25% of the world's population will be murdered? 20%? 16 2/3%? I don't think so. I am sure that was a very sad time for Adam and Eve. So per capita, you would say there was more evil then than there is now. But as for overall evil, there has to be more total evil now.
Skip to the flood. God decided to destroy all of the world (except Noah and his family) because of the evil in the world. That is a major decision. (I know there must be some animal rights advocates out there talking about the murder of all those "innocent animals.") I am sure that God thought about the animals as well before he made his decision. But I digress. Those folks must have been into some serious sin, (not to say that we aren't doing so today also.) Of course, the evil cannot be measured at this point, and we really have to "guesstimate." And we move ahead to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God would have saved those cities if there were 10 righteous people! God didn't destroy them because they missed Sunday School once or twice. (I know they didn't have Sunday School back then.) Again we don't know the level of evil at that time. We think its pretty bad right here in our country right now. And it is. We can pray for God to change what is happening in the world. At the same time we need to be willing to ask God to change me--to be more like Christ each day. I know I have a long way to go, but I think that I can see some progress, but then again, I may be slightly biased. How about you, fellow Christian? Are you seeking to become more Christlike each day? That is something to think about.