EVIL is opposite of LIVE, means not really living, but wasting! If you are in harmony with yourself, fellow-humans and nature (and God if you believe in such an entity), then you feel light, at ease, hence you can say YOU ARE REALLY LIVING.
On the contrary, if you are not in harmony with yourself, fellow-humans and nature (and God), then you feel burdened, at dis-ease, draining energy, hence you can say YOU ARE NOT REALLY LIVING, but wasting your life—something which the Biblical word for EVIL really means.—compare Mathew 7:17 where the word “EVIL” is used to refer to bad fruit (of a literal tree).
Hence one can say evil is half-real! If you think evil exists or doesn’t exist, both are right. It is like a knot on a rope. Knot was not the part of the rope when it was originally manufactured, it’s just an artificial, twisted condition temporarily brought on the rope by its user. When it is straightened out, knot disappears. So is the condition of evil. When one feels at even with others, everything is simple and straight—there is no evil. When one feels more important than others, things become complicated—evil appears, like a knot on a rope. (Proverb 21:4) In feeling more important, desires becomes intense—if met with obstacles, desire becomes anger, and if fulfilled desire becomes greed and makes him even more self-important (cycle repeats with more force). The more and more self-importance one feels, evil takes monstrous form. Hence ancestors made stories/myths picturizing evil as monsters over which heroes gain victory, highlighting the fact victory over evil is possible. When one realizes his own self-worth and thus feels at even with others, things become simple—evil disappears, like a knot from a rope.
Hence questions like why God created or permitted evil do not arise. External forces (such as God or Satan) do not play any part in good or evil displayed by man—it’s all people’s choice! People very well know that ego is evil and unnecessary, hence they criticize/resist egoism when shown by others. If one chooses to be egoistic, it’s because he wants to and has seen some temporary benefit in it, and he will only resist if corrected by others! But it’s nature’s law that more egoistic one is, the more unhappy he and those around him will become, which may ultimately motivate him to make changes!
Hence earth is like a school where people learn their lesson, seeing the after-effects of egoism (either from their own experience or from others’ experience). Hence God will not destroy this school. If humans choose to destroy earth, God will not prevent it either. History shows His role is to CREATE, and to RECREATE if humans destroy it.—Mark 10:18.