The Evil of Our Days and Conflict in Families
Question
Good morning Randy. Why are the days so evil and why is there so much conflict, or drama, in families? Is it because sin entered the world or Satan still at work, or what?
Originally published in Vol. 1, Number 9, September 2026, Ask The Theologian Journal.
Answer
There are multiple layers to why our time feels especially evil and why family conflict is so widespread. Sin is certainly the root reality, and there is indeed satanic activity. Yet if we stop there, we overlook the very real role of human choices, cultural shifts, and rejected moral standards.
Sin as the underlying condition
Scripture presents the entrance of sin as the fountainhead of disorder, shame, and relational fracture. In Genesis 3, after the first sin, shame and hiding appear immediately. In Genesis 4, conflict erupts to the point of fratricide: Cain kills Abel. By Genesis 6, violence and corruption fill the earth.
Sin brings inner corruption: pride, jealousy, anger, bitterness, selfishness. These naturally express themselves in broken relationships. Family drama is one of the earliest and most persistent fruits of humanity’s fall.
Satan’s work and “passive income”
Scripture attributes real influence to Satan and his doctrines. However, it is not necessary to picture Satan as personally and actively orchestrating every instance of conflict. The lies have been sown, the systems corrupted, the appetites stirred. In that sense, Satan has what could be called “passive income” from sin: the structures and desires he helped build continue to generate evil, even when he is not visibly intervening.
That said, believers should resist the temptation to attribute every family quarrel or social ill directly to satanic activity. Much of it can be explained by sin operating in hearts and cultures that have chosen certain paths.
Why these days feel particularly evil
While human nature has always been sinful, there are historical periods when evil is more socially visible and more culturally accepted. Our time is one of those periods. Several factors contribute:
Rejection of biblical moral standards. Many societies once broadly affirmed what are often called Judeo-Christian values: objective right and wrong, the sanctity of marriage, parental authority, personal responsibility, and the reality of accountability before God. These are now widely discarded.
Radical moral relativism. A growing assumption is that there is no fixed right or wrong, only personal or cultural preference. When nothing is objectively wrong, everything becomes negotiable, including basic faithfulness in family life.
Cult of radical autonomy. Independence is exalted over covenant, commitment, and duty. “I must be true to myself” often trumps “I must keep my promises” or “I must fulfill my responsibilities.”
Systemic toleration of destructive behaviors. As one example among many, widespread drug addiction lies behind much of what is labeled “homelessness.” In many places, resources exist for genuine short-term housing crises, but cycles of addiction and refusal of discipline keep people on the streets. A culture that refuses to name and confront the real problem allows evil to deepen.
These choices are not forced on us by Satan against our will; they are embraced by societies that have decided to cast off God’s moral wisdom.
Family conflict and chosen patterns
Family “drama” is not inevitable at the level we now see. It flows from certain patterns that have been normalized:
Abdication of authority. Parents, and perhaps especially fathers, increasingly relinquish leadership in the home. Discipline is replaced with negotiation, firm boundaries with endless discussion. Children learn that they may challenge every directive and often win.
Therapeutic parenting. Rather than training children to respect authority and practice self-control, parents are encouraged to prioritize the child’s immediate emotional comfort. This produces fragile, self-centered dispositions that do not handle frustration well.
Loss of shared moral framework. Without a commonly accepted standard—for example, the authority of Scripture—every conflict becomes a power struggle of preferences. Peace in such settings tends to be temporary and fragile.
The same dynamics appear in other small communities: churches, classrooms, workplaces. When leadership is weak or diffused, and discipline is viewed as oppressive, drama becomes the norm.
The role of human responsibility
A key point is that Scripture often locates the cause of peril in human desires rather than in direct demonic compulsion. 2 Timothy 3:1–4, though primarily directed to the last days scenario, describes attitudes that characterize many periods of moral decline:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.”
Notice that the text does not even need to mention Satan here. The problem is “men shall be lovers of their own selves.” When self-love displaces love of God and neighbor, the relational fabric tears. Families are simply the nearest context in which this tear is felt daily.
Can we simply blame the devil?
It is tempting to attribute the drama in our homes and communities straightforwardly to Satan. But such an explanation can function as a deflection from the hard truth: we often reap what we have collectively sown.
Societies that tolerate or subsidize destructive habits will have deep social ills.
Families that refuse to exercise wise authority and discipline will suffer constant conflict.
Churches that evacuate clear leadership in favor of perpetual, unmanaged “democracy” will drown in quarrels.
Satan’s lies encouraged these trajectories, but the ongoing maintenance of them is largely human.
What this means for believers
Believers cannot fix an entire culture, but they can order their own homes and congregations differently:
Reestablish clear, loving, and biblically-informed authority structures in the family.
Name sin as sin, rather than endlessly relabeling it in therapeutic or sociological terms.
Refuse to normalize patterns of behavior that inevitably lead to drama (chronic disrespect, manipulation, indulgence of addiction, etc.).
Teach children and church members that feelings do not define right and wrong.
Evil days are the product of the fall, satanic deceit, and accumulated human rebellion. Family conflict in such days is not simply fate; it is often the predictable outcome of chosen ways of living that contradict God’s moral order. Recognizing that responsibility is the first step toward ordering our own households in a way that stands as a contrast to the surrounding darkness.