One of the big problems the secular world (or even sometimes the "religious" world) has understanding Christians is their differing concepts of what evil is. The world says, As long as it's not hurting anybody, it's okay. Just don't hurt anybody. Christians say, that's not all that evil is.

An evil that hurts someone is both a moral and a social evil. It is social evil because it hurts someone, and moral evil because God says it's wrong. Social evils are easy to spot: stealing, most lying, hatred, violence, murder, adultery, etc.

But not all moral evils are social evils. There are things that God says are wrong, that are doing wrong against him, which do not do wrong to other people.

Let me give you an example. Homosexuality. The world says, Homosexuality is fine because it's not hurting anybody. Mostly Christians try to combat this by saying, Yes, it does hurt people. Now honestly, I don't know whether it hurts anybody or not. I'm not a social scientist, so I won't claim to have knowledge that I don't have. But really, for Christians, it doesn't matter if it's hurting other people or not. That's really immaterial. What's important is, is it a moral evil?

How do you identify moral evil? Anything that goes against God's plan for our lives is moral evil. Easiest way to figure out what God's plan for our lives is? Through the testimony of the Bible and the Holy Spirit.

You see, Christians believe that all sins are sins against God, first and foremost. That's why Jesus went around telling people their sins were forgiven--Bob hurt Sally, but God is telling him he's forgiven, even if Sally doesn't forgive him. Because we were created by God to live in a proper relationship with him and to obey him, and we don't. So all sins are against God, even if they don't hurt other people.

I try my hardest not to take God's name in vain, for instance. The world says, There's nothing wrong with that; it doesn't hurt anyone. But God said not to do it. I might not know why he said not to do it, but I'm still not supposed to do it. Now, I can tell you a good reason for not taking God's name in vain: Firstly, because it shows disrespect to God, which isn't cool. Secondly, because it shows to non-Christians how little you respect God, which is also not cool. And thirdly, words have power, and what I'm saying, I'll probably end up thinking, so if I take God's name in vain a lot, I'll stop thinking of him with the proper respect, which screws everything up.

But if there's something God says not to do, and we don't see how it hurts people, we just have to trust that God knows what he's doing by forbidding it. Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. I was called to be an English teacher for my career. At the time, I was like, Teaching?! Yuck! But I trusted God on the issue and began to pursue that career rather than working in a publishing company, which was what I had been planning on before. Come to find out, my personality is very suited to teaching. It probably is the best career choice for me, I just didn't realize it. If I had disobeyed God (read: committed moral evil) by ignoring him and going my own way, my future would not have been as bright as it is now. There's nothing wrong with being in a publishing company, and there's certainly nothing in it that is a social evil, that is going to hurt other people. But it was not the best plan, and God knew what the best plan was. This is what faith is: trusting that God knows what's best for us, even when we don't see it ourselves.

As for homosexuality, we may or may not believe that it is a social evil, but the question is immaterial. God said not to do it, so we don't do it. We trust that he knows everything and working for our own good, so we obey him. A little kid may not understand why her parents tell her not to run in the street after her ball, but if she obeys, it'll save her life, or at least save her a lot of pain. We just have to trust our heavenly father, who is constantly warning us not to run out in the street.

Recognizing God's will through the Bible: Verses on homosexuality: 1 Cor 6:9, Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, Rom 1:26-27