Why is there evil?

I read an article today that addressed the existence of evil. This article was taken from a pastor's sermon notes. Normally we'd get the usual cliches that people throw around to answer the question, whether that God is not truly a good and righteous God or that he gave people free will and thus people chose evil. However, the answer presented in here struck me as a remarkably radical departure from both sides of that line of thinking.

Q: Why is there evil in the world?
A: It's there for us to discern and overcome.

What struck me about this answer is that it makes the person asking the question an active player in the answer. It doesn't have us sitting around on our butts waiting for God to do this or that (or disappointing us with his inaction). Instead, it calls us to get out there and do something about the problem of evil in the world.

Is this overly radical? I think for the modern American church it is. John Eldredge recounts in his book Way of the Wild Heart something his son's Sunday school teacher was teaching. The teacher said that we it is not our job to resist the devil, but God's job. Eldredge wastes no time in exposing this as a false teaching. I don't remember what the verse was. It might have been James 4:7 - "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." I can also think of Romans 6:20 - "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." Not under his feet but under yours.

Yet I think passivity, both spiritual and otherwise, has permeated both American culture and the church that swims deeply in it. People just cruising along in life and living in the molds of their cultural upbringing. All the Asian overachievers come to mind. People asking God or government (depending on your religion) to do this or that for them when they are perfectly capable of doing it. Look how the mainstream responds to natural disasters, violent crimes, pit bulls, etc. People are viewed or portrayed as helpless victims unless government comes in and saves them, when they could have taken steps to protect themselves against such circumstances, and *gasp* prevail.