Evil is a concept foreign to many in our world today. When bad things happen, many times there is an effort to explain why such events occur. Some reasons given are:
poor upbringing
circumstances
just “snapped” and acted
bad influences
mental problems
Yet, despite all attempt to explain away terrible events, one word is too often left out — evil.
For many, to ascribe evil to people’s actions and motives presupposes that there is a good which is immutable. In other words, if there is evil, then there is God, who is the opposite and antithesis of evil. Acknowledging God seems to be difficult for some, because this is at odds with their world view.
We look at the past and see example of pure evil. Many examples are seen in the Bible, some of which are: Ahab and Jezebel, who robbed and killed in order to satisfy their own lusts; the slaughter of the innocents after Jesus’ birth, by Herod; and Judas, who betrayed Christ. In secular history, the pages of the past are written in blood by such as: Ivan the Terrible, who drank the blood of his vanquished enemies; the Inquisition, which used torture in a twisted attempt to force orthodoxy on heretics; Adolf Hitler, whose crimes are well documented; Joseph Stalin, whose killings exceeded those of Hitler by at least three times; Mao Zedung, whose killings fields in China probably held one hundred million of his own people; Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Cuba, who wanted to send nuclear warheads to hit U. S. cities in 1962 — legion are the ranks of those who could be said to be pure evil in their actions and motives.
Twenty first century atrocities also come under the umbrella of evil. Just in the United States alone we have seen 49 killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, 14 killed in San Bernardino, California, 58 shot dead in Las Vegas, Nevada, and 26 worshippers killed in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Also included in this carnage were the eight killed by a truck attack in New York City. And just this week, a rampage in Northern California killed several, and wounded more, including children.
For some of these acts, the perpetrators were doing so in the name of their religion, what we call Islamic terrorism. Yet evil, even in the name of their god, is still evil.
There is a common thread running through all humanity, one which gives to all who exist dignity and rights. One of these is life itself, as proclaimed by Thomas Jefferson’s words in our Declaration of Independence. As he called it “inalienable” rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
What this means is that no matter the venue or inspiration, acts that violate humanity are and should be called, first and foremost, evil. Beheading 20 Christians in Libya, killing 86 with a semi truck in Nice, France, using vehicles in London and New York, the carnage in Orlando and San Bernardino must be looked on as evil acts, inspired by the darkest forces that can enter the hearts and souls of mankind.
Those above were carried out by religious extremists, who praised their god as they killed. But a look at the most recent violence in the United States also show an effort by some to mitigate the pure evil shown by the killers.
Las Vegas — from President Trump on down, there has been a chorus that this was done by a man who was surely mentally sick. How else do you explain killing 58 of your fellow humans? And in Sutherland, Texas — the killer was already seen to be mentally ill before he began his rampage inside that small Baptist church, and we are so told by many pundits, over and over, that mentally unstable people like him should never have guns. The “event” in Northern California was by a man who just “snapped” and killed. Although some have mentioned evil in these events, most of the rhetoric as been about guns and the easy access to them by Americans.
Other examples of evil have reared their ugly heads also. How else could you explain the wholesale killing of innocent babies by abortion? Notwithstanding the personal choices made, the fact that an industry has arisen to take financial advantage of Roe v. Wade (1973) smacks of evil intent on some part.
At the present time, a wave of sexual misconduct has been levied against many in the entertainment industry and in politics. Temptations lurks around every corner (remember Peter claimed that the devil, like a roaring lion, seeks whom he may devour), but repeated such instances makes it seem as if evil is in the driver’s seat. Politicians, who have influence and power, many times have used their positions to prey on those who might be vulnerable to such attacks.
An argument might be made that all are prone to do bad things in our lives. But when does a string of such acts make a person evil, instead of just a fallen sinner?
The Apostle Paul claimed that the darkness of sin lives within each of us. This is how he phrased it in Romans 7:21 — ” I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.” But he also claimed that man, through his faith, could overcome that tendency to do wrong.
How do we confront the terrible things people do to others? Is it to somehow try to explain away the most heinous acts by looking at the backgrounds of those who do so? By doing so, we ignore the simplest and most powerful statement about what has been happening too often of late. Let us make sure that our first statement about mass killings and other terrible actions, no matter who commits them, is that those who commit these acts do so because they have become evil, and have violated not only the laws of man, but, most importantly, the unchangeable laws of God.