The Devil Made Me Do It
‘There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.’
C.S. Lewis
What indeed is the right balance when it comes to Satan? Growing up, I gave him/it/her way to much attention, control and credit in my life. That did a couple things:
I don't know if you can relate, but that mindset convinced me that the only thing worse than a complete absence of some kind of faith is just enough to make you fearful and/or hypocritical. I have always found it odd how much people fear the occult and such like, even while claiming they don't believe in God. Yea, exactly! How come they don't believe in God, but fear Harry Potter (which I love - Wingardium Leviosa!) and Gandalf the Grey (White after the Balrog dust up)?
Fear No Evil
1. It made me think angels and demons - but mostly demons - were involved in everything from stubbed toes to lost homework, and that made me essentially ruddy paranoid.
2. It made me more concerned about what Satan was up to than what God was up to.I think my life, before really getting serious about God, was an unhealthy mix of religious hypocrisy and charismatic weirdness. Everything was attributed to the devil and demons. Laziness, lust, tiredness, anger, bad grades, general stupidity, taxes, natural disasters and the list goes on. The problem with that approach is very little was attributed to me! James does say 'but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.' Ya, 'his own evil desire' or stupidity, lust etc. I'll never forget the depiction of a person struggling with the 'demon of pride' in a very popular Christian fiction book (which I would still recommend), but the idea that something external to you is the source of your own arrogance or selfishness is a little far out. It overlooks the deeper more challenging issues of character we all face.
I don't know if you can relate, but that mindset convinced me that the only thing worse than a complete absence of some kind of faith is just enough to make you fearful and/or hypocritical. I have always found it odd how much people fear the occult and such like, even while claiming they don't believe in God. Yea, exactly! How come they don't believe in God, but fear Harry Potter (which I love - Wingardium Leviosa!) and Gandalf the Grey (White after the Balrog dust up)?
Fear No Evil
I've met people who completely balk at the idea of God and religion but quake at the mention of witchcraft and Obeah (Jamaican black magic). How come? Even in movies (except ones like Constantine and The Prophecy series - but even then) demons and the devil are real threats but the only way to combat them is with a mystical sword or a kick-butting magical boot or something like that. God? No, he's no good as a defence against the Dark Arts. Then in the movies it's always Catholic priests (did The Exorcist and the Omen series get that going?) coming to the rescue and inevitably getting their butts whooped in the name of the Lord. There was this one movie (the name escapes me) where the weapon used to send the incarnate devil back to hell was on over-sized toy rocket. An over-sized toy rocket!? C'mon! Satan's supposed to be the Prince of Darkness not a wayward teenager (though the two greatly resemble each other in intent and ability to create pain and misfortune).
I think there are those people, religious and otherwise, that give evil far more credit than they give good. Now in one sense, I don't blame them, evil gets way more headlines and media coverage than good does - and then there's all the wars, and eight long years of 'W'. But maybe evil gets so much support because we give it so much support - both religious and non-religious folk.
For sure evil is real. But certainly we are our greatest enemies. My good confession as a Christian was 'Jesus is Lord' not 'Satan is the devil'. So I subscribe to James and pay attention to how I may be tempted by my own 'evil desire' rather than running around afraid of demonic attack. Now, I'm not saying that we can't or are not hounded by minions of hell (though I don't recommend sitting around waiting for the doorbell to ring). But maybe we should think about how we are hounded a little differently.
Personal Demons
I think there are those people, religious and otherwise, that give evil far more credit than they give good. Now in one sense, I don't blame them, evil gets way more headlines and media coverage than good does - and then there's all the wars, and eight long years of 'W'. But maybe evil gets so much support because we give it so much support - both religious and non-religious folk.
For sure evil is real. But certainly we are our greatest enemies. My good confession as a Christian was 'Jesus is Lord' not 'Satan is the devil'. So I subscribe to James and pay attention to how I may be tempted by my own 'evil desire' rather than running around afraid of demonic attack. Now, I'm not saying that we can't or are not hounded by minions of hell (though I don't recommend sitting around waiting for the doorbell to ring). But maybe we should think about how we are hounded a little differently.
Personal Demons
Granted, books like Job will get you wondering if God is gonna roll the dice over your faithfulness (a part of me kinda hopes God will be like 'ahh - no not this one he's too weak to test right now') but I do think that these divine transactions probably occur a little differently in heavenly realms. We see an earthly explanation for a spiritual event - difficult to translate I think. Indeed, the spiritual world would be an alien place to us all from this side of heaven.
Still, I have my doubts. Take demon possession. Far less of an occurrence than the reports suggest methinks (I have no idea how much it is reported - go figure) but it's really a popular past time in Jamaica and religious circles generally. Every now and then at some all-girls institution, some one will get possessed and make a whole party of it. Most of the time I just think it's plain old mental illness. Why? Cause when religious people are mentally ill - they are possessed. When non-religious people are mentally ill – they’re just crazy! I'm just saying before you start beating people with a hardbound copy of your favourite NIV red letter Bible, give the doc a call. I just find it a bit suspect that most of the people who seem to get possessed are Christians and Churchgoers. Shouldn't the main victims be non-Church goers and those who are vulnerable to satan’s attacks?
Natural disasters are another thing - but God get's the blame for those mostly. The 2004 Tsunami was a very tough one wasn't it? I surfed a public commentary site and persons of all faiths and creeds offered their condolences and prayers or sombre best wishes. Then the Christians came along and pronounced the reason for the death and pain was 'God's judgment' and anger at the people for their sin! Now, how in the world do they know that? I mean everybody is going to die some day - by tsunami or heart failure, but we are gonna go. Jesus said, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were guiltier than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
For goodness sake
Still, I have my doubts. Take demon possession. Far less of an occurrence than the reports suggest methinks (I have no idea how much it is reported - go figure) but it's really a popular past time in Jamaica and religious circles generally. Every now and then at some all-girls institution, some one will get possessed and make a whole party of it. Most of the time I just think it's plain old mental illness. Why? Cause when religious people are mentally ill - they are possessed. When non-religious people are mentally ill – they’re just crazy! I'm just saying before you start beating people with a hardbound copy of your favourite NIV red letter Bible, give the doc a call. I just find it a bit suspect that most of the people who seem to get possessed are Christians and Churchgoers. Shouldn't the main victims be non-Church goers and those who are vulnerable to satan’s attacks?
Natural disasters are another thing - but God get's the blame for those mostly. The 2004 Tsunami was a very tough one wasn't it? I surfed a public commentary site and persons of all faiths and creeds offered their condolences and prayers or sombre best wishes. Then the Christians came along and pronounced the reason for the death and pain was 'God's judgment' and anger at the people for their sin! Now, how in the world do they know that? I mean everybody is going to die some day - by tsunami or heart failure, but we are gonna go. Jesus said, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were guiltier than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
For goodness sake
Now again, the reality of evil in the world is undeniable - it's way too apparent to ignore. While I think satan can attack us to discourage us, rob of faith, hope and maybe even life, through whatever nefarious means - evil can only be manifested by one outlet in this world: mankind, and good can only be expressed through the same.
Paul attests that 'God works for the good for those who love him' - I believe that to be true. Indeed, I think that 'good works for the good of those who love to do good' is another way to put it.
C. Arthur Young
Craig, I do not believe in evil as an entity, but your points are well taken. We must take responsibility for the choices we make.
ReplyDeleteFor me, there are only evil actions. We all have thoughts that are clearly "not good". Is that an evil thing? I think not. The evil comes when we act upon those thoughts. It is the choices we make, as Dumbledore says.
Which brings me to another thought. If you know the difference between right and wrong (and most of us do) then choosing to act unethically is an evil action. However, if we do not know the difference; If we are, in fact, psychotic, are we responsible for our evil action? If we do not know that we are doing something unethical, is it an evil action? Legally, it is not.
This is contrary to the traditional view of evil. Traditionally, a normal person who does an evil thing has made a terrible mistake and can be forgiven if he seeks the path of absolution. Again, traditionally, an abnormal person who does not have any remorse or compassion is evil and will never be forgiven, because he will not and can not seek it.
Do you see what I am getting at? The real evil-doer, the one who chooses to perpetrate an evil action, gets a "get out of jail free" card by feeling remorseful. The one who is innocent of intent because he is incapable of having an intent, does not.
Any thoughts?
I get you - I suppose I consider good & evil more than actions because of what you have intimated about motive. A commonly accepted 'wicked act' can be seen differently when considering motive - if we could accurately determine it (hence the impoartance of motive in the courts - but motive in this case means true intent rather than a rational for a bad act).
ReplyDeleteIndeed even OT doctrine takes unintentional evil/misdeeds into account - so I do agree.
I see character as the guiding force behind actions and thoughts as the cumulative foundation of character. Thoughts and attitudes are given special attention in Biblical teachings because it is from those two things that life really flows.
Even Socrates concluded that the true representation of an object was in the mind - the material world was only a shadow of the 'real' one.