Sanitized evil:
Maybe that’s a problem – sanitizing evil.
No – lot’s of people won’t want to see it.
But to some extent – maybe we should.
“At the scene of a homicide, evil isn’t airbrushed or sanitized as it is on the evening news. Out here it gets right in your face and you can’t turn the channel or look away. Newscasters must know that if they dwell too long on the realities of death it’ll be too depressing and people will flip the channel to watch Seinfeld. Evil is either sensationalized or muted. On the air it’s almost never shown to be honestly, fully, what it is.”
from “Opening Moves: The Bowers Files” by Steven James
But then, I’m not talking about sensationalized evil either. I’m talking “real evil”. Not sanitized evil. But not the kind of evil we see on too many cable channels these days where the perpetrators of evil become some sort of cult celebrity. Neither view is realistic. And in some strange way, both views keep us from seeing true evil.
The beginning of evil
Way back in Genesis, when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil – people began to think and do evil things. We think we know what evil is. We judge it by the way we act ourselves. And we judge it by what we see on the news – what we read in a book – the Internet – or other sources.
But how many of us actually see evil with our own eyes – up close and personal?
I’m guessing not that many.
Worse yet – as we watch sanitized versions of evil on TV or in movies – we still don’t really truly see it.
We can’t smell it. We can’t get inside the head of the person who committed the act.
And we think – “it’s bad”.
But we still don’t really know.
There was a time when “fire and brimstone” were what was preached in churches.
But people didn’t want to hear it. They wanted a kinder, gentler God.
Next thing you know – we start to think that this kinder, gentler God wouldn’t really send us to Hell.
Some even think Hell is where the fun people go.
A lost sense of true evil
We’ve seemingly lost all sense of right and wrong. Good and evil. Heaven and Hell.
The Bower’s Files series isn’t for the faint of heart. It is however, listed as being Christian fiction.
In the middle of all the evil that takes place in the books, we are led to think about God – about good and evil.
And I suspect that – as I said, to some extent – this is probably a good thing.
Let’s face it. We have “knowledge” of good and evil. But thanks to the efforts of Satan, our beliefs of good and evil are so watered down that they don’t really mean much anymore.
Hollywood evil
Or, if we send too much time with what I’ll call “Hollywood evil”, we become desensitized to it. We see so much “over the top” evil that we lose touch with it. Seriously, how many times so we see movie type action in real life? Ever seen a real life Die Hard? How about the cops and bad guys car chases with machine guns going full blast as they crash into cars, people, buildings, Etc?
For people who are into this kind of thing, does real life evil become boring? Or maybe enticing, but they can’t pull off anything as dramatic. But some do succeed in producing real life death and destruction. And then we wonder, how could that happen?
Or, in the case of the revenge type movies, the “hero” does even more evil deeds than the “bad guy”. But that’s often seen as “justified” – so the good guy gets a pass on what he did. Meanwhile, the original bad act is forgotten. And then, when we – the viewer – comes into a situation where we are the one who is wronged – we feel justified in taking revenge.
The price of evil
God is not evil – He won’t send us to Hell for His pleasure. While we sometimes seem to think people do evil things for “fun” – God is not like that. Evil is not fun to Him.
However – He is just – and justice requires that a price be paid for all the evil we all do.
Jesus paid that price for us – but it’s an “exchange” deal – His life for ours.
If we’re not willing to take the deal – then justice requires our lives, because His life isn’t available to us as payment – since we turned down the offer.
I’ve known people that joke about going to Hell. That it’s where the fun people go. It’s where the people who know how to laugh go. Like it’s going to be a big party.
The thing is though –
If anything good in this world is a pale reflection of God,
why would we think anything other than that the worst evil that ever existed in this world is but a pale reflection of Satan?
With that knowledge –
how many people would seriously even consider putting themselves in jeopardy of going to Hell?
Conclusion
We have a choice.
We can choose to love the God that loves us and paid the price to save us,
because we’ve looked at the good in this world and want more of it.
Or we can choose to thumb our nose at Him – pay our own price – and take our chances in Hell.
Considering that the worst person who ever lived is but a pale shadow of Satan – it’s not a chance I’d go for.
Anyone who thinks otherwise –
either they don’t know what evil really is, because they haven’t really looked at it –
or they have looked at it and want even more of it. But only when it’s too late will they find out their mistake.
Be careful what you ask for …
This is the first of a series of articles about Evil. stay tuned for more.
The quote and details on the book are at amazon.com — http://amzn.to/2c7SYHR