Evil

The Evil of Our Public Lives

When I was younger I was told that if I was not willing to do something in public, then I ought not do it in private. The concern was that what we did in private was potentially more evil than what we would do in public. There may some truth to that for most of us - especially in our teenage years when we might violate social norms or rules in private (Kevin Bacon might owe his career to such a truth).

While the concern of evil lurking in the private was emphasized, the inverse was all but ignored. That is, sometimes we would do things in public that we would never do in private. The concern that what we do in public was potentially more evil than what we would do in private was never really considered.

However, the reality is the more we ignore the latter the more we are prone to participate in evil in the world.

The evil of the public life memorialized in the coliseum

The evil of the public life memorialized in the coliseum

Most people would not privately whip themselves into a frenzy and loot, harass or kill. Yet groups do this all the time. Most people would never breathe threats of violence toward another, but then we get online and that is often what we do.

If the story of Jesus teaches us anything it is that our public lives can be more evil than our private lives. We can kill the very Christ of the world in public displays. We can loot the very heart of God in public elections. We can be like Saul and become the mob of violence and retribution in public.

Maybe we need to take some of our concern that our private lives are evil and examine our public ones.

Work of God, God's Work and the Work of the Satan

In the previous post I shared a bit of what I saw to be the difference in the Work of God and God's Work. As a reminder here is the short list:

  • Healing (Work of God)  ----  Resurrecting (God's Work)
  • Guiding (Work of God)  ----  Influencing (God's Work)
  • Sustaining (Work of God)  ----  Abiding with (God's Work)
  • Reconciling (Work of God)  ----  Transforming (God's Work)

In a couple of emails I was asked if I could identify the role of Satan in all this. Regardless if you believe in a literal being or not, I think everyone agrees there is evil in the world. Christians personify God as a way to talk about God but Christians also know that God is beyond the personifications made. For instance God is not male or female but we talk about God being so in order to express something about the nature of God and humans. Likewise, many Christians personify evil in the character of Satan. Christians also know that evil is not limited to the personifications expressed. For instance, Satan is not a half man/goat hybrid with a pitchfork. 

Taking the above list of the work of God and the Church, I added the work of Satan:

  • Healing (Work of God)  ----  Resurrecting (God's Work)  ----  Hurting (Satan's Work)
  • Guiding (Work of God)  ----  Influencing (God's Work)  ----  Dictating (Satan's Work)
  • Sustaining (Work of God)  ----  Abiding with (God's Work)  ----  Abandoning (Satan's Work)
  • Reconciling (Work of God)  ----  Transforming (God's Work)  ----  Dividing (Satan's Work)

In some ways, the distinctions of these different "works" can also be seen in the difference in symbolic, parabolic and diabolic.

Lady Justice, Father Time, Mother Earth and the Devil

This past week I have had a difficult time trying to write anything in part because sometimes it is difficult to make the time and in part because I have hit a bit of a dry patch. Mostly, however, the reason I have had difficulty is because I heard some news this week that stopped me in my tracks.​

​What I cannot understand these days is our resistance to talk about the Devil. Perhaps it is because we do not think the devil is real or perhaps we do not think there is a personified red horned creature roaming the earth. 

Lets get beyond that. There is no red horned creature walking the earth. But do not be fooled, the Devil is real. ​

Just like Lady Justice is real.​

Just like Father Time is real.​

Just like Mother Earth is real.​

These are all personifications of a reality that is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Thus we tell stories of these "characters". We tell our family that "Father Time catches up with you" or "you cannot escape Lady Justice" or ​"care for Mother Earth." And no one raises a stink that there is no such thing as Lady Justice or Mother Earth. No one says these characters are lies or figments of our collective imagination. 

Because we all know that justice, time and the earth are real. The best ways we have to talk about them are in the characters. ​

And yet, when we talk about evil (which I think most agree is real in this world)​ we shy away from personifying it. 

Perhaps personifying evil is not something we want to do? When we personify something then it hits closer to home. It becomes more real, more personal, more intimate. ​We respect/fear Justice, Time and the Earth. But we keep our distance to Evil. 

The more we distance our selves from it the more mysterious it is. Evil cannot and should not have that sort of mystery or power over us. And yet, it does. ​

I will not hesitate to talk about the Devil or Satan because I have, and I bet you have too, seen evil in this world and in our lives. We have seen evil that has gone unnoticed, unrealized, and kept in the shadows only to continue to raise all sorts of hell in this world. ​

The devil is not "real" but I have no better way to talk about Evil, which makes the devil worth embracing.