Mike Corthell, Editor
As one writer stated, on 9/11 the world had a moment of crystal clarity. There, on television, for everyone to see, was raw evil.
Is it a real thing, with substance and power? Or is it no more than the absence of truth, a vacuum of reality, darkness, a negation of light? If it is real, then how could God have allowed it in His world? But if it is only darkness, how is it possible for darkness to defy light?
No answer will satisfy us entirely. Evil is too close to us to see clearly; too painful to place a label upon. We feel that perhaps we are callously justifying the horrors that have befallen good people. Perhaps we are rationalizing God - and ourselves - off the hook. But, on the other hand, without any grasp of what evil is, how can we be expected to fight it?
The Bible's metaphor for evil is darkness. More than the absence of truth. It's void of reality. Like darkness, Evil has no power of its own. From where, then, does it derive the power to cause so much pain in the world? Generally speaking, from us, from our fear of it. That we consider it a "something" worth negotiating.
With every spoonful of worry we foster it, with every glance of trepidation, every concession we make from our lives to acknowledge its threat -- until Evil rises brazenly to attack us with our own instruments.
This theme is repeated throughout the Bible When the snake approached Eve, the sages explain, she wasn't ready to give it the time of day. In her world, the snake might as well not even existed. So the snake had to say, "Is it true you're not allowed to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" Of course the snake knew this was a lie. But this way, Eve took notice of it. The snake became someone worth answering. And therefore, empowered to make a mess.
Similarly, Moses. Moses began his career as liberator when he killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a Jewish slave to death. When he discovered that his deed had become public knowledge, the Bible tells us that "Moses was afraid. And Pharaoh sought to have him killed. So he fled" First Moses was afraid. Only then did Pharaoh seek to have him killed. Without Moses' fear, Pharaoh had no power.
All the more reason why 9/11 was our moment of clarity: Because we saw this no longer as an idea, but clearly acted out, a metaphor in action.
These people who wish to bring us down in terror, do they have any power of their own? Do they have resources that can feed a populace? Ideas that can thrust them ahead of our progress? Do they attack us with missiles of their own device and engineering?
No. They have nothing of their own. They were empowered by us through the bizarre machinations of Cold War politics. They wield razor blades bought in our hardware stores, and with them they hijack airplanes we devised to better our standard of life. They strike fear in our hearts with powder stolen from our laboratories. Dust. Knowing full well they cannot infect a nation. But they can terrorize us. And for evil, that is already a victory. Because then, through our fear, evil has found a home.
Knowing this is very useful. Once we have discovered evil's secret, we know how to deflate it. The strategy is almost identical, whether it be the evil that sweeps the globe or within your community, or that lies in the darker recesses of your own heart, waiting to terrorize you at any chance.
It is not a simple solution, because we have already nurtured evil to the point that it thrives and grows each day. In the beginning, Adam and Eve could have simply ignored the enticement and it would have eventually slithered away and dissolved.
On a global scale, Evil is not something to fear, much less negotiate with. That only gives it more power. Yes, there are times when you have no choice but to battle Evil as the Maccabees did against the Syrian-Greek oppressor. Today we have ISIS. 2014 is 1933. We must destroy it while never looking down. But what next? What do we do to prevent another terrorist group from forming?
It is important for the world to create more light. Even a little light pushes away great darkness. For every shadow I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. of evil we have seen, we must produce megawatts of blinding light. Just as those possessed by evil commit atrocity after atrocity so, we to must act with kindness after kindness.
This, dear reader, is the purpose of evil, why our God, our Savior who is entirely good devised evil to be in His world. Because evil forces us to reach deep inside, to find our inner strength, climbing ever higher, until reaching a brilliant, blinding light -- a light that leaves no crevice for darkness to hide.
Against that light, Evil melts away, having fulfilled its purpose.
As one writer stated, on 9/11 the world had a moment of crystal clarity. There, on television, for everyone to see, was raw evil.
Is it a real thing, with substance and power? Or is it no more than the absence of truth, a vacuum of reality, darkness, a negation of light? If it is real, then how could God have allowed it in His world? But if it is only darkness, how is it possible for darkness to defy light?
No answer will satisfy us entirely. Evil is too close to us to see clearly; too painful to place a label upon. We feel that perhaps we are callously justifying the horrors that have befallen good people. Perhaps we are rationalizing God - and ourselves - off the hook. But, on the other hand, without any grasp of what evil is, how can we be expected to fight it?
The Bible's metaphor for evil is darkness. More than the absence of truth. It's void of reality. Like darkness, Evil has no power of its own. From where, then, does it derive the power to cause so much pain in the world? Generally speaking, from us, from our fear of it. That we consider it a "something" worth negotiating.
With every spoonful of worry we foster it, with every glance of trepidation, every concession we make from our lives to acknowledge its threat -- until Evil rises brazenly to attack us with our own instruments.
This theme is repeated throughout the Bible When the snake approached Eve, the sages explain, she wasn't ready to give it the time of day. In her world, the snake might as well not even existed. So the snake had to say, "Is it true you're not allowed to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" Of course the snake knew this was a lie. But this way, Eve took notice of it. The snake became someone worth answering. And therefore, empowered to make a mess.
Similarly, Moses. Moses began his career as liberator when he killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a Jewish slave to death. When he discovered that his deed had become public knowledge, the Bible tells us that "Moses was afraid. And Pharaoh sought to have him killed. So he fled" First Moses was afraid. Only then did Pharaoh seek to have him killed. Without Moses' fear, Pharaoh had no power.
All the more reason why 9/11 was our moment of clarity: Because we saw this no longer as an idea, but clearly acted out, a metaphor in action.
These people who wish to bring us down in terror, do they have any power of their own? Do they have resources that can feed a populace? Ideas that can thrust them ahead of our progress? Do they attack us with missiles of their own device and engineering?
No. They have nothing of their own. They were empowered by us through the bizarre machinations of Cold War politics. They wield razor blades bought in our hardware stores, and with them they hijack airplanes we devised to better our standard of life. They strike fear in our hearts with powder stolen from our laboratories. Dust. Knowing full well they cannot infect a nation. But they can terrorize us. And for evil, that is already a victory. Because then, through our fear, evil has found a home.
Knowing this is very useful. Once we have discovered evil's secret, we know how to deflate it. The strategy is almost identical, whether it be the evil that sweeps the globe or within your community, or that lies in the darker recesses of your own heart, waiting to terrorize you at any chance.
It is not a simple solution, because we have already nurtured evil to the point that it thrives and grows each day. In the beginning, Adam and Eve could have simply ignored the enticement and it would have eventually slithered away and dissolved.
On a global scale, Evil is not something to fear, much less negotiate with. That only gives it more power. Yes, there are times when you have no choice but to battle Evil as the Maccabees did against the Syrian-Greek oppressor. Today we have ISIS. 2014 is 1933. We must destroy it while never looking down. But what next? What do we do to prevent another terrorist group from forming?
It is important for the world to create more light. Even a little light pushes away great darkness. For every shadow I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. of evil we have seen, we must produce megawatts of blinding light. Just as those possessed by evil commit atrocity after atrocity so, we to must act with kindness after kindness.
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Isaiah 45:7
This, dear reader, is the purpose of evil, why our God, our Savior who is entirely good devised evil to be in His world. Because evil forces us to reach deep inside, to find our inner strength, climbing ever higher, until reaching a brilliant, blinding light -- a light that leaves no crevice for darkness to hide.
Against that light, Evil melts away, having fulfilled its purpose.
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