Christian Living
Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday February 19, 2009
I usually have a news program of some sort playing in the background and some of it bleeds through. I notice a swiftness in most news media to pronounce so and so as evil. Church people operate on the same level, and in many, probably most cases the pronouncement is on target, as we know the Bible condemns the wickedness of the fallen human heart and only God knows what lurks behind its closed doors.
One thing I notice from the media and church people, is the failure of most of each group to at least think about a statement of Fyodor Dostoevsky of "Crime and Punishment" fame among others. Dostoevsky wrote:
“Nothing is easier than denouncing the evil doer. Nothing more difficult than understanding him.”
Psychology of all stripes has attempted to understand the evil in man. Monumental fortunes are spent each year in vain attempts at discovering the “why” of evil and when all is said and done, every more money and human suffering must be invested in this search that rivals in intensity the ancient search for the Grail.
From the creation of man and then woman, the key to the mystery is revealed for all who will see. Man, as the crowning creation of God is NOT satisfied with being man. It was Woody Allen who when asked what he wanted to be stated, “I want to be somebody else.” That is close to the real deep inner dissatisfaction that eats at the heart of the race. The race in Adam plunged into eternal conflict due to learning the how of making a moral choice between good and evil. The rub is that while any sane person can and does know the difference between good and evil, in order to make a moral choice it is imperative that the chooser be a moral person. When Adam chose to disobey the one prohibition on the race, the race became disobedient, hence immoral and while knowing right from wrong lacks the moral fiber to make the obedient choice. Simple? Of course. Easy? HA.
It is passing strange that another creature suffered the same malady, the total dissatisfaction with himself and his station in the pecking order. The scriptures call him Lucifer, Light Bearer, Angel of Light, Apollyon, Abaddon, Serpent, Devil and Satan among others! He had the same problem as Adam and thus knew Adam’s weakness, the innate desire for forbidden fruit.
In the human race evil manifests itself in many forms and society has decided that some forms of this expression are more acceptable, even commendable than others.
In his book, “The Body”, Charles Colson, writes: In 1960, Israeli undercover agents kidnapped one of the worst Holocaust masterminds, Adolph Eichmann and transported him to Israel to stand trial. Among the witnesses was a small, haggard man Yehiel Dinur.
Yehiel Dinur miraculously escaped death in Auschwitz. On his day to testify, Dinur entered the courtroom and stared at the man in the bullet-proof glass booth -- The man who murdered Dinur’s friends, personally executed a number of Jews, and presided over the slaughter of millions more. As the eyes of the two met -- victim and murderous tyrant -- the courtroom fell silent, filled with the tension of the confrontation. But no one was prepared for what happened next.
Yehiel Dinur began to shout and sob, collapsing to the floor. Was he overcome by hatred -- by the horrifying memories -- by the evil incarnate in Eichmann’s face? No. As he later explained in a riveting “60 Minutes” interview it was because Eichmann was not the demonic personification of evil Dinur had expected.
Rather, he was an ordinary man, just like any one else. And in that one instant, Dinur came to the stunning realization that sin and evil are the human condition. “I was afraid about myself,” Dinur said. “I saw that I am capable to do this...exactly like he. Eichmann is in all of us.”
Dinur’s remarkable statement caused Mike Wallace to turn to the camera and ask the audience the most painful of all questions. “How is it possible ... for a man to act as Eichmann acted? ... Was he a monster? A madman? Or was he perhaps something even more terrifying... Was he normal?”
It is certain all we of Adam’s race need the Saviour.
Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit.
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Great insight. Evil lives within and masquerades itself so skillfully. Until we surrender to Jesus and walk a life guided by the spirit will one ever escape the torment. Many blessings..
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