Faith
LET’S BAPTIZE THE DEVIL
Harold A. and James P. Gram
When we wrote the novel “The Devil Never Walks Alone” (www.llumina.com), we did not allow the protagonist of the story to recognize that the Devil was the source of his troubles until quite late in the book. Hindsight operates with wonderful clarity. Today, we would involve the Devil by name much earlier in the narrative. The young minister would then have to deal with the Devil as a real identifiable opponent, rather than with some nebulous entity or force. In other words, we should, perhaps, have named the Devil earlier in the novel.
Names and naming have a special significance in society. The names we received from our parents, which most of us carry without major changes throughout life, are unique and special. Most of us are quick to correct someone with, “No, my name is Hadley, not Henry.” When someone consistently mispronounces our name, we can easily become annoyed. Our name is perhaps the most special designation of who we are. Parents agonize over the name to be given newborns and often search out names associated with certain desirable characteristics. The poetic, “What’s in a name? A rose would smell as sweet” may suggest that the naming of physical objects is of little consequence. But, our personal names are of great consequence.
Long ago it was believed that to know another’s name was to have knowledge of that person and a measure of control. In primitive tribes, only those initiated into the “mysteries” would know the real name of the deity or god. This special knowledge gave the priest or shaman the ability to tap into the god’s power to cast spells, conduct healings or initiate tribal members into special roles. Moses asked God for his name so that he could better lead the Israelites. God did not give his name but replied “I am that I am”. Following primitive traditions, in the Old Testament the real name of God was not to be uttered. Nowadays, Christian baptism is incomplete without naming the child as a sign of his new relationship with God.
Of course, any name, be it person or thing, can only be understandable within a language and culture. To communicate with one another we must have an intersection of understanding, that is, we must have a common ground of experience, language and culture. When we move outside these parameters, we may talk gibberish at worst, or create misunderstanding at the least.
To name somebody or something is to give that person or thing a reality. Even a mental picture, if we can give it a name, can constitute a reality that others can understand. We can communicate our emotions if we have enough language to give the emotion a reality. We can talk about time, theories, faith and other abstractions if we have words to name them.
Believers have no trouble using the name of God. Setting aside the frivolous, obscene, blasphemous or profane uses of the word, most believing people employ the word with considerable depth of meaning. The name “God” represents an intimate relationship of salvation, forgiveness, redemption, eternal life, justice and so on. The behavior of God is omnipotent, omniscient, or all seeing for instance. Moreover, the word “God” represents a personal God; one who relates to me in a way which is separate and distinct from all others. In fact, the underlying premise for believers would indicate that a complete naming would be “My God.”
We need to understand that the linguistic word “God” is exclusionary. That is, there are no competitors. It shuts out all other gods just as the First Commandment states. It commits the person to a single-minded obedience and worship to one personal god. Isn’t this exactly what the Christian religion requires? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved?
Yes, but the concept of God as a statement of exclusion is incomplete and even dangerously naïve. It is incomplete because it does not account for sin and evil. Sin and evil breach the exclusionary relationship because mankind is fallible and prone to allow breaches of the exclusionary role. The exclusionary concept is naïve when we consider that the forces of sin and evil exist apart from the concept of God. Our naivety consists in failing to name, and thereby recognize, these other forces. By naming them we would give them the status of reality. By naming them we recognize the force of evil and sin. By naming them we can oppose them.
God created light and dark, sea and land, the heavens and the firmament and so on. Can the story of Adam and Eve be understood without including good and evil? Satan is set up in contrast to God on many occasions. Most people need little evidence that there is good and bad, right and wrong, moral and immoral and a host of other opposites. Are they dualities or dichotomies? The question is not trivial.
For instance, without delving too deeply into philosophy and linguistic theory, let us define a dichotomy as naming two discrete and opposite concepts. In this view, good would be completely different from bad and something would either be good or bad…not a degree of goodness or badness. Some would consider saved or not saved, Christian or not Christian, believer or non-believer as dichotomies.
On the other hand, a duality names two concepts which can exist together on a continuum with some degree of each concept being present. Therefore, good and evil could well exist together as a duality. At one time, good might dominate the mixture, at another time, evil might dominate the mixture. Accepting the duality idea of opposite concepts would lead us to say, “Nothing is completely bad or good.”
How does this relate to the exclusionary concept of God? Suppose we accept the idea that good and evil are a duality. An individual action exists at a point somewhere between”the good” and “the evil”. But God’s command requires we adhere to “the good” in an exclusionary way. However, we can never attain perfection, “the good”, no matter how zealously we commit to God. Nevertheless, this would be the command of God and the goal of human existence. So how do we deal with evil and sin? In this view, sin and evil are not forces to be reckoned with but rather the absence of right or good. We could sin when we fail to adhere to “the good”. This shuts out the darker forces and makes them inactive or inert. They become sign posts of our failure to fully develop a life committed to God.
Is it not naïve to consider that a Christian life requires no actions to ward off sin and evil? But to do so means we accept a dichotomy of good and evil. In other words, how are we to effectively ward off the forces of darkness if they only exist as “absence of…”? Should we name the forces of evil, give them a reality, and then act to work against them? Should we, in a manner of speaking, baptize the Devil and give him the name he deserves? Should that name mean the Prince of Darkness, Satan, Beelzebub, sin, evil, and the Devil?
If we were to baptize the devil and give him reality, of what would that reality consist? We suggest that the devil has the initiative to determine his agenda, goals and behaviors. Terrorism, murder, genocide, torture and mankind’s inhumanity to others in so many areas neither emerge nor exist in a vacuum. Evil, sin and the works of the Devil are evident if we will only acknowledge what we see. Denying or blotting out the existence of the forces of evil will not make them go away nor lessen their influence on mankind. It is time for us to name evil as the Devil. It is time to name sin as the effect of the Devil’s works. It is time to baptize the Devil with his real name and purpose of evil in this world. By doing so, we can prepare defenses against him and ensure the life with God we all desire.
Some readers may be offended with our use of the word “baptism” in reference to the Devil. One definition of the word baptize is to christen or name. We certainly are strongly in favor in naming the Devil and recognizing his role in sin and evil. Another definition refers to a rite of entry into the Christian church. We would never consider, even in jest, making the Devil a Christian. However, is it not time for Christians to factor in the Devil within our Christian commitment? And, yes, recognize that the devil is a potent force within the Christian church? Recognition by name is a first step in marshalling defenses against this powerful enemy.
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Also it brings up the whole question of "What is baptism?" which is worth an essay in itself, and I'll probably write one soon.
Thank you