The 'E' Word

Evil - it appears to be the new 4-letter word for today’s culture. We have such a hard time with it. Why can’t we recognize the evil around us and in us and call it out? We assume goodness and ask the question ‘Why do basically good people do bad things?’. Maybe we should be asking “Why do bad people do good things?”. This is an uncomfortable thought for me because I admit that my natural reaction to someone using the E-word is “Who made you God?” and “Who are you to judge?”, but I’m not sure this inclination is correct. Over the last few months, I’ve been asking myself the question ‘What makes people change?’, and I can’t get past the E-word. I think this is where many of us are missing it. We don’t recognize the evil, and so we don’t approach the process of changing it correctly.

The first step in the 12 steps of addiction recovery is to ‘recognize that we are powerless and our lives have become unmanageable’. I think unmanageable here is a euphemism for bad, or dare I say it … evil. (Nobody goes to addiction recovery because their life has become unmanageably good!) The success and acceptance of the 12 steps make me think these people know what they're talking about.

However, if that's not enough or you prefer the Biblical slant, 1 John 1:8-10 says “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. “ Here it is - not only forgiveness, but also becoming more righteous (stated here as purity from unrighteousness) is dependent on recognizing our sin. Most of us would agree that sin=evil so try replacing that in the verse above. Yikes!

My personal struggle against porn addiction (ok, that may be a shock to some. Get over it and I’ll share more another time) shows this as well. My constant struggle to be free of it did not succeed until I recognized it as a whole and as evil. When I viewed myself as a basically good person who just happens to be sinning every day, week, or month – I couldn’t bust out of it. When I viewed myself as a wreck who needed help - I found success. After all, how can you follow Jesus' teachings to kill the old self if you don’t recognize it as bad. Jesus says he who wishes to find life must lose it. If we want to really live, we must die to self and it will not happen until we take step 1: Admit that I am e.... ( I don’t even want to print that last sentence, it makes me uncomfortable)