The dictionary defines evil as, morally wrong; immoral; wicked. It could be something harmful or injurious; the synonyms though may be the best descriptions.
Depending on how it is used evil can be; sinful, iniquitous, depraved, base, vile, nefarious, pernicious, destructive, wickedness, unrighteousness, or corruption, to name a few.
Yet, what is evil? I feel that abortion is evil. The barbaric manner in which the lives of some 50 million plus babies have been snuffed out beggars the imagination.
Recently it has been revealed that many babies are selected to harvest their organs to sell. The more mature the baby, the greater the value. Think of the value of a fully formed baby after the child’s birth?
I can assure you that if I were caught killing kittens or puppies in a like manner, I would be arrested for animal cruelty, or at minimum I would be shunned by those around me.
It is important to understand that I do not blame the women who have these abortions; the majority of them do not know what goes on during these procedures. They only have the word of a sympathetic counselor who assures them that their nightmare will soon be a distant memory.
It would be more honest to tell them of the possibility of post-traumatic stress syndrome, or difficulty having another child when they want one; things they should have told my sister.
I believe that murderers (cold-blooded ones, not some cases of manslaughter), rapists and child molesters are evil. The murderer murders the body, the latter two murder the soul and all should be put to death.
“…you shall appoint [six] cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment.” Numbers 35:11-12.
“…then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments [read Numbers 35:15-23]. So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.” Numbers 35:24-28.
By the way, the death penalty was never designed as a deterrent that is a red herring used by its opponents. The death penalty is punishment and the murderer ceases to kill.
God commanded the death penalty in Genesis 9:6 and nowhere in Scripture is it referred to as a deterrent.
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” Genesis 9:6.
This is the simple stuff though. Some of us will agree on the abortion issue, and most of us will likely agree on the murderer, rapist, and child molester thing.
And if we were to sit down together we would likely agree that there is a tidal wave of the vilest filthy evil things engulfing this country today; things God will judge it for.
But this is not a commentary on American society. The point I am trying to make is that evil is not something that all agree on.
Lusts for instance are practically a pastime with all of us today, and gossip, we like it when it is interesting, and perhaps true.
Who does not hate his boss, neighbor or in-laws, especially when they have been wronged by them?
How many people speed up when they see a car that needs to merge over? The other driver may not know that it is being done intentionally; yet one needs to get a little satisfaction after a hard day kowtowing at work, right?
If we evolved, all of this becomes moot, the only moral compass we have is in our head. Babies are just a residue of the slime that we crawled out of when we developed lungs to breathe air, nothing more.
Murderers are a result of survival of the fittest; they are the mechanism which nature uses to cull the weak from humanity.
Rapists are the result of chemical determinism, they are stronger than their victim (usually women) and so nature has fitted them to dominate. And child molesters see children as, just another animal, why not?
Children are being taught evolution as fact in a godless school system that does not attempt to teach any kind of moral base. Rather that they should follow their feelings, or more importantly, a politically correct socialist dogma.
The education system does not have to teach children anything covered in the previous paragraphs. Children are not stupid, and an immoral animal lifestyle is a logical conclusion drawn from evolution.
All vestiges of hope are expunged by this system and then the educators are confused when children turn violent.
Situation ethics has befouled the minds of our youth and most of the so called intellectuals in this country.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6.
“Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” Ecclesiastes 7:29.
You can go no further in a discussion of evil without understanding this principle, which is simply that God has made man with the ability to do right, to be upright, yet he schemes to lust, or for riches, anything that satisfies the flesh, and this brings death.
Bear in mind that by being created upright does not mean that we are born sinless, only that we are born with the capacity to avoid evil and seek that which is good.
This is what King David, a man who sought to be upright, said when confronted by a prophet about his adulterous affair with Bathsheba.
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5.
He was not excusing himself here, rather he was confessing his sin; and we learn that we are born in sin, which is to say that the sin nature is passed through the parents to the child.
“Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…” Romans 5:12.
“Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s [Christ’s death on the cross] righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” Romans 5:18.
This is Scriptural evidence that sin is hereditary and that:
“…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23.
Listen to the words from the Old Testament, spoken some four thousand years ago.
“How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?” Job 25:4.
This by the way is not a slur against women; it is an obvious statement, since it is pretty hard to have a birth without involving a woman.
Concerning women, you will find that women are treated with respect throughout Scriptures and are regarded as neither more nor less sinful than men, in fact as it states earlier above, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
The answer here then is that men have taken advantage of their responsibility to care for the woman and through scheming, men have engaged in the evil of subjugating them.
Often to the point of making them nothing more than chattel (less than a slave), as can be seen in many religions and societies throughout history, especially Islam where mutilating and beating women is legal.
This has caused the bitterness and backlash we have today. In this we have the seed of the deceitfulness of sin. While the following verses are directed at Christians, there is a truth that should be examined.
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort [encourage] one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12-13.
The immediate context is that God wants us to rest in Him. Too many of us struggle through life as though God were not there, this was never His intention, rather that we should lay all our burdens at His feet and rest in Jesus.
Brothers and sisters in Christ are to encourage one another daily to trust in the Lord and not only to encourage but to pray for and help others where possible.
This does not mean that if you lost your job that you should drop that burden at the Lord’s feet and walk off, but rather that you lay the burden down trusting in Christ and go prayerfully looking for work.
Winston Churchill was scheduled to speak at a boy’s school in October 1941, Churchill took the podium and after giving a stirring speech about British strength against the overwhelming odds of the German army he included these often quoted words in his closing remarks.
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
We must never give up encouraging each other. We must never give up trusting in Christ. We must never give in to the world’s pressure to make us conform to its evil system. We must never give in to the apparently overwhelming might of our enemy Satan.
The late A. W. Tozer made a similar statement in his book “Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts”.
“I am not yielding and I will not yield to the time in which I live! –We can say that to our Lord, to ourselves and, betimes, maybe, over our shoulders to the devil.”
Is Man Inherently Evil? Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-8-15, updated on 8-20-23.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.