The Source of Evil

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/connecticut/jurors-cry-at-connecticut-home-invasion-trial-newscore-20100916

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invest ways of doing evil, they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." - (Romans 1:28-32)

I became very horrified and depressed about this story of a trial of a home invasion and massacre committed in the state of Connecticut in 2007. Read the article above, because I will spare you the details as you read the gruesome account of man's wickedness and its capability to destroy life.

How man can be so diabolical? How can man do such things in all parts of the globe?

"When the question of evil is brought up, it is raised by a person or about persons. If the question is of any value, its only of value if a person is of value, and the only way a person can have value, is if there is a transcendent being of infinite worth who has given you that intrinsic worth, not given to you by state or law, or by any other fiat, will, or something else. " - Dr. Ravi Zacharias

Even in an increasing-secularizing society of America, where man tries to deliberately separate life apart from God, people in the hearts still KNOW there is God. They just deny it with their sinful lifestyle, while God, not denying free will, allows man over to his depraved mind. We make excuses that people are evil because they were reared wrong, they are messed up mentally, or that only a certain select population are capable of evil because there is something wrong with them.

Yet, looking at this saddening story, it drives me into honest depression and analysis of how man can do such things to other human beings. I look at the Bible, and it clearly outlines that its man's wicked heart...as looked at in my last blog. God is not the author of evil. He cannot be. He is Holy. But man wants it his way, and since God cannot violate the free will of mankind, He allows them into their sin. Its man wickedness and sin nature that violates other human beings and is capable of destroying.

People who do not believe in God and are vehemently against the notion of Him who created all things have a quandary in their thinking. If God is not the author of life, then naturally man is the creator of all things and he makes the rules. Man can do what he pleases outside a moral authority and he sets right and wrong, whether by socially or individually. That's why people are capable of doing such wicked things; with no referent to the value of life in God and Christ Jesus, someone can selectively choose whose life is valuable or not. Man can then choose what is pleasurable at the expense of someone else's sacred life. Outside of God, man seeks what is good and pleasurable to him, but has no regard to the person who is violated, even to the point of death.

My whole point is...man is lost not because we are are ignorant, but its our original nature. When people cry at trials and people are horrified when they see news like this, that's just another indicator that intrinsically KNOW that life has value. Its one evident proof that they do know God exists, because in order for life to have value, there must be a creator infinite worth who had a design in the beginning for creating man in God's image. And I believe that God is the God of the Bible, The Old and New Testament, the Alpha and the Omega.

"In atheism, its all oblivion, without God there is no moral framework." - Dr. Ravi Zacharias

No God, then people will just do what they want to do, and they die. No judgment, no justice, no love. We die, that's it. Just do what you want now and then you go into oblivion.

See what Paul was writing up in Romans? That this is not a new problem. Its old. The scary thing is, a person like me is capable of all those things he mentioned in those verses. To simply say those criminals are the only selective evil people capable of such acts is missing the point. God's Word outlines that anyone is capable of evil. Yet in seeking justice and the answers behind man's evil, we must look to God's Word, not our own standards. Our own standards just lead to more sin and sidesteps the real issue of who is at fault.

Next time, when you see a brutal massacre and violence in Guinea, warfare atrocities, robberies, rape, and everything listed in Romans 1:28-32, don't be surprised! Instead, I hope you are broken-hearted to realize evil is not a peripheral (outside) problem. Its an internal problem of mankind, old as Adam and Eve themselves. Yet evil attacks the peripheral world, because we are the source of it, in choosing us over God.

Yet the good news is that God's Son, Jesus Christ, died for people like Mark Soni and everyone else because as the Creator realized how hopeless as we are, He loved us still to send a Savior. And not violating our Will, we as human beings can choose His son to give us a new nature, one away from sin and evil. Life here is already doomed here. Let's choose True Life in the Son. And someday, the One who died for us will return with a vengeance: to eliminate evil and to establish His rightful throne here on earth. (Revelations 19)

Look Into A Mirror

Matthew 15:19-20: "For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean.'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"

Last night, while watching the premier episode of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, I flipped through other channels to see what's on. I came onto VH1's "Top 40 Celebrity Scandals." I stopped to watch, and surprisingly, I knew most of these scandals that broke out. The reason I knew that they broke out is that our wonderful national news coverage tends to cover controversies and scandals as their top headlines rather than important, global-covering crises in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. It really is a product of national-centered news coverage that leaves Americans very oblivious of other true problems in the world today; that we should be hearing about the mishaps and sinful behavior of celebrities who have a lifestyle that none of us should not dream about.

Yet my main piñata-beating point for today is the hypocrisy of the show. Hypocrisy upon all of us. The show would do its countdown, covering old scandals from former politician Mark Foley's racy comments to his congressional interns, to sportscaster Marv Albert's lewd behavior in a hotel room and his criminal charges. The first reaction from any person in viewership is shock and laughter, shock from the bizarre sinful behavior, and laughter to see how silly they are in getting exposed. The most bizarre and funny incident involved a former NFL player, Eugene Robinson, who received the Bart Starr Award for high moral character, only to be arrested that night for soliciting a prostitute. Ridiculous.

After describing each scandal, there is a segment where comedians make fun of the incident and journalists who give analysis and insight to each scandal...how shocking it was and several jokes to complement it.

But I found something very interesting, an assumption as we the audience and the comedians/journalists have about these celebrities when it comes to moral behavior. Its very subtle, but very true: "We are better than them, only celebrities goof up and we expect them to do it." Since idolatry is prevalent in American society, we either expect these people to do these things anyways since they have access to a lavish lifestyle , or we become so shocked that these people of "higher standing" fall so fast.

Time to look into the mirror. Look at the verse above. Jesus outlines and blasts the Pharisees' hypocritical maintenance of traditional laws in religion (Matthew 15) as their basis of remaining clean in their life, presenting themselves as moral people. But Jesus exposed their hearts as they nullified the Word of God for the sake of tradition while showing that they spiritually were far away from God (verses 6-9).

So we point the finger and say, "celebrities are just doomed to fail and they are always going to be in situations where they will fall." We look at the analysts and comedians as they break down the moral failures of their life, with us assuming that "yeah, uh huh, we know that we would never get into outlandish situations like that." We feel as if celebrities are the only people who are capable of such sin.

Yet I love how Jesus exposes and convicts our hearts. The whole point is, you and I are just as capable of committing sin as someone in "high stature." We assume we live humble lives as middle-class or lower-class citizens because we don't have the means to get into "clever sins." We think that by going to church and steering clear of doing stupid stuff like this and not getting exposed will keep us clean before God and people. We won't get humiliated.

But if we truly look at what Jesus is saying, if someone really examines the Law (The Ten Commandments) and how our Savior came to fulfill, we should be humiliated anyway, because we are all sinners!

Another way to look at it, just imagine all our thoughts, especially in line with the sins Jesus outlined above, were exposed on television. You and I as regular Joe Shmoes were on a TV show called "Top Sinful Thoughts of Regular Citizens." Yet you might protest "but I never committed the act openly." Yet in the book of 1 John 1:10 says, "If we claim we have not sinned, we make him (Jesus) out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." Its a heart issue, and God is Holy: no defect, no contradiction of truth in Him, and no tolerance for sin. Being good people doesn't count it. If we believe we are better than celebs in God's eyes, then all that is left in us is pride. In other words, you might not commit the act openly, but your heart exposes your sinful behavior anyway, committed or not. You can easily murder someone in your mind, or cuss out a person in your brain, or think lustful thoughts. You and I just committed sin when we cross that barrier.

To wrap this up neatly, we know that God's judgment falls upon all of us. Yet Jesus died for the ungodly (Romans 5:8). That means He died for celebrities and everyone else. Died to give us a new life through His resurrection. To those who believe, we should have broken hearts for those who are exposed, but also should serve as a warning not to forget where we come from. To those who do not believe in Jesus, it is a call to see that your life is not perfect, no matter what you hide, God still knows about your sin. Yet how much more did Jesus pay it all.