IS THERE A NEW MEANING FOR EVIL?

by Colajean Butler on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 11:42pm

Posted here with the permission of the Author.

Is there a new meaning for the word, evil?  We used to think of 'evil' as something to be feared.  It was something ugly.  I am wondering and tried to come up with an answer to this question.   There must be a new definition for evil today.  Even though God said that He was the same today as He was at the time of Creation and His Word never changes, somehow in history the meaning for 'wrong' and 'evil' must have changed.

Evil today can be the most beautiful and not at all threatening situation, but we innately should recognize evil.  It is something wrong!

When we introduced the terms morality and conscience when d  ealing with the term evil, we seem to have made 'evil' a term that is relative to circumstances.

Here are a few examples of the new morality.

(1)  A  lie is not longer a  lie when we don't want to hurt someone's feelings.
(2) '  Stealing is not 'stealing' when we take something from someone when we need it badly.  
(3)  Having 'sex' with someone we are not married to is not wrong when 'no body is going to get hurt.'
(4) Cheating on a test is not wrong because if I fail the test, I could lose my scholarship.
(5) It is better for me to have an abortion because the father of child and I are no longer 'seeing' each other.

We are in such a delimna today that we live 'lies' and we live these lies for decades and seem to feel no remorse.  We can tell a lie on someone and have hordes of relatives not speaking to a person, and feel no guilt.  Since we have 'what we want' and everybody seems to like and accept us, we don't care if we have caused great pain for another by out lies.  Relatives have died not fully understanding the gravity of the lie or that we have even lied to them.

The evil in our midst have broken many people.  This evil has devastated persons who try to do good and feel overwhelmed by the 'wrong' around them.   Just looking at the headlines in our local papers would almost cause us to grieve, but we bow our heads in prayer for our people instead.  Persons whom we trust are now raping our children.  Persons whom we trust are robbing us.  Persons whom we trust are  not protecting the legacy of our country's sovereignty.  The list goes on!

Is there a new meaning of evil?  No, there is no new meaning of evil.  Evil is still evil. The problem lies within us.  We have become intimate friends with evil and have regarded evil as something that we can 'deal' with.  Most of us have 'accepted' evil as a choice and as a 'friend' to help us get what we want without the hassle of sacrafice and hard work.

 Evil is when we choose to live by our own standards and not by the standards set by our Lord that honors and respects the rights of others.  We are evil when we do not love our neighbor as we love our ourselves. 

So as I draw my post to a close, I pray the words taught to us by our Lord.  "Deliver us from evil - now and at the hour or our death."
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The Author can be found on Facebook.