Evil: In and Among Us

Today has been normal.  I did homework, I went to class, and I procrastinated, not necessarily in that order.  But today something very abnormal happened, I watched a movie.  Now, before you roll your eyes or wonder why watching a movie is abnormal,watching the movie wasn't abnormal, the movie itself was abnormal.  I left class after watching the movie feeling a deep sense of disquiet.  It was deepened by questions that were put to me after the movie and how those around me were disturbed by it.  For those who are wondering, the movie is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.  I would like to say before anything else that it takes a front row seat of the evil within each one of us in a very powerful and heart-wrenching way.

My thoughts were in turmoil after watching it and for the class I wrote a journal reflecting on how the movie affected me.  Here is what I wrote.

I left the movie, in one word, disturbed.  Not so much at what happened.  We tend to think we are unique, that we are ‘special’ and we can look back on the recent past and think how awful it was and then return to normal and think how far we’ve come.  Or we can think how horrible those people were and how cruel or many times we say how evil they are; then we smile and go on our way, happy we’re not like that.  But sadly that couldn’t be any further from the truth.  That’s what hit me; there’s nothing uniquely bad about the Nazis or World War II, similarly cruel and atrocious things have happened before and since.  We simply tend to pick a paradigm of evil and say, “Well, that’s evil!  Glad I’m not like that.”
I guess looking back at what I just said something painfully obvious sticks out; Darwin didn’t come up with his idea.  His idea has been around since the very first instance of evil, when sin entered the world.  That’s all it truly is.  The work of the Nazis wasn’t a result of Darwinism, it wasn’t even the degradation of culture to a point where something like this became acceptable, and it wasn’t a result of something man came up with.  The truth is that ability and even inclination to evil is present in all of us and always has been.
We like to stand on our boxes and decry someone else as evil or what they’re doing as wrong, but in truth, we’re no different.  We look at Darwinism as an evil to be eradicated, a monster that sprang up and is wreaking havoc wherever it goes, but that’s our way of giving ourselves something to fight instead of addressing the cause which lies within ourselves.  The key to being Christ-like doesn’t lie in the eradication of evil, but the acting and doing of good.  We will never get anywhere trying to fight evil, but when we stop trying to right the world and simply do the will of our father, we will find evil being conquered and Christ shining through us.

While this might have some concepts you might not have heard of, the meaning remains the same.  More and more I am seeing the evil inherent to this world, but that evil doesn't come from this planet or any of the animals here; it comes from us, humanity.  And while I do feel like the movie was tragic, I see a greater tragedy at work.  We think of these instances of evil as the low point of civilization and believe it represents the very worst of us, but the honest truth is that any sin is evil.  We have a habit, either conscious or unconscious, that we look at someone or something worse and forget how wrong we actually are.  Our own failings seem to dim in comparison to this apparently monumental evil.

This may seem wrong, perhaps even trip that humanitarian chord in you that wants to say that this is such a horrible thing, and I am not saying it isn't.  I am saying that, to God, focusing on one sin and letting the others slide isn't righteous.  We want to combat evil but do so at the expense of following Christ's example.

Now, I'm not writing this to slam people and say no one it actually seeking God, but calling for an honest reflection of our lives, are we seeking to be more like Christ or are we trying to champion his causes?  Because one will lead to the spread of His kingdom and the only focusing on the other leads to a culture where we live lives that don't reflect what we claim to believe.  God doesn't need a champion, He already has one, Jesus Christ.  We are called to follow Him, take up our crosses and follow Him.

Now you can become self-righteous right now, affronted at what I've just said, and that is up for you to choose.  I simply hope God speaks to you through this and shows you just what He wants of you and that He calls for perfection, a standard we will all fall woefully short of.  Yet, there's hope!  He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world and Christ will be with us no matter what!  He calls us to the impossible and provides us with the very power of the Almighty God through His Holy Spirit, that is hope.  We can't stop evil, because only God can stop evil.  However, we can stand with His strength, power, and grace against the darkness and through Him turn back the tides of darkness as we show Love to those around us.

I pray that God fills you with His grace, strength, and Love, allowing you to stand against the evil that is prevalent in this world.  That He uses you to change the world.  And that He causes His face to shine on you.


Grace and Peace,
Joshua