Posted on 12/30/2012 4:27:10 PM PST by gitmo
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. (Yeats, The Second Coming)
Evil struck again.
And while I would prefer a solemn silence—the only good thing Job’s counselors offered him—so many unhelpful things are being said and suggested around the Newtown massacre I found myself compelled to write. Because the question of evil may be the greatest question the world faces today. How do we deal with evil? How do we prevent such tragedy?
It all depends on what you think is causing this.
I hope you will forgive my honesty, but I do not understand the shock. The grief I understand. The speechlessness, the staggering, the profound sorrow, the overwhelming sense of violation—these I understand. We are reeling from yet another assault of darkness. But our shock reveals something else altogether, something even more dangerous than armed violence.
I am describing a naiveté about the world that Christians, at least, should not be toying with.
In his brilliant essay The Wind in the Trees, GK Chesterton explains our misunderstanding by means of a great storm he experienced:
“I am sitting under tall trees, with a great wind boiling like surf about the tops of them, so that their living load of leaves rocks and roars....The wind tugs at the trees as if it might pluck them root and all out of the earth like tufts of grass. Or, to try yet another desperate figure of speech for this unspeakable energy, the trees are straining and tearing and lashing as if they were a tribe of dragons each tied by the tail.
As I look at these top-heavy giants tortured by an invisible and violent witchcraft, a phrase comes back into my mind. I remember a little boy of my acquaintance who was once walking in Battersea Park under just such torn skies and tossing trees...he said at last to his mother, ‘Well, why don’t you take away the trees, and then it wouldn’t wind.’ Nothing could be more intelligent or natural than this mistake. Any one looking for the first time at the trees might fancy that they were indeed vast and titanic fans, which by their mere waving agitated the air around them for miles. Nothing, I say, could be more human and excusable than the belief that it is the trees which make the wind. Indeed, it is a belief so human and excusable that it is, as a matter of fact, the belief of about ninety-nine out of a hundred of the philosophers, reformers, sociologists, and politicians of the great age in which we live. My small friend was, in fact, very like the principal modern thinkers; only much nicer.”
Chesterton was describing the naiveté that has since paralyzed the world, a naiveté revealed by our shock. What do you really believe about the cause of the "storm?"
You would think that after a century which included the Holocaust, Stalin, the Khmer Rouge, and the rise of terrorism to name but a few, we would have been cured from our childish ideas about evil. You would think that after any one of the hundreds of atrocities of the past few years, we would have been cured. Rwanda, 9/11, human trafficking—what is it going to take?
I was heartened at first by the early words of Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy when he said, “Evil visited this community today.” That is exactly right; that is precisely what happened. But the clarity—he may have only been using a metaphor—was quickly lost in the subsequent media barrage. Our leaders are reacting to the Newtown massacre by calling for gun control; how unspeakably foolish. Now, this is not an essay on gun control; I am speaking to our understanding of our situation and the forces we are dealing with. But the cries for gun control reveal the naiveté—they are crying for the trees to be cut down while they ignore the wind.
It is this naiveté regarding evil that is the crisis of our age. And it is most dangerous.
For the Christian knows certain things about the world, things we must never ever lose hold of. We know from whence evil comes; we know what to do about it. We know—or we are supposed to know—that we live in a world at war; we are living in the midst of a very real and extremely brutal battle with the kingdom of darkness. While most Christians are still playing at happy little life (and angry at God for “allowing” terrible things to happen), the Scriptures continually warn us of a great evil power, who rules the world, whom we must contend with. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). In other words, with the demonic.
But, apparently T.S. Eliot was right: “Humankind cannot bear too much reality.”
We seem utterly devoted to avoiding the question of evil, to misdiagnosing it, completely committed to a childish view of the world. And our foolishness is proving very costly. For as Chesterton went on to say, “The great human heresy is that the trees move the wind.” By this he means the heresy that it is economics, race, poverty, a political party or doctrine that are the real causes of evil in the world; in this case, that it is the lack of gun control that causes evil in the world. Is the evil therefore located in the gun? Far more people are killed by automobile accidents each year in the U.S.—is the evil located in those vehicles?
How long will we continue to ignore the actual wind that tortures this world “by an invisible and violent witchcraft?”
Chesterton concluded his essay with a warning: “When people begin to say that the material circumstances have alone created the moral circumstances, then they have prevented all possibility of serious change....And nothing will ever be reformed in this age or country unless we realize that the moral fact comes first.” Good and evil come first.
We prevent all possibility of serious change when we hold childish views regarding evil, regarding the Great War in which we find ourselves. I suppose for the world the naiveté is understandable. For the Christian, it is inexcusable. We cannot toy with sociological, psychological or political explanations for the evil now ravaging the planet. Because we have answers.
There are answers both to the evil in the world, and the evil in the human heart. God moved long ago to deal with both, and triumphantly. What greater hope could possibly be spoken? This is what the world longs to know—"Why doesn't God do something?" God has acted; he has intervened, at the cost of his own life. There are answers, there are solutions, there is a way out. But we will not seek them while we take a four-year-old view of the world; while we blame the the "trees" for the raging storm.
How differently would the church pray if we really believed we are at war with the kingdom of darkness? How differently would we live and act in this world?
That “difference,” my brothers and sisters, would make an enormous difference.
Excellent post
Atheism is evil and is the religion taught in our government schools, yet conservatives continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
Increasing the power of the state is evil and this is the socialist philosophy taught in our socialist-entitlement government schools yet conservatives continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
Abortion is evil and is taught in the government school sex ed classes, yet conservatives continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
Homosexuality is evil and is glorified as good in our nation's government schools, yet conservatives continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
Restricting the ability of a citizen to protect his family is evil and this idea is pushed by the liberal/marxist education establishment, yet conservatives continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
The murder of born children whether by drone or gun is evil, yet children are the most in danger of this terrorist act than anywhere else in the U.S.yet conservatives continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
Evil must not be rationalized. It is an abomination yet it is rationalized every day in our nation's socialist entitlement government schools, yet conservatives continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
When we stand against evil with our lives we will overcome evil. When we fail to stand against evil we are cowards. People who would give their lives to stare down evil but continue to send their children into these evil places to be taught by the enemy.
Cowardice is evil but free babysitting is powerfully addictive.
We should start with how we educate our children.
We should start by shutting down the government owned and run godless, socialist-entitlement, single-payer, prison-like, and compulsory-use schools.
Yes, I absolutely agree.
The government schools are manufacturing plants.
It really saddens me that my brother, at least at this point, is willingly going to send his two beautiful babies to Denver public schools. Supposedly they have some of the finest public schools in the country...whatever that means.
He complains of the cost of private schools, yet he spends money on luxuries such as a nice car and house, skiing vacations, fishing vacations, dinner entertaining parties for friends and the like.
I tell him you have only one chance to fill their heads with what they need to be filled with, and if you allow the government to do that, they will ruin your children. He claims to be a conservative, but his understanding of that is shallow. He does not have a grasp on what is happening in this country, who is doing it, and why it’s being done.
our government is creating laws and funneling us into system designed to produce results they desire in order to increase their power, and very few people can see it or want to admit it.
I’m not sure what can be done, wintertime, there are good ideas no doubt, but how to implement them in a civil manner is beyond me. One party is evil to the core and the other party is useless to its core, and a large number of normal people simply cannot see at all.
marking
Untrue. The word "Humanism" comes from Theology, particularly Christian, and is that which posits that man is a higher/special creation among all the creatures living on the Earth. -- The immoral philosophy that is trying to claim ownership of the word is more akin to Nietzsche's atheistic and amoral Will to Power.
Good article. Like the author, I don’t understand why anyone is shocked by evil acts, any more than I understand why people are shocked by natural disaster. This is the human condition.
I think the reason for the shock is that people tend to forget that, when horrible situations such as this do take place, it is the “spiritual war” between Heaven vs. Hades which is ongoing, made visable, in the worse way possible.
In lies we trust”...
Your post was excellent in so many ways..Thank you...
I have come to believe that widespread drug use may be rampant in our government and in the institutions that govern us..I believe those substances are key in the release of that inherent evil which lurks inside human beings. Just consider the unreal arrogance, the need to divide, to hate, to envy, to license stealing through the tax code, to punish good and reward evil..I would love to see the President, Vice President, all the Presidental advisers and staff, all members of Congress and all top bureaucrats drug tested on a regular basis. In addition, I would likewise want the Major News Media drug tested on a regular basis..Drug use and addiction produces the narcissism we see today..I have not seen narcissistic behavior this rampant in our governing bodies ever before.The bold and cocksure attitudes we see in so many are just not natural.
.....Also this comes when we do not put our belief, confidence, and love in God.
Good thread.
Most people have considered this to be a Christian nation for so long that it seems to have become a gospel of some sort.
The Bible tells us that we are not of the world and we are not running the world.
However religious organizations have went right along with the world in cutting the trees down because they thought they were the evil instead of the wind,and were a threat to peace and safety although i don,t like to use wind as evil because the wind is not evil, but i get the point.
Our journey through this life is not to straighten up this world but to give us a chance at the eternal life that is promised us.
2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
6
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
12
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
I agree with you. However, it’s also an example of a simply natural failure to reason about our faith or about reality. Why are 22 children shot to death in one school a spiritual crisis, while 22 children shot to death in the same time period, but geographically scattered, are a matter of indifference? Why are thousands of people killed by a tsunami an existential crisis, but thousands of people dying from ... flood, fall, lightning, earthquake, landslide, bus accident ... in the same time period, but geographically scattered, are a matter of indifference?
Our faith tells us that evil acts come from the Evil One, and that every believer needs to oppose evil, spiritually and actively, in himself and in the world. Our reason should tell us that we don’t address a practical problem, such the protection of children, by going hysterical over “snapshot” events. In this way, I think the evil-intentioned reaction, “Oh, what a good opportunity to push gun confiscation again!” is more rational and more intelligent than the good-intentioned, emotional, “Yes, yes, let’s do anything, everything!!! to make sure this can’t happen again!”
Translation: This life is simply a “prep” for the next.
The good news is that, the King of Kings is coming back, “soon and very soon” to take back what He had created and establish His kingdom.
...Also this comes when we do not put our belief, confidence, and love in God.”...
Yes!
Translation: This life is simply a “prep” for the next.
The good news is that, the King of Kings is coming back, “soon and very soon” to take back what He had created and establish His kingdom.
Untrue. The word “Humanism” comes from Theology, particularly Christian, and is that which posits that man is a higher/special creation among all the creatures living on the Earth. — The immoral philosophy that is trying to claim ownership of the word is more akin to Nietzsche’s atheistic and amoral Will to Power.
Today’s power structure of humanism is dominated by the Neitzsche atheistic, amoral self worship. It is anti-Christian/Western. Today, humanism as practiced by “free thinking” social Marxists is in opposition to Western culture’s natural law. It is truth turned up-side-down.
It’s not based on science; it is based on “do as thy wilt.” (That is satanism’s slogan.) Science or “logic” (as “free thinking” lIEbertarians like to protray) that results in politically incorrect conclusions is named “judging from hate” and demonized.
Humanism today is what it is, today and not what it named itself in the past. Since it is not rooted in anything but faddish human will, it can mean anything.
Well, we are to be salt and light. But that doesn't involve earthly solutions to spiritual problems. There is only one solution to this evil, and His name is Jesus.
.....And only Jesus is the REAL ANSWER.
Have your brother at least look into the charter schools. Some of them are run by conservatives. In Colorado, the kids can cross county and district lines.
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