What Do We Do with Evil?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\nNegative Matrix<\/strong>\nMonday, \u202fOctober 12, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>One reason we lost interest in the concept of sin is\nbecause we usually heard it being used to judge, shame, exclude, or control\nothers or ourselves. Seldom was the concept of sin used to bring discernment or\ndeeper understanding, much less compassion or forgiveness, to the human\nsituation. My conviction is that sin became a less useful idea for many of us\nbecause <em>we needed to\nmove around in a different field to regain our notion of the deadly nature of\ntrue evil<\/em>. If we are\nhonest and perceptive, we surely see that actual evil often seems to \u201cdominate\nthe very air\u201d and is much more the norm than the exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m\nconvinced the apostle Paul\u2019s teaching about the nature of sin reveals his\nspiritual genius. For him, sin is not primarily individual fault, but the\nnegative matrix out of which both evil <em>and<\/em> enlightenment\narise. Paul (or the school of Paul) wrote in Ephesians: \u201cYou were dead through\nthe crimes and sins that used to make up your way of life, when you were living\nby the principles of this world, thus obeying the ruler who dominates the very\nair\u201d (2:1\u20122). This compact sentence seems to be pointing to at\nleast three sources of evil, which would eventually be called the flesh, the\nworld, and the devil in early Catholic moral theology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) <em>The Flesh:<\/em> \u201cthe crimes and\nsins that used to make up your way of life\u201d (our personal participation in an\nalready criminal and sinful culture);<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) <em>The World:<\/em> \u201cliving by the\nprinciples of this world\u201d (since most cultures are based on false or\nsuperficial agreements about value, dignity, and success). By world, Paul is\nnot referring to creation or nature, but rather what we might call the <em>system<\/em>;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3) <em>The Devil:<\/em> \u201cthe ruler who\ndominates the very air\u201d (the illusions and deceits which so totally control the\nfield of consciousness that most of us cannot see them; it is the very air we\nbreathe).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Up to now, most\nChristians have placed almost all of our attention on the level of the \u201cflesh,\u201d\npolicing sexuality and various \u201cunclean\u201d acts rather than addressing the more\nserious and pervasive forms of corporate injustice and evil. We have had almost\nno education in or recognition of what Paul meant by \u201cthe principles of the\nworld\u201d and even less on what he meant by \u201cthe ruler who dominates the very\nair.\u201d When we imagine the devil as a caricature of a red, horned figure, we are\nnot taking evil seriously. The implications have been massive, blinding, and\nhugely destructive, both for the individual and for society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What Do We Do with Evil?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nNature of Evil<\/strong><br>\nSunday, \u202fOctober 11, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the years, it has become increasingly clear to me\nthat we are confused about the nature of evil. We don\u2019t seem to understand what\nevil is, how it operates, or what we can do, personally or collectively, to\nreduce its power over us and its impact on our world. We really must face these\nquestions, even if they are difficult and unpleasant to think about. Our\nplanet\u2019s life-sustaining systems are disintegrating. Authoritarianism is\nemerging all over the world. Since the pandemic began, the physical and mental\nhealth of millions has been deteriorating. Evil is clearly at work in our\nworld, but what can we do about it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\ndo not pretend to have the answers to such a big question, but what I can offer\nis the wisdom of the Christian tradition. For the first thousand years of\nCatholic Christianity, it was assumed that there were three sources of evil:\nthe world, the flesh, and the devil. I will unpack the meaning of these three\nsources of evil this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over\ncenturies, we became very used to equating evil with individual \u201csins\u201d and we\nlost a sense of its collective nature. The word \u201csin\u201d often serves as a label\napplied to various cultural taboos and expectations, frequently having to do\nwith purity codes. That seems very different from the real evils destroying the\nworld! Of course, moral development and impulse control are important\nindividual disciplines, but the conflation of personal sin with the source of\nevil is a terrible misunderstanding which has led to tragic consequences.\nPerhaps so many of us stopped using the word \u201csin\u201d because we located it inside\nof our own small, cultural categories, with little awareness of the true\nsubtlety, depth, and importance of the much more devious concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When\nsmall, easily forgivable transgressions are labeled \u201csins\u201d and equated with\nevil, we trivialize the very real notion of evil and divert our attention from\nthe real thing. Before it becomes personal and shameable, evil is often\nculturally agreed-upon, admired, and deemed necessary.<em> <\/em>The apostle Paul already had\nthe prescient genius to recognize this, and I believe he taught that <em>both sin and salvation are, first of all, corporate and\nsocial realities<\/em>.\nIn fact, this recognition could and should be acknowledged as one of his major\ncontributions to history. I believe it still will be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nlargely missed that essential point, and thus found ourselves in the tight grip\nof monstrous social evils in Christian nations, all the way down to the modern\nera. Thus we also lost out on the benefit of a corporate notion of salvation\nthat far exceeded anyone\u2019s individual worthiness or unworthiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We are all\nguilty with one another\u2019s sin and not just our own.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We are all good\nwith one another\u2019s goodness and not just our own.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>My life is not just about \u201cme.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"327\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-500x327.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19397\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-500x327.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-300x196.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-768x503.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM.png 1900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Do We Do with Evil? A Negative Matrix Monday, \u202fOctober 12, 2020 One reason we lost interest in the concept of sin is because we usually heard it being used to judge, shame, exclude, or control others or ourselves. Seldom was the concept of sin used to bring discernment or deeper understanding, much less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19393"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19398,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19393\/revisions\/19398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>One reason we lost interest in the concept of sin is\nbecause we usually heard it being used to judge, shame, exclude, or control\nothers or ourselves. Seldom was the concept of sin used to bring discernment or\ndeeper understanding, much less compassion or forgiveness, to the human\nsituation. My conviction is that sin became a less useful idea for many of us\nbecause <em>we needed to\nmove around in a different field to regain our notion of the deadly nature of\ntrue evil<\/em>. If we are\nhonest and perceptive, we surely see that actual evil often seems to \u201cdominate\nthe very air\u201d and is much more the norm than the exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m\nconvinced the apostle Paul\u2019s teaching about the nature of sin reveals his\nspiritual genius. For him, sin is not primarily individual fault, but the\nnegative matrix out of which both evil <em>and<\/em> enlightenment\narise. Paul (or the school of Paul) wrote in Ephesians: \u201cYou were dead through\nthe crimes and sins that used to make up your way of life, when you were living\nby the principles of this world, thus obeying the ruler who dominates the very\nair\u201d (2:1\u20122). This compact sentence seems to be pointing to at\nleast three sources of evil, which would eventually be called the flesh, the\nworld, and the devil in early Catholic moral theology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) <em>The Flesh:<\/em> \u201cthe crimes and\nsins that used to make up your way of life\u201d (our personal participation in an\nalready criminal and sinful culture);<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) <em>The World:<\/em> \u201cliving by the\nprinciples of this world\u201d (since most cultures are based on false or\nsuperficial agreements about value, dignity, and success). By world, Paul is\nnot referring to creation or nature, but rather what we might call the <em>system<\/em>;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3) <em>The Devil:<\/em> \u201cthe ruler who\ndominates the very air\u201d (the illusions and deceits which so totally control the\nfield of consciousness that most of us cannot see them; it is the very air we\nbreathe).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Up to now, most\nChristians have placed almost all of our attention on the level of the \u201cflesh,\u201d\npolicing sexuality and various \u201cunclean\u201d acts rather than addressing the more\nserious and pervasive forms of corporate injustice and evil. We have had almost\nno education in or recognition of what Paul meant by \u201cthe principles of the\nworld\u201d and even less on what he meant by \u201cthe ruler who dominates the very\nair.\u201d When we imagine the devil as a caricature of a red, horned figure, we are\nnot taking evil seriously. The implications have been massive, blinding, and\nhugely destructive, both for the individual and for society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What Do We Do with Evil?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nNature of Evil<\/strong><br>\nSunday, \u202fOctober 11, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the years, it has become increasingly clear to me\nthat we are confused about the nature of evil. We don\u2019t seem to understand what\nevil is, how it operates, or what we can do, personally or collectively, to\nreduce its power over us and its impact on our world. We really must face these\nquestions, even if they are difficult and unpleasant to think about. Our\nplanet\u2019s life-sustaining systems are disintegrating. Authoritarianism is\nemerging all over the world. Since the pandemic began, the physical and mental\nhealth of millions has been deteriorating. Evil is clearly at work in our\nworld, but what can we do about it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\ndo not pretend to have the answers to such a big question, but what I can offer\nis the wisdom of the Christian tradition. For the first thousand years of\nCatholic Christianity, it was assumed that there were three sources of evil:\nthe world, the flesh, and the devil. I will unpack the meaning of these three\nsources of evil this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over\ncenturies, we became very used to equating evil with individual \u201csins\u201d and we\nlost a sense of its collective nature. The word \u201csin\u201d often serves as a label\napplied to various cultural taboos and expectations, frequently having to do\nwith purity codes. That seems very different from the real evils destroying the\nworld! Of course, moral development and impulse control are important\nindividual disciplines, but the conflation of personal sin with the source of\nevil is a terrible misunderstanding which has led to tragic consequences.\nPerhaps so many of us stopped using the word \u201csin\u201d because we located it inside\nof our own small, cultural categories, with little awareness of the true\nsubtlety, depth, and importance of the much more devious concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When\nsmall, easily forgivable transgressions are labeled \u201csins\u201d and equated with\nevil, we trivialize the very real notion of evil and divert our attention from\nthe real thing. Before it becomes personal and shameable, evil is often\nculturally agreed-upon, admired, and deemed necessary.<em> <\/em>The apostle Paul already had\nthe prescient genius to recognize this, and I believe he taught that <em>both sin and salvation are, first of all, corporate and\nsocial realities<\/em>.\nIn fact, this recognition could and should be acknowledged as one of his major\ncontributions to history. I believe it still will be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nlargely missed that essential point, and thus found ourselves in the tight grip\nof monstrous social evils in Christian nations, all the way down to the modern\nera. Thus we also lost out on the benefit of a corporate notion of salvation\nthat far exceeded anyone\u2019s individual worthiness or unworthiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We are all\nguilty with one another\u2019s sin and not just our own.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We are all good\nwith one another\u2019s goodness and not just our own.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>My life is not just about \u201cme.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"327\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-500x327.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19397\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-500x327.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-300x196.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM-768x503.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-12-at-10.21.44-AM.png 1900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Do We Do with Evil? A Negative Matrix Monday, \u202fOctober 12, 2020 One reason we lost interest in the concept of sin is because we usually heard it being used to judge, shame, exclude, or control others or ourselves. Seldom was the concept of sin used to bring discernment or deeper understanding, much less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19393"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19398,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19393\/revisions\/19398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}