The Perception of Evil and Its Power

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. (Psalm 5:4)

I was a child of the 1960s and 70s. A child of my generation didn’t necessarily see the movies, but we talked about them so often on the playground we could tell the stories by heart. Older siblings who got into the films told the younger ones about them. The Satanic movies of that period were beyond scary. Old people, who looked like grandparents, shouted “Hail Satan” in “Rosemary’s Baby.” We heard about the pea soup puke in “The Exorcist” and felt like hell was close whenever we listened to the story. Don’t even get me started about “The Omen,” which made us look at our schoolmates as if one of them could be the devil’s spawn. The list seemed endless, as was our fascination.

The stories made the incarnation of evil, Satan, a real being. The threat of Satan and the grip of evil was often reaffirmed on Sunday mornings in Church sermons and Sunday School. Yet, as I got older and experienced more of life, I began questioning the legitimacy of evil and its bodily form. Mental illness in the Bible was often described as being filled with demons, yet that did not seem correct in our blossoming age of transforming mental health care.

Further, when perceived as evil, people and animals are often just scared. In the article “Does Evil Exist?” Dan Pedersen tells the following story. “If you crossed paths with a coyote and it showed you its teeth, it would be frightening. It would seem ‘evil.’ And if it attacked you, or you saw it attack another animal, that act would seem evil. But you would know that the coyote isn’t actually ‘evil.’” The animal is just trying to survive and is either hungry or lashing out in fear. That is not evil. Similarly, when humans are frightening or even cruel, it isn’t because they are evil but desperate, scared, and struggling with issues beyond their immediate control.

Today, prayerfully reflect on your understanding of evil. What were your influences? Was your church one that taught that Satan was a real being? Was evil a series of hostile actions or something that could destroy your soul? Understanding your perception of evil transforms how you treat others and what you believe about yourself. It also defines how God interacts with human beings. Pedersen is wise when he states, “We can recognize an action as a destructive idea without demonizing the person doing it.” Jesus did not die on the cross in vain. He died to free us from the burden of evil or the clutches of Satan!