Growing up I
was fortunate to have had a loving father and mother. As a very young child I
was sheltered from the complexities of the world. Therefore, my first exposure
to Evil was when watching television. One of Mom’s, Dad’s, and my favorite TV
shows was “The Rifleman”. This was about a single rifle-slinging dad (Chuck
Conners as Lucas McCain) raising his son (Johnny Crawford as Mark McCain) while
ranching in New Mexico during the latter half of the 19th century.
Watching “The Rifleman” was a special family occasion each week. Mom would pop
popcorn beforehand, and we would eat it while engaged in the show. Sometimes
after finishing my popcorn, I would sit on the floor and let my mom or dad comb
my hair. This always felt really good for some reason. I can’t enjoy anyone
doing this to me anymore because a comb doesn’t work well on a bald head.
In the show,
Lucas was presented as having a high moral code and always exhibiting it to his
son Mark. Most episodes involved an entanglement with shady characters if not downright
outlaw vermin. There was one particular episode where the bad guys were really
getting the upper hand on Lucas. I went ballistic, blessing out (in mild child
language) the bad guys and wishing for Lucas to turn the tables on them. My mom
and dad had to calm me down and remind me that what I was seeing wasn’t really
happening; it was simply a staged TV show. I already knew that, of course, but
the acting was so convincing I forgot it temporarily.
What was
interesting about my interaction with “The Rifleman” was that I just
intuitively knew that what the outlaws were doing was wrong and in need of
correcting. I don’t think my parents told me I should be filled with righteous
indignation over what they were doing. I just knew it. But of course “The
Rifleman” was a work of fiction, and the authors could write the script in such
a way as to clearly delineate the good guys from the bad.
Finding out
that there were bad people in the world willing to bring harm to others for
their own personal gain was devastating to me. I just couldn’t understand how
anyone could bring themselves to harm others. It just simply didn’t make sense
to me. But then I grew up.
As I have
aged I have come to understand more about Good and Evil. And what I have come
to understand is that oftentimes it is very difficult to distinguish between
the two. This is because what is Good and what is Evil is totally dependent on
each person’s individual viewpoint. Let me give you an example.
Back in the
1700’s, the American colonies were under the reign of the King of England.
However, given the distance and the fact that the colonies were being taxed
without having proper representation in Parliament, a number of colonists
started pushing for independence. As tensions escalated on both sides, the
situation eventually led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence and
the fighting of the Revolutionary War. A lot of killing took place by both
sides. Who was Good and who was Evil? Today we Americans tend to think of the
revolutionaries as the Good and Righteous ones as they were fighting for their
God given unalienable rights that the Brits were denying them. But the Brits
believed that the King had the God given authority to rule his kingdom, and
anyone who defied this authority was opposing God himself.
A similar
thing can be seen in the modern day Arab / Israeli conflict, which now involves
many different countries. The blame game can go very deep with one side saying
they did so-and-so because the other side did thus-and-such. Then the other
side blames their actions on previous actions of the former side. The blame
continues to go further into the past until time blurs the lines between Good
and Evil. Many years ago I read a book by President Jimmy Carter entitled “The
Blood of Abraham”. I don’t remember much of what he said, but I do remember
that he clearly showed how difficult the issue is given the extensive history
of conflict. It kind of reminds me of the episode of “The Andy Griffith Show”
entitled “A Feud is a Feud”. In this show, Andy comes up against two families
that have been feuding for so long they couldn’t even remember what started the
whole thing. Sometimes it seems that we just have to put the past in the past
and negotiate a peace without regard to who did what in the past. I know this
is easier said than done, but if both sides want peace it needs to happen. If
only we had the equivalent of an Andy Taylor that could resolve the age old
conflict as easily as he did in the TV show.
However, sometimes
one or both sides don’t want peace. That’s the rub. This can especially be true
if one or both sides believe that their opposition to their enemies is God
ordained. There are apparently many people in the world that think that the God
they believe in is inherently Good, regardless of what he does. This means that
anything they believe God is telling them to do is also Good, regardless of how
heinous it appears to outsiders. You see this in the Old Testament. God
supposedly told Moses to lead his people into nations unprovoked and kill
everyone, including the women and children and animals. These actions would be
considered Evil if a nation did them of their own accord. Yet somehow if we are
convinced that God was behind the actions, they suddenly become Good. The
problem with this attitude is that it leaves Good people open to becoming Evil
should a tyrant or dictator be able to convince them that the reprobate orders
he is giving them are authorized by God himself.
I have been
watching some documentaries about Adolf Hitler and his rise to power and his
decline to destruction. It is said that Hitler believed his actions to be
approved by God. After watching these documentaries I can certainly see why.
Hitler was nearly killed by a mustard gas attack in World War I. Hitler was
confronted by an Englishman who had him in his rifle sights, but didn’t feel
right about killing a wounded unarmed enemy, so let him go. Upon becoming
dictator, his own countrymen attempted to assassinate him several times, but
fate didn’t allow it. I can easily see how he could come to think of himself as
being invincible and protected by God, thus adding fuel to his mission. Yet the
world now almost universally views Hitler as being the epitome of Evil. He’s
the go-to person to compare someone else to when we want to decimate that
person’s character. Yet, if indeed Hitler was taking his marching orders from
God, he was really a Good and Righteous person. So, if everything God does is
Good, the question becomes, “How do we know when a person is acting according
to God’s will?” We certainly don’t want to cut short a God-ordained killing
spree and thus find ourselves opposing God, would we?
I contend
that any given action in a given situation is either Good or Evil or neutral or
somewhere in between regardless of who perpetrates it, even God. If that is not
true, then how can we with any certainty be able to condemn a person who
performs a heinous act and then claims that he was only following the will of
God?
Some people
are very good at obfuscation. They can say one thing while secretly doing
another. Hitler and his propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, were extremely good at
this, presenting an appealing image of the future Fuehrer while planning
something more sinister. Many of the politicians in the US are good at
obfuscation also. They speak one way to one group and another way to another
group, then perhaps do neither when it’s time to vote. Can you tell I am cynical?
So, how does
one properly determine what Good and Evil are? Who decides? What is appropriate
for our government to do about it? To my way of thinking, the only thing the
government should have the power to do is prevent or punish Evil, not force us
to do Good. So, what is Evil? This is a difficult question since it is highly
dependent on circumstances, but I can answer generally. Basically, Evil should
be considered to be using unprovoked force against other people. Everyone
should be free to live their own lives without interference from others except
in the case where that person wants to use his freedom to limit yours. In other
words, your freedom to move your fist ends at my face. Obviously, there are
more than 50 shades of grey when it comes to this general rule, but that is why
we have courts. Facts are gathered and a reasoned conclusion should be reached
about a person’s guilt or innocence.
Hey, it’s
not a perfect system, but neither are we perfect people.
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