See No Evil

Of course we have Boston on our minds and hearts, and some of us in our prayers.  On Twitter, right after the bombing in the Boston Marathon, I saw this conversation.

@TheTweetofGod: Mean people suck

@southboundcat: Mean people? Cut us some slack, God. Boston massacre was not done by mean people. EVIL people.

@JessicaLeBaron: It was done by people. You and I are people. Evil is a myth like god. It's a perspective. Just a thought.

Well Jess, here are my thoughts. It was done by two evil punks, certainly nobody like me.

To acknowledge that evil doesn’t exist is to disdain all that is good.  If there is no evil, there can not be good.  And without good or bad, right or wrong, all issues that pertain to morals becomes mute.  One would have to question why do people do good things? To save the life of a drowning stranger is totally unreasonable. To lay one’s life down for a friend is stupid. What firemen and police officers do daily is not rational. Yet, what they do is good.  And when the world found itself in the throes of slavery and Nazism there were people who risked their own liberty and lives to save others caught the wake of …well, evil.  Can you truly say their unselfish actions were not good and that slavery and Nazism were not evil?

In nature if one animal kills another, it does so for food or preservation whether that is to protect its own life or for a continuation of a gene-pool and thus survival.  Motives in nature can be very familiar human emotions - hunger, fear, etc… - but actions are not driven by any sense of right and wrong.  In nature there is no moral standard. There is no good or evil. The law of nature is be strong or die.  However, this is not the case for people.  

Moral standards preserve society for better or for worse particularly when the standard is not objectively based.  Wisdom is recognizing the source of what is right and wrong.  Don’t confuse morality with what you like or don’t like.  I hate frozen peas. It is not a virtuous issue.

Let’s say that I like to torture cats. Without evil, and therefore good, this can’t be a moral issue. However, I think we know there just isn’t something that sits right with torturing little furry animals.  But the fact that I like to torture cats does not make it right and certainly does not offer any defense for the behavior.  I could reason that I am smarter than the average cat and more evolved than most cats (I know this is so human-centric of me) so I have every right deem that cat torture is okay.  

I can go on to claim that it is in my nature, it is the very essence of what makes me human to torture cats. But this still falls short of a making cat torture acceptable. If ten or ten thousand people agreed with me to accept cat torture, this still does not make cat torture an acceptable practice. It does however illustrate the danger of determining what is right or wrong based on the behaviors of a few or the behavior of the powerful, or the edicts and whims of the mighty. Even if I could convince 99% of the people that cat torture promoted the greater cause of humanity, cat torture would still be wrong.  Why?

If evil does not exist then cat torture is neither wrong nor right. And if evil doesn’t exist you can’t judge me for performing cat torture, even on your cat.  Because to judge is to cast some form of opinion or evaluation. You could only say you like or not like cat torture. If something bothers you about cat torture you can’t say it is wrong.  You can’t declare it as unacceptable.  Cat torture therefore would be as innocuous as a preference for fresh or frozen peas.

One who doesn’t believe in evil might argue that no one has the right to judge. That seems logical because to judge when you have no right to judge would be bad. And if something is bad, that would lead one to think there is a “right”.  But of course, that establishes the existence of evil. How can that be?

Honestly I think those who argue that evil doesn’t exist are making a desperate argument that there is no God. 

The standard nonsense argument goes:  If there is evil, there must not be a God, for why would God let evil prevail?  Isn’t he all powerful?  Either God is not all powerful or God must not exist.  Of course, we can now get into long winded debates about free will and stuff, but I ask four questions?

1. If a cat kills a cat is that evil?
2. If I kill a cat is that evil?
3. If a cat kills a person is that evil?
4. If a person kills a person is that evil?

The honest answers find us pondering morality.  When man is involved the issues arise.  If nature is the perpetrator the actions are not evil. Since God is neither nature or man, God is not the perpetrator of evil.  I say man is the one who perpetuates evil.  This does not logically lead to the conclusion that God doesn’t exist, but begs the question why when man is involved do questions of morality arise?

The next reason to deny evil to deny God has to do with what is acceptable and accepted behavior. Without good and evil there is no difference between the two concepts. Between 1501 and 1865 American slave trade was accepted. That did not make it acceptable. It was never acceptable, nevertheless it was accepted practiced.

Is it obvious that the practice was accepted, but not acceptable? Is it just as obvious that to kill a woman because she brings shame to her Muslim father and brothers is accepted but hardly acceptable?  Why the difference?  If you acknowledge the difference you must acknowledge an absolute truth, an objective morality.   That makes things right and wrong, good and evil.  And if objective morality exists then there must be a source.

That source is God.

Mean boys did not bomb the victims in Boston and terrorize the rest of us.  They are evil. What was done was evil.  Unexplainable evil.  If you can’t comprehend the existence of evil and God, beware.  Mean boys might try eat your cat for dinner tonight and good people will not come to its rescue.

Well, that is my perceptive. Just a thought that could not be wrapped up in 140 Twitter characters.  And if you are some bloody atheist I have not said you can’t be moral. I know many theists who are immoral.

Evolution

Compassion trumps moral standards any day of the week.  When moral values go head-to-head with compassion most people don’t have the moral courage or the fortitude to stand on higher ground. That's why values and truth lose in the battle with feelings. Being right doesn’t matter when you feel good.  

Unfortunately, few understand that doing what feels good is not the same as doing the right thing.  In a secular-left world values are based on little more than what feels good. There is a huge difference between what feels good and what is good. The confusion arises because feelings come from the heart and so logically they must be good. Right? Is there where I quote Scripture about the heart? Nah.

But the guy next door is convinced that your life has no more meaning or value than his dog’s.  In the secular world you can’t honestly say that your life is more valuable than the neighbor’s dog. There is nothing to base this on expect what your heart is feeling.  But what is in one man’s heart may not be in another's.

In the Judeo-Christian world Christians and Jews know that man was made in God’s image. This makes a man’s life holy. Therefore, his life is valued above all other creatures, such as the neighbor’s dog.  The source for this value and other such values is external to man. They are not heart-based. They are God-based.  Accepting this is difficult to the secular-left because people aren’t willing to concede control of their lives to something external. (You’re-not-the-boss-of-me attitude.)  Even Christians struggle with this and we see few have the courage to stand firm in what God has instructed.  The Bible becomes a smorgasbord from which to pick and chose.

When two people are in love and desire to proclaim their love they get married. Everyone wishes them marital bliss. To be married is to take part in an important institutional union that has served society throughout time and among all civilizations.  However, some people can tell a story of a friend, a friend of friend, or a family member who has fallen in love with a member of the same sex who desires to demonstrate that that lifetime commitment.  They want to marry and want that marriage to be recognized in the same manner as the union between a male and female couple.  When they can’t there is a sense of injustice, unfairness and inequality.

One should stand the moral ground on the marco-level and have compassion on the mirco-level.  Despite the definition of marriage – a union between a man and a woman – the liberal left sets out to ravage the institution that has promoted the stability and the survival of societies. They require all others to crap on the institution for the sake of the same sex couple’s happiness. The reason is simply because the left is enlightened in all matters of feelings. 

We have evolved not to think any more, but to feel.  This requires no moral courage. 

The Story of Luke

The following is an unpaid semi-commercial advertisement.

I am inviting you to see the movie called The Story of Luke, a comedy about a young man with autism who is on a quest for a job and a girlfriend.  This movie will be showing around the country in theaters on April 4 and 5.And on iTunes in your home!

For several months the movie has been shown at film festivals nationally as well as internationally. It has won numerous best film and audience choice awards. I’ve seen the trailer, but not the movie. I warn you if you see the trailer you will want to see the movie. Here is a little I-knew-you-when background story. 

Alonso Mayo, the writer and director of the Story of Luke is a friend of mine. I met Alonso when we were participating on a month long Outward Bound Trek in Chile in 1999-2000. At the time it was the most physically and mentally demanding experience in which I ever participated. The days were long. The treks grueling. We carried 60 pound packs.  At the end of a day we would drag ourselves in to camp exhausted, hungry, wet and cold.  Sometimes I needed a hug and Alonso could be counted on for a comforting hug. During one multi-cultural event I remember thinking, “Here I am at the turn of the millennium. An American woman dancing to Mapuche music with  Alonso, a young man from Peru, somewhere in the middle of Chile.”  Yeah, that was an once-in-a-lifetime event.

During the course he received a notice that his mother because of her work with special needs children was being honored by the Queen of Spain. After much deliberation on whether to leave the course and go to Spain he decided to stay.  Like the thirteen of us on course, he wanted to summit Osorno, a beautiful glacier covered mountain in southern Chile.  I felt he should have seen his mother get the award, but that wasn’t my choice. I supported his.

Sometimes climbing mountains is like the things we do in life - we don't succeed. Our first attempt at the mountain was not successful. All I could think of was how this kid (Yes, he was.) would miss out on meeting the queen and failing to summit. On our second attempt we prevailed. He was ecstatic.  Hell, I was too.

Since then this talented young man has gotten married, became the father of two beautiful children and attended The American Film Institute. His thesis film, Wednesday Afternoon was the Winner of 2008 Student Academy Award.  Look closely at the credits and you will find my name, the proudest moment in my short-lived film industry career.

When I visited Peru I spent the night with his mother and grandfather. He asked me what I wanted to do in Lima. I only had one day there so I left it up to him as to what would be the best cultural experience. He said it would be crowded so instructed me to carry no wallet, no money or jewelry.  That was disconcerting. I would be ID-less in a foreign country in a city of millions. Alonso took me to the procession where Catholics amassed in the narrow streets of Lima to see and pray to the Black Jesus statue as it passed through the streets. Women wept and some crawled on their hands and knees behind the statue.  The crowd was so dense, I could have lifted my feet off the ground and  would have been swept away in the moving tide. 

The last time I saw Alonso, I was headed back to Micronesia and the Peace Corps. I stopped in Los Angeles. He felt it was a critical time in his life. He had to get a film made.

Well he has.  So I invite you to see it.  Here’s the info links for the movie and for my friend, Alonso Mayo. If you live in one of the cities listed on the website, by all means treat yourself to this movie.If you can't make it several cable and iTunes are also showing it.

Enjoy!

Upcoming Screenings  

Official Story of Luke Facebook Page

Official Alonso Mayo Website