My friend, Brian Grigory, asked me to blog about something I shared in our adult group at church. For those who don't see much use in prayer or God, I'm particularly interested in your opinion(s).
Evil is a concept that can be difficult to define or understand, but occasionally, we get a clear, picture that leaves no doubt. At Fort Hood, a man stepped into a room of unarmed soldiers and gave us a vivid example of evil. For all our differing views, I think most agree, his actions were evil.
How could this happen? Why would God allow it? I can hear some of you screaming, he did it in the name of god! That's enough to discount the entire convoluted mess. It's a perfectly understandable and reasonable response, but I suggest the answer lies in understanding something about evil. It is weak and it gets its power from us.
A verse in the Bible (I Peter, chapter 5, verse 8) says: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." The most important word in this verse is "LIKE." The word describes a roaring lion, not a lion sneaking through the grass with power. He makes noise, if you get close, he will sound strong and scary, but he's not.
The man who stepped into that room of unarmed soldiers and began killing, was a coward. He couldn't face the overwhelming power of the United States Army, he was too weak. To make himself seem powerful he found an unguarded, vulnerable room and attacked.
In our personal lives, if we have "rooms" of vulnerability, we create a place for evil to gain power. I'm not suggesting that evil can't hurt you, it can. I'm also not suggesting that pain and sorrow in your life is because you allowed evil in. The innocent people who died at Fort Hood, were killed because a coward let evil overpower him. He gave evil a clear path to roar and scream and destroy.
Thanks for the suggestion Brian, I wasn't as concise as I'd like, but if any of you have questions, comments or need clarity please leave a comment.
I agree, for the most part, Jerry. Let us not be so quick to call the man a coward.
ReplyDeleteCowardice and Weakness and unrighteous are all very different. I am seriously considering all you said in so few words, but I am not certain Cowaridce was the avenue evil took to this man's heart.
I'm trying to portray a general picture of how evil infiltrates our heart. It doesn't go after our strength, it works on our vulnerabilities. So, the point is to be careful, "self-controlled and alert." Attacks on weaknesses are cowardly in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI see your point, he believed he was a hero and performing a courageous act. I'm saying evil is the coward. The shooter was vulnerable to it and that caused people to die.
I may not have express myself well, but the curiosity to me is the idea that satan is "like" a lion. He's a deceiver. A verse says he shows himself as an angel in order to gain a footing. He can't match the power, so he fights like a coward.
Perhaps there's a better word to express the concept.
Any ideas?