Or have we moved beyond such depravity as a species?

Today’s way of thinking immediately dismisses the notion of people being evil. We think mass murderers/pedophiles can simply be redeemed. Actually, I agree with that. My understanding of evil includes the possibility of redemption (which is why I am a Christian), but I believe that this redemption cannot be achieved by human effort, but only by a supernatural change initiated and empowered by the Creator himself. Outside of the Creator’s intervention in a person’s life, we are woefully evil.

I think this is harder to see these days. We seem more civilized than ages past. We are in the process of eliminating slavery from the face of the earth–a blight on our species that has been around for all recorded history. I could give many other examples along these lines.

As a result, we are easily blinded to our evilness. It is much more subtle today. For example, would anyone say that today’s Western world is filled with savage, blood-thirsty, murdering masses of people running around everywhere, chopping innocent people’s heads off whenever they please? Yet, how many unborn children are legally killed in this era for no good reason? Might the number surpass the Holocaust we so easily despise?

Another way to look at it: I tend to think of men typically as the gender that is known for being perpetrators of murder. Yet in a more subtle way, women are just as guilty when you factor in abortion. Men aren’t more evil than women, although I tend to think of men as being more evil.

Another example we could point to that shows the subtlety of our evil today is racial discrimination. Fifty or sixty years ago, black people were publicly discriminated against for the world to see in America. There was no hiding it. Today, it’s still around, just much more hidden. In one church I’ve served in, the senior pastor refused to consider a black candidate for a ministerial position, even though he was highly capable of serving in the position. This same church refused to reach out to the neighborhood that was right next to the church, because as the pastor put it: “Those people would never attend our church.” In reality, “those people” were black people. I guess with that attitude, he was right. After further reflection, I wished I had said back in response, “How about if you go to hell instead of allowing them to?”

When we stop seeing ourselves as being evil, we no longer need a Savior. I could deceive myself by thinking myself as a pretty good person. The reality is, I’m a much worse person than the things I’ve described in this post. I’ve used illustrations of other people’s evil things instead of my own, because I’m too evil to expose my own depravity in such humiliating ways. I, too, have refused to share the Gospel with people for no good reason. By Jesus’ definition of murder, I’m a mass murderer. If I had gotten a girl pregnant out of wedlock, what would I have done? How many evil desires to I entertain in a given hour? How self-centered and self-indulged I am at all times of the day!

Being evil doesn’t mean that everything we do serves destructive ends. Even Jesus said, “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children…” So just because we’re evil doesn’t mean we can’t do “good deeds” for other people. Think of it this way: If you refuse to think of people as evil, but instead good, you must conclude that all of us good people sometimes do bad things. If that can be true, can’t it be true that evil people sometimes do good things?

In fact, I think the most evil thing about us human beings is that we don’t realize that we’re evil. That is the darkest, most sinister aspect of evil. It’s full of lies and self-justification. Evil is so wicked that it knows to keep itself subtle so that we never recognize ourselves as being woefully held captive in its clutches.

No one’s great humanitarian efforts or self-denying deeds can fool God, however. He sees right through our charade. The question is: can you see through as well? Are you willing to admit that you are indeed evil and that you have an urgent need for drastic supernatural intervention from your Creator?

Or has evil so blindedly convinced you that you’re fine as is, with some minor adjustments to tweak out here and there?