The Lesser of Two Evils is Still Evil
Last August, I wrote (here) about how functionally, decisions come down to choices between the greater of two goods or the lesser of two evils. There’s another dimension I didn’t mention….the lesser of two evils is still evil.
“I may still smoke, but at least I’m not gaining weight.”
“Looking at porn on-line is better than having an affair.”
“I may not be doing anything to help anyone, but at least I’m not doing anything to hurt.”
Christians, churches, the media, men…we’ve all lost our willingness to call evil evil. And the word “sin” probably won’t even be in the next version of the dictionary.
Talking about sin and evil makes us feel bad. It’s so negative. We want to be positive and we should. As Jesus-followers, we have His undeserved blessings and His forgiveness for all the evil we’ve strayed into.
But we dilute evil to a less onerous thing when we just pretend it isn’t there. We lose the contrast between what’s good and what’s not. That makes us less aware of what’s distinctively good and less grateful for the forgiveness we’ve been given through His grace.
We don’t struggle as much with the big ones. Culture still thinks murder is evil. “Bearing false witness” is wrong, especially if it’s Bernie Madoff or a big-time CEO. It’s a little less evil when it’s writing a 5 on the score card when the three-putt actually made it a 6. Most people will still say adultery is evil when someone’s unfaithful to their spouse. Problem is the marriage rate is down to 24% so the word spouse may be missing from the next dictionary too.
The further the sin is from the 10 Commandments, the less we seem to recognize it. Catholics talk about the seven deadly sins… wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. We have to turn a few more Bible pages to get a bead on these. And they’re a lot more personal. I’ve never even thought about killing anyone, but I’ve done all seven of these multiple times…some of them daily.
As go the men, so goes the family. As goes the family, so goes the community. As goes the community, so goes the nation.
Let’s step up to be the leaders God made us to be. We don’t have to preach against evil. Let’s just bring it into the light of Truth, call it what it is, avoid it and protect our families from it.
Question: What evil have you let slip into your life? Or your house? What will you do about it? If you’d like to comment, please do so here.
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Responses (8)
Love this quote:
“As go the men, so goes the family. As goes the family, so goes the community. As goes the community, so goes the nation.”
It sounds really ominous. But it’s true. And if we don’t wake up, there won’t be any contrast between right and wrong, good and evil, sin and what just seems right to us.
Your family will go well ’cause it has a great young leader. Keep the faith, and keep Him first! Love you Mark…
Great reminder for us on defining evil and remaining vigilent as Christians!
As I watch my three children grow and see the things they are exposed to compared with what I was exposed to (TV, games, friends, advertising, etc.), I have to remember to remain strong to keep these negative influences (sin) away. I think it is all too easy to give in and let them watch, read, play games, etc. that promotes a sinners lifestyle.
It also makes me realize I need to live my life in a way to set the example. Being one year out of Next Generation Mentoring, I have a great “toolset” to help get back on track. Thanks for your program and sharing of yourself to help us stay on our journey!
Hal Gresham
absolutely right Hal. We’ve got to raise the bar on our parenting ’cause the evil one has kicked it up a notch with our kids and our culture.
Thanks Hal…pay it forward!
“But we dilute evil to a less onerous thing when we just pretend it isn’t there.” — and I would add the more apt we are to repeat said evil. I find it absolutey amazing still at what our culture finds acceptable today that it didn’t just five years ago. Recently my daughter was given a book as a gift about the life of a 4th grade girl. (the same grade as mine). One entire chapter was about the kissing game and how this 4th grader liked to play it but the boys didn’t. I fell out of my chair. 4th grade!!!!!!
I couldn’t imagine that book ever seeing the light of day 15 years ago.
Nice post.
Don’t be shy about protecting your kids. They’ll thank you someday.