Evil personified?

By Warren Bolon Sentinel staff

ARE PEOPLE WHO DO HORRIBLE THINGS the actual embodiment of evil? Are countries inherently evil places because of bad things their people or leaders do or condone? Is evil ever institutionalized in a corporation, a governing body, an alliance or axis?

Or, is evil none of the above? It certainly appears to be all of the above. Who would say that the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan was not an evil act? I know there are some who attempt to justify Pearl's murder, or acts of mass murder, by a twisted interpretation of holy writings. But that itself seems an act of deluded evil-mindedness.

At times like these, the line "deliver us from evil" in the Lord's Prayer can sound like a wishful plea. But those words were first spoken by someone who saw evil in its worst forms—hatred, dementia, contagion, dishonesty, betrayal, wrongful execution—and he proved, case by case, that evil couldn't destroy him or hinder his influence. Jesus proved that goodness ultimately wins.

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