People Sometimes Do some pretty odd things. And in many cases, if you raise an eyebrow too high or voice an objection, you're liable to be accused of taking things toooo seriously.

Some of these odd things become particularly visible and accessible on the Internet. It's a lot like the Wild West claimed to be for a while—lawless. Anything goes. An enormous amount of good is done and can be found there. But in a universe where there appears to be no moral compass, or one that's often ignored, some eyebrow-raising things take place.

A recent feature in The Boston Globe spoke of several sites on the Net where people bet on death. Yes, they place wagers on the public figures they think will die this year. Harmless, ghoulish fun, they say.

But imagine if you had been ill and out of the office for a week or two. Then, when you returned, you found that people had been placing bets on what day you might die. Fun? No. Disturbing? Yes.

But that's not likely to happen, you say, at least not with anyone I know. Are you sure? Do you know any people who have been waiting for their parents or grandparents to pass on so they can inherit something? Isn't that in the same class as wagering on someone's death? Some people find themselves morbidly monitoring a family member's health or even starting to plan what they'll do with the money once it's all theirs. Fun? No. Disturbing? Yes.

The nature of evil is to amuse, bemuse, hurt, and destroy.

Fish aren't usually attracted to bare metal hooks. So fishermen cover them over with bait. The fish strikes at the bait, not seeing the hook buried inside. This is the way evil works. It often comes in the guise of amusement. If it can be passed off as ghoulish fun, we can be blinded to the impact it has on our moral compass and the effect our thinking and behavior have on our own and other people's lives.

Predicting death, betting on death, anxiously waiting and wanting to benefit from someone's death—these are forms of moral murder. Now you're going toooo far, you might say. But isn't this just what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount? (See Matt., chaps.5–7.) Thinking evil, as well as doing evil, is wrong. One step plants the seeds for another. Before people know it, they are starting to wish that someone will die. You can't get much more unchristian than that.

When we start saying that "amusing" or "innocent" forms of evil aren't so bad, or that it's not really hurting anyone, or "you're just making toooo much out of it," we are being bemused, muddled in our thinking. This confusion produces apathy at the very time spiritual alertness is required.

For example, you might think the sunny yellow of that one dandelion on the edge of your lawn is nice; you'll let it grow for a while and pull it up after it finishes blooming. Then when it's sort of finished blooming, you know you ought to weed, but you don't feel like doing it right now. Then before you know it, it's gone to seed, and next year you'll have a field of dandelions to deal with.

Mary Baker Eddy puts it this way in her book Science and Health: "Sin and disease must be thought before they can be manifested. You must control evil thoughts in the first instance, or they will control you in the second. Jesus declared that to look with desire on forbidden objects was to break a moral precept. He laid great stress on the action of the human mind, unseen to the senses" (p. 234).

Betting on or waiting for someone's death, at bottom, is a curse. It certainly isn't wishing that person well. Since the bettor wants to be right, it's a form of wanting someone to die. The bettor says, "Look, death happens. This is morally neutral." But he is deceiving himself. Harming himself. He is becoming callous about life. And if he or she is betting on someone who is believed to be ill, it's downright cruel. The joke would sour quickly if he or she were a friend of the person being bet on.

How do we react when we hear a relative is ill? "Oh, I shouldn't think this, but I'll be able to pay off my bills"? Or, "No, that cannot be; he is the work of God; his life and health remain in him." The spiritual thinker, the real Christian, can prove the latter. He has not been fascinated by death; he has been learning Christ's law of life. He's morally and spiritually prepared to prove that divine Life conquers disease.

This may be "toooo serious" for some, but a callous disregard for the well-being of others is not healthy. The fact that evil can find a mask that makes it look like fun, a laugh, doesn't hide the fact that it simply isn't good.

We all have the God-given ability to do good. When the crunch comes, where do we want to be? Laughing helplessly at the misfortune of others, or pitching in and doing the good that Christ, Truth, has prepared us to do? Do we want others laughing hopelessly at our own misfortune, or do we want them demonstrating the healing power of Christ?

The Golden Rule looks better all the time.