evil

The more I live and the more I read the more shaken I can become. I'm not sure about the latest a very good brother gave me, but it shakes me to the core. Evil. It is very present with us. This is why Jesus prayed for his disciples (and for us, by implication), that God would keep/protect them from the evil one. And why he taught us to pray, "Deliver us from evil/ the evil one."

What guise does evil take up? Good. It masks itself, and even thinks of itself quite often as good. Though surely we know better. This is in big part why I'm very opposed to putting so much confidence in any political leader, or any leader for that matter. I hear "black and white" (not racial, but used in terms of right and wrong) talk, and how one party is right and the other is wrong. I hear (though try to avoid and cannot stomach) talk radio's diatribe against this person or that person, and thinking their person or party is right, or in line with the truth. But we little know the evil that can pervade us all. And it is even more difficult to tell, and therefore insidious when it is done in the name of what is good and right.

This thinking is in terms of reality, and can help us live in a more helpful way. For example I disagree profoundly with President Obama on the abortion issue, not believing that a woman's right to choose includes aborting her unborn. But I also see Obama as good in other ways, and I see life for humans as concerning womb to tomb (thanks, the Wingnut for that good phrase). So while I won't give my wholehearted support to Obama and the direction he has gone, I do support him in some important ways. And, regardless I am called to pray for him and others (including those leaders who I find less affinity with).

Evil is present with us. If we look long enough into the mirror, we'll see it. Let's not imagine it's about us and them, as we were told as a nation, wrongfully in the past. It can hit and infect all of us. And we're only a moment away from falling prey to it, even if only in our thoughts (which is where it ordinarily starts).

What would you like to add about this? Another difficult, unpleasant, yet painfully real subject.