Saturday, March 12
“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”
How is it that “temptation” and “evil” end up in the same clause, here? On a daily basis, I feel like the only things that tempt me are snacks, both decadent and humdrum, and the lure of staying up later than I should, if I hope to attack the following day with a cheerful attitude. Meanwhile, “evil” is a term that I tend to reserve exclusively for only the worst of fictional characters. So this juxtaposition gives me pause when I actually stop to think about it. Sure, some people may be tempted by evil, but I think that for most of us this word represents a boundary we could never dream of breaching.
We are programmed to see the good in people, and I believe that even the worst of us still maintain a reserve of good from our innocent births. Furthermore, our cultural media have found that it “sells” stories to include a glimpse into the heart of even the hardest criminals. We watch biopics that include a scene of the gangster tucking his young child into bed. We watch prison dramedies that include backstory episodes explaining the sad life that got each inmate to where she is. We see news reports which reveal that this terrorist was simply along for the ride with his much angrier brother.
We still despise the acts that each of these people chose, but the people themselves are softened by the psychology that got them there.
I recently saw a photograph of Adolf Hitler, walking down a path holding a young girl’s hand. He was uniformed, as always, such that a cropped detail of the photo would have turned my stomach and twisted my mind in ways that any other grid of monochromatic pixels could not. But, once that image was zoomed out to include a young girl, many of the online commenters seemed to lose their minds, and a very interesting conversation ensued. I haven’t revisited the post, but I imagine the heated discussion continues.
These comments focused on gradations of evil. Many had previously viewed Hitler as the personification of all things terrible, a Gargamel, Voldemort, or Satan. Hiding behind the ironically comforting thought that a living human could possess a set of qualities which was entirely negative, these commenters panicked upon seeing the image of that hand-hold, the simplest proof that there was a soul inside his body. And if in possession of a soul, then mustn’t a person be doing work that he truly believes is right? Boom: complicated.
I honestly don’t know if true evil exists, or if the world’s contenders, both past and present, are simply hyperfocused on something that you and I see as misguided passion. I do know that the average person can be tempted toward evil. I don’t feel like I have been, myself. But, I get a little worried when I see people who blindly follow and join causes and individuals, based on promises too good to be true.
I try to keep little snippets in my mind that would keep me from slippery slopes of temptation. Maybe this clause, which I earlier considered oddly juxtaposed, suggests a progression, wherein those mundane temptations could mount toward a much worse conclusion. We can help ourselves stay focused through internal recitations of the Lord’s Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, the Golden Rule, and any other summaries we make for ourselves (my nutshell of Christianity: “Be nice”).
Guiding creator, I ask for your direction today. Keep me forever on your path of goodness, ensuring that I can determine for myself those patterns of behavior which could lead me terribly wrong. Amen.
–Rick Seaholm