In contemporary Christianity we deal with and learn about the everlasting conflict between two groups of angels: God's angels and Satan's. God's angels are supposedly righteous, humble, and wholly good, whereas Satan's minions are deceitful, chaotic, and evil. At some point, all were one, but now they are two, and that's that, right?

No. The militaristic view of angels and demons is but one interpretation. A false one. God, through Christ Jesus, laid down exactly what we as men should do: "love thy enemy", "turn thy other cheek", and to "forgive". This is not to say one should ignore evil, simply that we should accept it as a part of ourselves.

Every person to ever live -- even His disciples and Jesus himself -- has struggled with evil. Peter denied Christ three times, Judas sold Christ out, and Jesus was tempted by the Prince of Lies at Mt. Sinai. Peter went on to found the Catholic Church, Judas hung himself, and Jesus resisted temptation wholly.

Judas was the most destructive in his evil, for his caused him to further sin. Not only did he exchange Jesus's whereabouts for silver, he then cursed his own life (thus cursing the image of God) and proceeded to defile God's temple (Judas's own body) through suicide.

Peter was at least partially creative with his own evil. While he denied Christ, his guilt forced him to provide testimony for Christ's resurrection and to continue to preach the Gospel in Jesus's absence. This later becomes the foundation for naming him the first Pope and founder of the Catholic Church.

Jesus alone managed to resist evil. He did not do as Satan tempted and later try to blame the Prince of Lies. He outright said "No, I cannot do this" and listed his reasons why. This proves a large knowledge of Jewish scripture, or a self-awareness we should all aim to possess. Most significant of note is that Jesus, despite his hunger, would not turn the stone into bread. He recognized his own hunger, his own greed, but still said "no". Jesus never tries to banish Satan, he never tries to hide him or ignore him. He listens to what Evil Personified had to say, presumably considers it, and then explains his decision. But of significance, he does NOT reject or deny the presence of evil.

Again, I stress, we should not succumb to evil. Yet we must accept evil. We must accept that for one notable exception, we are all sinners and shall always sin. Though we are saved, we are entitled our sinfulness. Any time we judge, we sin; when we fail to give our best, we sin; when we work overtime, we cheat our kids, our spouse, and we sin; when we tell our husband we did not have time to iron his socks (because you were on the phone with Ms. Smith across the street, but he doesn't need t know all that), we sin. Any time we fail to meet our obligations due to situations perfectly under our control, any time aim to deceive ourselves or others, and anytime we fail to acknowledge our evil as well as our good, we sin.

Christianity as a practice has sinned. This is not God's fault, but our own. We all tend to blame our evils on outside causes. This is illustrated by the nutcase in the courtroom on trial for murder crying "the devil made me do it!' While his sins are not our own, we must accept responsibility for NOT embracing the evil within us and instead consistently projecting it on others. We forget that the fallen angle was once a part of God's chosen entourage, the most beautiful of them al, whose primary sin was being too proud to bow before man. Yet even in the Old Testament, God uses Satan for his own purposes, and this we would do well to remember. In the book f Job, Satan appears before God and asks permission to tempt Job. If God will allow Satan his work, and even give his blessing (as is the case in Job), God obviously recognizes the need for good as well as for evil.

This is why we as His creatures possess both. This is not a fluke, not something to be ashamed of, and not something to reject in ourselves. As in the case of Satan, certain evils are useful and can be put to good use. The child who tells the robber daddy isn't home (when he's in the basement and perfectly capable of defending the house) isn't evil, isn't sinful, but is guilt of violating that particular commandment against bearing false witness. Though to do any less would be to betray, imperil, and dishonor his father. In either case, the boy is out of luck. What does he do?

As members of the Christian faith, we are guilty of allowing not only our faith to stagnate, but our governing laws and morals. We d not allow for situations as the father, son, and crook. We push aside anything that could be evil, we push aside parts of ourselves so as not to seem or feel evil. Many of us create within ourselves a contemporary Mr. Hyde to meet our outward, societal Dr. Jekyll, and criminalize anything that reminds us of the other self we have chosen to reject. And then we wonder why we have certain feelings and unconscious predispositions and must deal with the moral dilemma that follows.

It is our duty to ourselves, our communities, our countries, and our world to revitalize our religion. As it is, Christianity provides moral guidance for a twelfth-century culture. It is outdated. How does Christianity perceive online piracy, child labor, outsourcing, and corporate monopolies? How does it view stem cell research, DNR policies, Kevorkian operations, and preterm abortion?

It is not God's fault we do not have answers to these questions, but Man's. We fail to heed Jesus's teachings; in fact, we almost completely ignore them. "Love thy enemy." Love Satan. Do not love evil, but do not personify it either. Do not attach evil where you wish it to be. The only evil, in fact, is a failure to acknowledge the presence of evil. Satan himself was not evil -- his sin was one we commit daily. It is not our place to condemn him, but God's: it is our place to accept that God is working within us, but so is the potential for evil. We must restrain that evil, but likewise, not be afraid to use it as and when needed -- like Peter transferred his guilt into productivity, like Jesus used his knowledge of evil to recognize the seemingly-harmless-but-ultimately-destructive temptations of the Adversary, and like God himself uses Satan whenever and wherever needed.


-- Malcolm Heath