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Views Concerning Evil by Religious Leaders & Authors
Ezra Taft Benson American church leader
One day in the middle of an important examination in high school, the point of my lead pencil broke. In those days we used pocket knives to sharpen our pencils. I had forgotten my penknife and turned to ask a neighbor for his. The teacher saw this; he accused me of cheating. When I tried to explain, he gave me a tongue-lashing for lying; worse, he forbade me to play on the basketball team in the upcoming game. I could see that the more I protested the angrier he seemed to become. But again and again I stubbornly told what had happened. Even when the coach pleaded my cause, the teacher refused to budge. The disgrace was almost more than I could bear. Then, just minutes before the game, he had a change of heart and I was permitted to play. But there was no joy in it. We lost the game; and though that hurt, by far the deeper pain was being branded a cheat and a liar. Looking back. I know that lesson was God-sent. Character is shaped in just such crucibles. My parents believed me: they were understanding and encouraging. Supported by them and a clear conscience, I began to realize that when you are at peace with your Maker you can, if not ignore human criticism, at least rise above it. And I learned something else - the importance of avoiding even the appearance of evil. Though I was innocent, circumstance made me look guilty. Since this could so easily be true in many of life's situations, I made a resolution to keep even the appearance of my actions above question, as far as possible. And it struck me, too, that if this injustice happened to me, it could happen to others, and I must not judge their actions simply on appearances.
Ezra Taft Benson
God's Warrior
Catherine Marshall American author, wife of US Senate chaplain Peter Marshall, wrote "A Man Called Peter"
Without realizing what was happening, most of us gradually came to take for granted the premises underlying the philosophy of optimism. We proceeded to live these propositions, though we would not have stated them as blandly as I set them forth here: Man is inherently good. Individual man can carve out his own salvation with the help of education and society through progressively better government. Reality and values worth searching for lie in the material world that science is steadily teaching us to analyze, catalogue, and measure. While we do not deny the existence of inner values, we relegate them to second place. The purpose of life is happiness, which we define in terms of enjoyable activity, friends, and the accumulation of material objects. The pain and evil of life - such as ignorance, poverty, selfishness, hatred, greed, lust for power - are caused by factors in the external world; therefore, the cure lies in the reforming of human institutions and the bettering of environmental conditions. As science and technology remove poverty and lift from us the burden of physical existence, we shall automatically become finer persons, seeing for ourselves the value of living the Golden Rule. In time, the rest of the world will appreciate the demonstration that the American way of life is best. They will then seek for themselves the good life of freedom and prosperity. This will be the greatest impetus toward an end of global conflict. The way to get along with people is to beware of religious dictums and dogma. The ideal is to be a nice person and to live by the Creed of Tolerance. Thus we offend few people. We live and let live. This is the American Way.
Catherine Marshall
God's Warrior
Charles Colton English clergyman & writer
From its very inaction, idleness ultimately becomes the most active cause of evil; as a palsy is more to be dreaded than a fever. The Turks have a proverb which says that the devil tempts all other men, but that idle men tempt the devil.
Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm travelers on their road - Both appear great at a distance, but when we approach-them we find they are far less insurmountable than we had conceived.
God's Warrior
David McKay American religious leader
We are prone to magnify weaknesses and to imagine vices in others that do not exist. We chew the cud of slander with satisfaction - slander, "whose whisper over the world's diameter, as level as the cannon to its blank, transports his poisoned shot." Talk about battles yet to be fought! Backbiting and evil speaking head the list!
He taught, and modern physiology and psychology confirm, that hate and jealousy and other evil passions destroy a man's physical vigor and efficiency. What a man continually thinks about determines his actions in times of opportunity and stress. A man's reaction to his appetites and impulses when they are roused gives the measure of that man's character. In these reactions are revealed the man's power to govern or his forced servility to yield.
That from the heart come good thoughts and bad thoughts is the message of the Savior. By the right choice, and through application of thought, man ascends to divine perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beasts. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character and man in their maker and master. Jesus taught that from within the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual vice, acts of theft, murder, adultery, greed. When men commit these crimes individually or collectively, they trespass upon human rights and, of course, bring misery into the world. A noble and godlike character is no thing of favor or chance, but is a natural result of continued effort and right thinking, the effect of long cherished associations with godlike thoughts.
David McKay
God's Warrior
Dietrich Bonhoeffer German Protestant theologian, hanged for plot to overthrow Hitler
The Book: First-hand accounts from his family, friends, and students give intimate insight into the struggles, growth, and motivations of Bonhoeffer in a way that will make you ask anew what it means to be a Christian today.
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered, and confidently waiting come what may, we know that God is with us night and morning, and never fails to greet us each new day. Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented, still evil days bring burdens hard to bear; Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation for which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare. And when this cup You give is filled to brimming with bitter suffering, hard to understand, we take it thankfully and without trembling, out of so good and so beloved a hand. Yet when again in this same world You give us the joy we had, the brightness of Your Sun, we shall remember all the days we lived through, and our whole life shall then be Yours alone.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God's Warrior
James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) English missionary to China
Hudson Taylor went to China as an English Missionary at the age of twenty-one.
Taylor resigned from his Mission Board to live on faith, trusting God to supply all his need, and determining not to ask anyone other than God for money. He founded the China Inland Mission on the same principles.
By the time of the Boxer Rebellion, half of all missionaries in China were from his organization.
At the time of his death, the CIM included 205 Mission stations with over 800 missionaries and 125,000 Chinese Christians.
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We are not only to renounce evil, but to manifest the truth. We tell people the world is vain; let our lives manifest that it is so. We tell them that our home is above and that all these things are transitory. Does our dwelling look like it? O to live consistent lives!
The lives of the women of the Bible made patterns of light or of darkness. . . . Watch for the phrase in Kings and Chronicles, "And his mother was . . ." This is usually followed by the phrase, "And he did that which was good in the sight of the Lord," or "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." In placing the name of the king's mother and the evaluation of his reign side by side, the Hebrews showed how powerful they regarded the role of a mother.
We are not only to renounce evil, but to manifest the truth. We tell people the world is vain; let our lives manifest that it is so. We tell them that our home is above and that all these things are transitory. Does our dwelling look like it? O to live consistent lives!
James Hudson Taylor
God's Warrior
Heber Q. Hale American religious leader
As stewards of God we must be truly appreciative of the things we receive. One has said that, 'Ingratitude is a crime more despicable than revenge which is only returning evil for evil, while ingratitude returns evil for good.' You remember that of the ten lepers healed by Christ, only one returned to give thanks. A beautiful legend tells the story of two angels that were sent forth throughout the land, each given a basket, one to gather up requests and the other thanksgivings. The angel of requests came back with her basket running over full. The angel of thanksgivings came back with her basket practically empty. So it is in life. It seems that all have requests to make, but few of us think to return and give thanks.
Heber Q. Hale
God's Warrior
Frederick William Robertson English Anglican clergyman
It is the law of our humanity that man must know good through evil. No great principle ever triumphed but through much evil. No man ever progressed to greatness and goodness but through great mistakes.
Frederick William Robertson
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God's Warrior
George Reynolds American religious leader
The path of duty is the only path of safety. It is the only path wherein we can walk and have the assurance of God's continued blessings, of his continued deliverances. Any other course does not carry with it this assurance. Any other path leads to darkness, to contention, to evils of many kinds; for it leads away from the truth and the right. But if we continue in the path that is marked out for us by divine instruction, trusting implicitly in God, then shall we be delivered from all impending evils that are sought to be brought upon us, no matter what they may be; and the nearer we live to God the greater will be the blessings showered upon us, and seeming evils will be changed to blessings of untold worth.
George Reynolds
God's Warrior
John Calvin (1509-1564)
French Protestant theologian of the Reformation
Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to consider men's evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.
John Calvin
God's Warrior
William Penn English Quaker
A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil, that good may come of it. We are too ready to retaliate, rather than forgive or gain by love and information. Force may subdue, but love gains. And one that forgives first wins the laurel.
William Penn
God's Warrior
John Whittier American Quaker poet & reformer
God is good and God is light
In this faith I rest secure,
Evil can but serve the right,
Over all shall love endure.
John Whittier
God's Warrior
Jonathan Edwards American Congregational clergyman & theologian
Jonathan Edwards was an 18th century preacher and theologian who lived in the American colonies. He was Pastor of a church in Northampton before becoming a missionary to the American Indians.
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When I am violently beset with temptations, or cannot rid myself of evil thoughts, [I resolve] to do some Arithmetic, or Geometry, or some other study, which necessarily engages all my thoughts, and unavoidably keeps them from wandering.
Jonathan Edwards
God's Warrior
Loyd J. Ericson
When confronted with an issue, the stones and thorns in life will reveal a weakness - by unrest within. Sometimes a confusing unrest is caused by the uncertainty of conflicts between external and internal directions. A person often finds himself in a mental and emotional tug-of-war as differing ideas compete for his commitment. The Apostle Paul recommended a solution to this when he counseled: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." (Galatians 5:16,17) Not all external direction is wrong or evil. For instance, our parents gave us specific directions and rules in our childhood and youth to protect us and guide us away from serious misadventures. This direction is usually continued until we gradually demonstrated an ability to act for ourselves.
Loyd J. Ericson
God's Warrior
Be Strong Maltbie Davenport Babcock - (1858 - 1901)
American clergyman
Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle--face it; 'tis God's gift.
Be strong!
Say not, "The days are evil. Who's to blame?"
And fold the hands and acquiesce--oh shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name.
Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day how long;
Faint not--fight on! To-morrow comes the song.
Maltbie Davenport Babcock
God's Warrior
Maltbie Davenport Babcock
Fog in one's spiritual life need be no more lasting than that in nature. "It will burn off before long." How often weather-wise people say this when the gray mists of the sea-shore depress the hearts that were longing for a bright day; and so it proves. A glow of silver in the sky near the sun, a thinning out here and there of the vapory shroud; glimpses of blue, clean outlining and swift sailing away of the clouds, and the fine clear day is here long before noon.
We might oftener save ourselves from heavy hearts and gloomy faces, when early morning shows gray in our lives, or [in] other lives about us. Mists are left over from a storm yesterday. The day closed on misunderstanding. The morning is foggy and depressing. Why talk about it?
Let the weather alone. Fog is shallow. It will burn off before long. There is a good warm sun of love at work, and the blue sky will soon be over us.
God's Warrior
Norman Vincent Peale American pastor, author of The Power of Positive Thinking in 1952
There is no sound basis upon which it may be assumed that all poor men are godly and all rich men are evil, no more than it could be assumed that all rich men are good and all poor men are bad.
Norman Vincent Peale
God's Warrior
Frederick William Robertson English Anglican clergyman
It is the law of our humanity that man must know good through evil. No great principle ever triumphed but through much evil. No man ever progressed to greatness and goodness but through great mistakes.
Frederick William Robertson
God's Warrior
Reginald John Campbell English clergy, Congregational & Church of England, Chichester Cathedral
It is no strain of metaphor to say that the love of God and the wrath of God are the same thing, described from opposite points of view. How we shall experience it depends upon the way we shall come up against it: God does not change; it is man's moral state that changes. The wrath of God is a figure of speech to denote God's unchanging opposition to sin; it is His righteous love operating to destroy evil. It is not evil that will have the last word, but good; not sorrow, but joy; not hate, but love.
Reginald John Campbell
God's Warrior
St. Francois de Sales
Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself.
One great remedy against all manner of temptation, great or small, is to open the heart and lay bare its suggestion, likings, and dislikings before some spiritual adviser; for, . . . the first condition which the Evil One makes with a soul, when he wants to entrap it, is silence.
St. Francois de Sales
God's Warrior
Raymond Chapman
The antithesis between death and life is not so stark for the Christian as it is for the atheist. Life is a process of becoming, and the moment of death is the transition from one life to another. Thus it is possible for a Christian to succumb to his own kind of death-wish, to seek that extreme of other-worldliness to which the faith has always been liable, especially in periods of stress and uncertainty. There may appear a marked preoccupation with death and a rejection of all temporal things. To say that this world is in a fallen state and that not too much value must be set upon it, is very far from the Manichaean error of supposing it to be evil throughout. The Christian hope finds ambivalence in death: that which destroys, also redeems.
Raymond Chapman
God's Warrior
Stephen Neill
Every virtue is a form of obedience to God. Every evil word or act is a form of rebellion against Him. This may not be clear at first; but, if we think patiently, we shall find that it is true. Why were you angry? You will probably find that it was because you were not willing to accept the world as God has made it, or because you were not willing to leave it to God to deal with the people that He has made.
