Evil is not a thing, but still...

Hi Deep,

Actually, you are correct when you say, "Evil is not a thing."   Good and evil are, in reality, conditions of the heart.  When one wants to do harm, or to do wrong, against another person -- that comes from the heart.  When one wants to follow God, that initially comes from the heart -- and is nurtured by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said of the Pharisees, in Matthew 15:7-9, "Hypocrites!  Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' "   There are churches today which teach commandments, traditions, creeds, and dogmas written by  men -- as Christian doctrines.  Those come from the hearts and minds of men -- not God.

He also taught, in Matthew 15:10-14, "When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, 'Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.'  Then His disciples came and said to Him, 'Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?'  But He answered and said, 'Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.' "

What He taught about the Pharisees in Matthew 15:14, "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind.  And if the blind leads the blind -- both will fall into a ditch" -- that could just as well have been said about the atheists and other non-believers of His day and of our day -- the blind leading the blind.

Matthew 15:18-20j,  "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.  These are the things which defile the  man."

And, He could have added to that list -- unbelief.  Yes, those who refuse to believe in God, those who, for their own worldly reasons and agendas -- refuse to acknowledge and follow Jesus Christ -- that is the real evil of the world. 

Why is this evil?  Because those are the acts of the people who are working so diligently to pull others away from following Jesus Christ; they are the ones who will be responsible for many people not having eternal life in Christ.

So, Deep, you are right -- evil is not a thing -- it is a condition of the heart.  It is spiritual darkness.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

The heart is an electromechanical fluid pump, BeeG.

Nothing more.

The only conditions it is capable of are pumping normally, abnormally, or not atall.

Welcome to the 21st century.

Evil is Bill Gray, & others like him. He/they hide behind Christianity, & does more to hurt it than to help it.

Poor old bill, he just can't get it together.