Posted on 06/03/2005 6:07:11 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
When the New York Times is willing to consider the possibility that evil exists, you have to wonder what’s really going on.
Joking aside, the Times ran an intriguing article, titled, “For the Worst of Us, the Diagnosis May Be ‘Evil.’” It gives valuable insight into a secularized culture grappling with the question of what makes people do bad things.
Author Benedict Carey writes, “Most psychiatrists . . . avoid the word evil, contending that its use would precipitate a dangerous slide from clinical to moral judgment that could put people on death row unnecessarily and obscure the understanding of violent criminals. Still,” he writes, “many career forensic examiners say their work forces them to reflect on the concept of evil, and some acknowledge they can find no other term for certain individuals they have evaluated.”
These psychiatrists are dealing with people who commit acts of almost unbelievable savagery. It seems that the more of these criminals they encounter, the less prepared they are to account for this kind of behavior. It’s making some psychiatrists rethink a lot of their ideas.
At Prison Fellowship, we know. For more than thirty years we have labored in the prisons of America, and we have seen evil face-to-face—and redemption, too.
Carey explains, “A group at New York University has been developing what it calls a depravity scale, which rates the horror of an act by the sum of its grim details. And a prominent personality expert at Columbia University has published a 22-level hierarchy of evil behavior. . . . He is now working on a book urging the profession not to shrink from thinking in terms of evil when appraising certain offenders, even if the E-word cannot be used as part of an official examination or diagnosis.”
For the Christian, all this talk of evil feels just a little like going back to kindergarten. Evil is a concept so central to the Biblical worldview—a worldview that teaches us that the germs of evil can be found, not only in serial killers, but also inside every human heart. You’d think that would be common sense.
So why are psychiatrists just now beginning to face up to this—the existence of evil? Well, the idea of a “therapeutic culture,” as some call it, is a tempting one. If bad behavior is just an aberration that can be cured through medical or psychiatric treatment, it keeps us from having to deal with the uncomfortable idea that every person is capable of such behavior. It also reinforces the belief that this world is all there is, a belief that many scientists prefer. As forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz put it, “I think the main reason it’s better to avoid the term evil, at least in the courtroom, is that for many it evokes a personalized Satan, the idea that there is supernatural causation for misconduct.” It’s so much more appealing to believe that all misconduct can be explained in scientific terms.
The problem, of course, is, once you start exploring what human beings are capable of, that belief just doesn’t hold water anymore. And the belief in evil suddenly doesn’t look so silly or childish. It starts to look as if the Biblical explanation may have been the right one after all.
I have lived almost 60 years and have seen evil in action all my life. Anybody who hasn't is blind.
Check this out. This guy needs to see your tag line.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1416137/posts
Yes. I admit that reading them react to the possibility evil exists did seem elementary. Followed by the thought if the psychiatric community is only now aware of this concept I am more than ever convinced they shouldn't be dispensing advice, let alone prescriptions.
Evil is a concept so central to the Biblical worldview—a worldview that teaches us that the germs of evil can be found, not only in serial killers, but also inside every human heart. You’d think that would be common sense.
Except in a culture that is desperate to avoid accountability. Then acknowledging that 'evil' spoken of in the Bible becomes what must be avoided at any cost. IF there is good and evil, than people make a conscious choice to be on the side of good or evil every moment of their lives. IF there is evil, there must be a consequence for that evil. It cannot be rationalized or reduced to relavist thought. To a 'whatever feels good' culture.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz put it, “I think the main reason it’s better to avoid the term evil, at least in the courtroom, is that for many it evokes a personalized Satan, the idea that there is supernatural causation for misconduct.” It’s so much more appealing to believe that all misconduct can be explained in scientific terms.
Appealing? Perhaps. But fulfulling? I've known very few people that are fulfilled within in the absence of an absolute parameter of what is acceptable and what is not. Usually they seek a way to fill the absence the surety of thought and purpose would provide. Some turn to drugs, some to sex, some to food, some to criminal behavior, some to sects that preach virgens if you commit mass suicide.
Many of these people spend their lives on the couches of therapists seeking answers their therapists are not qualified to give as only NOW are they open to the possibility evil exists. In a world where terrorists slit throats, men rape babies and planes fly into buildings killing thousands you would THINK the possibility of evil would have been given credence before now.
Short list, but it gets the point across.
Many of these people spend their lives on the couches of therapists seeking answers
Evil people do not spend their lives on the couches of therapists because they have no consciences and have absolutely no desire to change in any way. The people whose lives they effect, or have ruined, are the ones who spend time on couches trying to understand what happened. The most important point that theorists always miss is the fact that evil people ENJOY what they do.
Look up Amalek. The Amalekites deliberately slaughtered the Jews in ancient times, by sneaking up behind them, among a laundry list of other atrocities. Amalek is another word for evil. I googled up some good sites discussing this topic. If you have time check it out.
As for the shrinks, the DSM IV eliminated pyschopath and sociopath, in favor of "antisocial personality disorder". I guess they don't want to offend anyone :/
Preach it brother!
as a functional, rational, non-violent sociopath, I object to being lumped in with psychopaths in this new PC classification. A psychopath is an entirely other breed of cat.
so, they have managed to offend ME ;)
In these late days, the lusts of the flesh being appeased so easily and continuously drowns out the still small voice of the Spirit, though His voice is never squelched. Being a two-faced degenerate is now completely excusable, if the politician delivers enough.
perhaps I should have been clearer?
My post was broad. I was addessing evil, the culture, the naivety of therapists and the empty void created by a humanistic culture that doesn't allow for good and evil leaving confused messed up individuals. Some that choose benign items like food to fill a void, others that become vulnerable to lure of an evil that targets the innocent. I was not equating moral relevance to those seeking therapy and those that scream Allah while blood drips from a knife used to slit the throat of a hostage.
Amalekite custom was to bury the first child (after being roasted ALIVE (in Molocks(THE MOON GODs) boiling oil..) in the foundation of the the newly wed couples first house..
Kinda like america these days.. they had "other" customs too, mostly sexual.. Little wonder the Jews were advised, no ordered, to kill them all, from the least to the greatest..
Modern Islam was morphed from "the moon god" to Allah.. In some places the moon god was known as Al.i.ya.. in other places other names but tha same "god" and practices..
Many americans worship at Molocks table and don't even know it..
We lost a lot of our basic ability to define and understand some people when we abandoned "evil" as a concept. There is evil in the world. There are evil people who do evil deeds.
Cohey (sp?) who kidnapped Jessica Lunsford may be an example.
The question really is this: Does having and using a death penalty make the world a better place by eliminating evil, one perp at a time.
A Death penalty is meant to be a deterrant to committing evil. For every person that faces it, the theory is that thousands more will avoid the actions that led to a criminal earning the sentence.
Without the campanionship of morality, absolutes of good and evil, and a reason to desire life over death in a culture? It becomes no more of a threat than a parking ticket.
I support the Death penalty, but it's viability as a deterrant against evil decreases as the culture fails.
BTTT
Meow!! Hahahaa, you are no sociopath. Maybe a libertarian, but not a freak. I've read your posts ;)
Hope I didn't offend you :)
naw, I'm a sociopath.
I look at what the majority thinks of as right and wrong and I smirk and make up my own mind, and if they disagree with me, well then: they are wrong, I'm right, so there, nyagh.
My views hew more closely to those of the Founders than to those of the Leftists. I would call this atavism or anachronism, if I was the one making definitions. However, the Leftists are the ones writing the dictionaries these days, so I get slapped as a sociopath.
's'ok... like I said: I just smirk, and then make up my own mind...
and nahhh, y'didnae offend me ;)
Some people do evil because they are so lustful and greedy that in their rampage for self gratification they don't even notice that they hurt or destroy others.
Then there are those that do realize they hurt or destroy others in their efforts for selfish pleasure, but they don't care.
The worst are those who take pleasure in the destruction they cause to others.
All three are evil, of varying degrees.
A good person is one who is pained by others' pain, and therefore tries very hard not to cause distress or pain to others.
We all choose good or evil every minute of our lives. Every minute gives us another choice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.