Monsignor Pope Ping!
Good article.
But often I hear the words “necessary evil” and it throws me for a loop.
I have met pure evil. Sat and talked with it. I worked in a prison. Now most people in prison are criminal, bad people, do things wrong, commit crimes, etc. But occassionally you come across evil and once in a great while pure evil. Pure EVIL was 5 foot 8 inches 165 pounds and looked like Howdy Doody!(Look it up kiddies). At my now 64 years of age I have never met or come across anything in life scarier, more dangrous,or more evil.
pPing to food for thought.
Awesome post. Thanks for all your efforts.
Msgr. Pope has become as necessary (moreso) than my morning coffee.
This Aquinas theme was discussed in far less sublime terminology in my RCIA class prior to my baptism.
I remember the deacon reminding us that the devil doesn’t look anything like his cartoon depiction-—horns, tail, pitchfork. He doesn’t stink of burning, rotted flesh. Because if he did, nobody would ever be tempted by evil. We’d take one look and run away.
No, he said. The devil is good looking, charming, wears an Armani suit, drives a hot sports car. He’s successful, rich, and sexy as hell.
bump
And what did these Catholic experts base their conclusion upon, that Hell ain’t so bad after all??? Must be LSD...Or Meth...Or guilt, because they are lost as a bunch of bats coming in backwards and they know they may end up in hell one day...
Any who reads and believes the scriptures knows there will be no pleasant places in hell...It is a place of weeping and wailing an gnashing of your teeth...
Another good one Msgr. Charles Pope, Thanks
I have to disagree with Pope here. I think Jesus used those terms knowing full well their connotation. Wheat will NEVER be tares/weeds just like sheep will NEVER be goats. He used these metaphors to teach a great truth. He alone can sort out the wheat from the tares and knows His sheep from the herd mixed with goats. Those who belong to His family through faith in Christ are the wheat/sheep and those who reject the truth of the gospel are the tares/goats.
Now, a sheep can be raggedy, lazy and disobedient but he will always BE a sheep. Wheat can get rancid, moldy or stale but it is STILL wheat. A goat can be pretty, sweet natured and tame but he remains a goat. Jesus is teaching about eternal judgment and not how we can change our make up by our outward acts. Our eternal salvation is based upon what Christ has done for us and not what we do for Him. We receive the gift of eternal life by faith.
I think this is a good way to see it:
"A prince, while he is a little child, is presumably as willful and as ignorant as other little children. Sometimes he may be very obedient and teachable and affectionate, and then he is happy and approved. At other times he may be unruly, self-willed, and disobedient, and then he is unhappy, and perhaps is chastisedbut he is just as much a prince on the one day as on the other. It may be hoped that, as time goes on, he will learn to bring himself into willing and affectionate subjection to every right way, and then he will be more princely, but not more really a prince. He was born a prince" (C.I. Scofield, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth).
The term “Pure Evil” is an oxymoron.
If it contains evil, it is not pure.
In order to know thy Father, you must be like a child. Children are still pure as they reflect the Love from God in their eyes. (The eyes truly are the windows to the soul). It is not until an obstacle to that pure Love in the child is created in their soul, that the sparkle in the eyes of the child diminishes. ( I find it interesting that recently scientists discovered that there is “Light” generated when the sperm penetrates the ovum)
All human beings were children at one time and therefor contain that Light of God in them. Thus all human beings have goodness and purity at their core. However, there are certain human behaviors and characteristics that create obstacles to that Love within us thus allowing a formerly pure soul to be vulnerable to the external influence of evil.
(In many ways, life is about finding and removing those obstacles to Love that exist within us.) That is the reason for Jesus second commandment of “Loving thy neighbor as thyself. It is our fellow humans that assist us in finding the hatred, anger and fear that are our obstacles to Love within us. In many ways, when someone brings out our anger, we should thank them for helping us to locate the impurity within us in order that we may remove it and fill the void with Love.
(Remember 1 John 4)
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not Gods child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”
God provides the life that makes us human. In many ways, all life is of God and in God. If we remember that “evil” is “live” spelled backwards, we could define evil as that which takes away or suppresses the “live” or “life” in us. In short, God provides life and evil takes it away. Yes, sin causes death.
Since God is omnipresent, evil exists within God, or God allows evil as it has a higher purpose. Remember if we have a closed box sitting in the sun on our picnic table, that closed box contains darkness. When we open the box, the light fills the box. The darkness in the box does not fill the exterior around us. So it is with evil and darkness existing within God.
Just as the difficult experiences we encounter as a child growing up help us to become a better adult, evil serves a purpose and assists us in becoming stronger in our Love for God. Many people completely forget about God in their lives until they encounter evil. Often, evil destroys us and makes us an empty vessel in order than we are no longer full of ourselves and have room for God. (Remember, we can’t put new wine in an old vessel. We must first get rid of the old.”) Evil helps us to get rid of the old and thus serves a purpose. God is in control and often we view evil as the parent who is disciplining us when we were a young child. When actually, the parent is disciplining us because they Love us and want us to grow to become a healthy adult.
I have encountered satan while doing exorcisms. He is the closest thing I have met that resembles pure evil. The room became freezing cold as though I was in a blast freezer, even though it was a very warm summer night. It’s as though satan tries to suck the life out of you. The only way to counter satan is to be connected to God where there is more life (and Love) flowing into you than satan is taking from you. This is why it is necessary to Love thy enemies, as to hate thy enemies you lower yourself to their level and you lose. To truly Love satan is to destroy him with God’s Love as satan realizes that the Light of God will destroy his darkness. This is the secret to performing exorcisms and depossessions. Love all at all times.
I remember my own father often saying as I was growing up, “I can find the good in everyone. However, in some people I have to look a might bit harder than others to find it!”
Our time, and the time of those we know who have so far refused to know Jesus’ Salvation is very limited and we should never give up our hope for them. Pope is right that we should see the good in others, even those who “seem” purely evil, and patiently work to grow that good while teaching the danger of our evil qualities.
As for Hell having some good, that is objective perhaps, in that Hell will be eternal separation form God, and God being love, the place will be completely devoid of love. Hard to find good in that. Maybe “good” like describing a delicious meal to someone who is starving to death...?