Friday, September 6, 2013

Have we lost the ability to know the difference between "good," and "evil?"

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20 KJV)

Today I realized that many in the church world today do not know the definition of " good," and "evil."

In the hopes of reaching one soul- I will now provide the definitions of both words.

Evil (vl)
adj. e·vil·er, e·vil·est
1. Morally bad or wrong; wicked: an evil tyrant.
2. Causing ruin, injury, or pain;
3. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous: evil omens.
4. Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous: an evil reputation.
5. Characterized by anger or spite; malicious: an evil temper.
n.
1. The quality of being morally bad or wrong; wickedness.
2. That which causes harm, misfortune, or destruction: a leader's power to do both good and evil.
3. An evil force, power, or personification.
4. Something that is a cause or source of suffering, injury, or destruction

adv. Archaic
In an evil manner.
[Middle English, from Old English yfel; see wap- in Indo-European roots.]
evil·ly adv.
( from:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.)

I have heard, "evil," described the misuse of power. (Source unknown)

Another source( the Oxford Dictionary) defines evil in this way: defines, evil" as follows:
e·vil
ˈēvəl/
adjective
1.
profoundly immoral and malevolent.
"his evil deeds"
synonyms: wicked, bad, wrong,immoral, sinful, foul, vile,dishonorable, corrupt,iniquitous, depraved,reprobate, villainous,nefarious, vicious, malicious;malevolent, sinister,demonic, devilish, diabolical,fiendish, dark; monstrous,shocking, despicable,atrocious, heinous, odious,contemptible, horrible,execrable; informallowdown,dirty
"an evil deed"

American psychiatrist M. Scott Peck on the other hand, describes evil as militant ignorance.[24] The original Judeo-Christian concept of sin is as a process that leads one to miss the mark and not achieve perfection. Peck argues that while most people are conscious of this at least on some level, those that are evil actively and militantly refuse this consciousness. Peck describes evil as a malignant type of self-righteousness which results in a projection of evil onto selected specific innocent victims (often children or other people in relatively powerless positions). Peck considers those he calls evil to be attempting to escape and hide from their own conscience (through self-deception) and views this as being quite distinct from the apparent absence of conscience evident in sociopaths.

According to Peck, an evil person:[24][25]

Is consistently self-deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self-image of perfection
Deceives others as a consequence of their own self-deception
Projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets, scapegoating others while appearing normal with everyone else ("their insensitivity toward him was selective") [26]
Commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self-deception as much as deception of others
Abuses political (emotional) power ("the imposition of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion") [27]
Maintains a high level of respectability and lies incessantly in order to do so
Is consistent in his or her sins. Evil people are defined not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency (of destructiveness)
Is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim
Has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury
Deceives others as a consequence of their own self-deception
Projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets, scapegoating others while appearing normal with everyone else ("their insensitivity toward him was selective") [26]
Commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self-deception as much as deception of others
Abuses political (emotional) power ("the imposition of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion") [27]
Maintains a high level of respectability and lies incessantly in order to do so
Is consistent in his or her sins. Evil people are defined not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency (of destructiveness)
Is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim
Has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury

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