The Evil Seed

" This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of Light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and will not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the Truth comes into the Light."
[John 3:19-21].


Evil is the opposite of Love and Light.

The consequences of evil, tragically, ripple downward through the generations. The consequences of evil ripple outward to all who are the victims of evil, as well as to the victims' loved ones.

Evil can even haunt a community [ Governor Dannel Malloy after the mass shooting at a Newtown, CT elementary school said, "Evil has visited this community today."]

I have had evil committed against me as far back as I can remember.

After my father died abruptly, and I took my mother back to care for her, the memories of my past began to surface.

As I began to fully realize what my childhood had truly been, I wanted to : change my name; leave the country; isolate myself from people so as not to burden anyone with this pain . . . . All of the above.

I hated the well-meaning offerings of condolescences at the loss of my father, because they seemed as so many lies. As I cleared out my parents' house, I detested the sight of any belongings of theirs in my home. I wanted to give it all away or throw it all away.

I have suffered crushing guilt over the evil in my family. For a time, I kept going to Reconciliation, confessing all my family's sins against me, vainly trying to gain some absolution on their behalf. Sadly, the pastor told me, This can never work.

I hate it when anyone tells me that I look like my father. Or my mother, for that matter. I am afraid that this means I will be like them.

People say to me, "Why do you 'dwell' on these things? I do want to bury all of these horrible images I am getting from my childhood, bury them deep down in the ground, with my father.

Recently, there was an article in The Daily Beast, reprinted from Newsweek, entitled "The Children of Killers", (Eliza Shapiro). The article talks about Travis Vining, son of serial killer John Vining. Travis says, " We are not capable of burying these things."

True. He tried this. So did I. But buried memories of evil come back as serious, chronic illness; as nightmares; as flashbacks, as sleeplessness; as panic attacks; as mysterious physical pains; as irrational rage. The memories arise unbidden, day and night, unwanted, horrifying ghosts from my traumatic past.

The Newsweek article confronts about the real issue here, which is, 'Is there such a thing as an Evil Seed?'

You see, I have had so many times that I bog down on the question of whether evil is a choice? Can I choose Good? Or, I wonder, Do I have the innate capacity for such overarching evil myself, given the human beings from whom I descend ?

This is not a rhetorical question. If evil is something that is genetic and perhaps a function of mental illness, then forgiveness becomes a much easier path. Even society's approach to criminal justice might change drastically if an evildoer literally cannot help himself. Perhaps the criminal might receive both incarceration and medical treatment?

The question of evil goes back centuries, all the way back to Genesis, when Adam and Eve chose to eat of the Tree of Life, thereby unleashing the great battle of good vs. evil.

St. Augustine believed that there is capacity for both good and evil in every one of us.

Recent history from the World War II era shows that ordinary citizens, not hardened Nazis, carried out the worst of the genocide; even though their SS commanders gave them the choice, each day, to absent themselves, if they felt they could not participate. ["The Replication of Evil", Nov. 8, 2012]. Professor Avinoam Patt, PhD., states that, "Evil is a behavior of choice."

According to a Wall Street Journal article of April 27, 2013, " The Criminal Mind", (Adrian Raine), scientists in the new field of neurocriminology are using "brain imaging techniques that [identify] physical deformations and functional abnormalities that predispose some individuals to violence."

I have meditated for such a long time about the question of evil. I have wracked my brain trying to figure out whether my family was evil or mentally ill ?

In the end, I like what Martin Luther King, said about evil: "We may debate the origin of evil, but only a victim of superficial optimism would debate its reality. Evil is stark, grim, and colossally real."
[Strength to Love, 1963.]

King goes on to say: "Although Jesus never offered a theological explanation of evil, he never attempted to explain it away."

Finally, King says: "Above all, we must be reminded anew that God is at work in His universe. As we struggle to defeat the forces of evil, the God of the universe struggles with us. We must also remember that God does not forget His children, who are the victims of evil forces. He gives us the interior forces to bear the burdens and the tribulations of life."

I have spent so much energy (that I do not have), trying to explain to myself how my family could have been so cruel? I am finally beginning to realize that, it does not really matter if their evil was a choice or a matter of mental illness. The result for me is the same: I must heal.

And for that, I need God. This is too big of a job for me to figure out. It is a job for God. All I know is that, I will destroy myself in the process if I hate them back, or if I refuse to forgive.

The fact that God never forgets His children who are victims of evil forces?-- I will take that sacred balm of comfort in a second! May God always hold His children in the palm of His hand.

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2013. All Rights Reserved.