The Creation of Evil: Glass Houses

'Revenge is a dish best served cold'!

I just saw the new movie, 'London Has Fallen'; if you like non-stop action, thrills-a-minute & good old-fashioned cop shows where the good guys get beaten up but win in the end, you'll wanna see this movie! Though this post will touch on the basic theme of the movie, this is in no way to be regarded as a review, favorable or otherwise, of this movie. I did enjoy this movie immensely, but I can tell you; not everyone will.

One of the themes of this movie ( as I saw it, anyway ) was that 'what goes around, comes around', in a never-ending, vicious cycle! Jesus, one of the most revered teachers ever, told His disciples 'whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them' ( Matthew 7:12b ): in today's vernacular, this might be rendered 'do unto others as you would like them to do unto you', but in this day & age ( especially ), it seems to be rather, 'do unto others as they do unto you', or 'do unto others before they  ( have a chance to  ) do unto you' ( this last one assumes, of course, evil intent ). The basic idea we're striving against here is that, since certain people wish us evil, we should hit them with a preemptive strike to prevent them from doing us or our loved ones harm. This action only serves to exacerbate the problem though, unless we are prepared to launch an all-out war & totally decimate every living being that might ever wish us harm!

There can be no doubt there are those out there who wish us harm just because we are who we are: I'm not saying we should compromise our beliefs & principles, just to keep out of harm's way! We should always stand for what's right; loving our neighbor does not mean standing by & letting him kill or be killed, if we can prevent it, but neither does it mean butting in & sticking our nose where it doesn't belong, like in the middle of a three or four millenia old feud/war! Loving our neighbor means following our Lord's instructions & treating others ( including our enemies ) as we wish to be treated. Unfortunately, the 'powers that be', in their finite wisdom, have seemingly discarded this notion & adopted the latter policy, that of striking our neighbor, though he be an enemy, before he can ( possibly ) strike us!

Some would argue, at this juncture, that this notion of a 'preemptive strike', or even just plain old revenge ( retaliation ) is necessary to our freedom: this is obviously not the case, because even though we have 'ramped up' hostilities against this often unseen enemy, our freedoms have suffered along with them! Others might refer to 'the problem of evil', saying that we must, at all costs, exterminate it wherever & whenever we find it: this much is true & while there ARE extreme cases in which some have become so used to doing evil that it has become their very nature, many who do what we would term 'evil' ( or are themselves 'evil' ) are simply reacting, though wrongly, maybe, against actions THEY perceive ( not always wrongly ) as 'evil'!

The main plot of 'London Has Fallen' is that terrorists are now executing a carefully planned & highly orchestrated ruse to capture the U.S. president & publicly execute him over nationally televised media! This plan was hatched & brooded over for years in retaliation for, not just the recent deaths of some 'innocent' family members, but also because of certain foreign policies that had long been practiced by the Office. The elderly father who had lost so much at the hands of the West was no doubt wrong in his own heartless reaction to the actions of the U.S. Inc. ( which were, in themselves wrong ), but his own actions were in a sense, justifiable, though evil!

Evil begets evil! Though evil can be eradicated, it is not by returning evil for evil that this can be accomplished: it is only by combating evil with good, or love, that evil can ever be overcome. Evil, like love, is active; it only exists as it is perpetrated & perpetuated. Once one refuses to continue the evil by returning it in kind ( 'do unto others AS they do unto you' ), that evil is stopped in its tracks. This is not to say that the one who perpetrated the 'evil' in the first place won't try to foist it on someone else, but then, imagine what might happen if THAT person refuses as well to perpetuate the 'evil'. & then the next..............the next.....................

'The Creation of Evil' is a problem that mankind has been stymied by from the beginning! What is its origin? Is the Creator God the Author of Evil? Though many have accused our Heavenly Father ( others call it 'Fate' ) of perpetrating 'evil', really, when you think about it, 'evil' is the opposite of love & we know, from Scripture, that the Creator God embodies Love. Therefore, whatever does NOT stem from Love is 'evil'; this is why, when one simply reacts or retaliates against what they perceive as 'evil', they only serve to perpetuate that 'evil' & cause it to exist by feeding it, adding fuel to the fire so to speak & in some cases, creating it!


Charles Haddon Shank