© Charles Chandler

 

Right on, Lloyd. The world has no idea how completely it has become overrun with evil, to the point that it is considered normal. Just turn on the news, and see how many different places in this world are currently engaging in acts of violence. But that's not the scary part. What's really scary is that we have come to think of this as normal. Shame on us.

 

I'm of the opinion that the best approach is to clearly identify the ways in which decent teachings can get twisted into excuses for evil. It isn't enough to just say that it's bad behavior, and try to forget about it. These behavior patterns have been around since the beginning of recorded history, and will surely be around as long as people are still walking the face of this Earth. If we were to rid the world of evil, and if we were to stop worrying about it, we'd find that it would creep back in before long. So instead of denying that we have a problem, and keeping it out of our minds that way, and instead of thinking that we could actually rid ourselves of it, and never think of it again, we need to consciously acknowledge the various forms that evil can take, so that we can be on the look-out for it, wherever it crops up. Evil will have a much harder time becoming as deeply rooted as it currently is, if we are all well-versed in its methods.

 

For such purposes, I'm working on a list of common scams. I'm doing this in the context of a theological paper I'm working on, so the assumption is that these are all ways of bastardizing an otherwise wholesome set of religious beliefs. But the scams can be found anywhere.

 

Departures