Jack was 5 years old when his mother became ill. Her younger sister Rachel moved into their rural residence. She helped care for his mother.
Jack’s father, a man of few words, was angry with his sick wife. His routine was disrupted, thus he disliked change.
When Rachel moved in, she brought her two young sons. Jack was perceptive but could not understand why his mother was confined to bed and why Rachel treated him unkindly.
Jack’s mother died. She was buried across the road. A beautiful photograph of Jack’s mother was inscribed on her tombstone.
Rachel married Jack’s father soon after his mother’s death.
Rachel removed every reminder of Jack’s mother from their residence, and Jack was not permitted to visit his mother’s grave.
Jack cherished a photo of his mother, the same one on her tombstone. He hid it under his mattress until it was found by Rachel. Angrily, she ripped it into pieces in front of Jack.
Jack grew up in a family broken by illness, the death of his mother, remarriage of his dad, and a stepmother whose intolerance of him was painful, while she and his dad showed preference to his stepbrothers.
Oddly, Jack did not move out of his home after high school.
One autumn afternoon, Jack shot and killed his dad, then his two stepbrothers after they got off the school bus, and his stepmother, after she returned from work.
An insanity defense failed at trial and at sentencing. Jack was executed.
Those of us today who live in America fall asleep at night with heavy hearts. We wake up to the morning news, adding more disturbing reports and videos of violence. Our peace of mind is being sliced away.
Political leaders call each other “evil,” “sick,” “mentally ill,” “unfit,” and worse.
But, after all, what is evil?
What is mental illness?
Are evil and mental illness related?
Are the mentally ill more violent than those who are not mentally ill?
Hatred of America is undeniable among large portions of our population.
Our founders were deeply influenced by 18th-century philosophers and theologians.
What did some people of influence think and pray about in the 18th century?
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), one of the most significant figures in 18th-century English literature, became famous for his A Dictionary of the English Language and his literary criticism.
Johnson saw evil as a complex and unavoidable reality of the human condition.
He believed evil arises from human moral shortcomings and the flaws of creation. Guided by his Christian faith and deep melancholy, he saw evil as what prompts people to seek religion.
Evil is a perceived reality that must be felt.
Johnson regarded human misconduct as a continual and pervasive element, considering himself an observer of such actions.
Wickedness is widespread: He observed that human depravity is so evident that only isolation can shield one from it.
Evil may be characterized as both active and passive: It can be seen not only in intentional harm but also in human traits such as vanity, negligence, and envy.
Relationship between suffering and wrongdoing: Johnson described a theological association between sin and misery, while his essays also observe that both innocent people and those who are guilty may endure suffering.
Johnson observed that people experience disasters unrelated to their moral faults.
Universal suffering: In his essay on life’s difficulties, Johnson describes how individuals, regardless of their virtue, are subject to natural disasters, illness, and the actions of others.
A wake-up call to virtue: He suggested that “physical evil” has a divine role in prompting moral good, as it compels people to face mortality and seek religion.
Johnson addressed metaphysical evil, or “evil of imperfection,” stemming from the gap between humanity’s finite nature and infinite desires. As a result, all human endeavors, including marriage and politics, remain inherently flawed.
Johnson’s conclusion was not that evil could be eliminated, but that we should accept the imperfections of our choices, as the alternatives could be worse.
Ultimately, Johnson believed evil served a vital purpose within a Christian framework.
A test of faith: According to Johnson, the presence of evil serves to challenge individuals’ character and can reinforce their faith.
A catalyst for spiritual growth: Suffering highlights human fallibility and encourages spiritual advancement toward a state without evil.
Noah Webster (1758-1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, writer, editor, and author.
He is also the author of the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.
Webster’s writing on righteousness is worthy of our attention:
1. Righteousness is purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty, and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion.
2. Applied to God, the perfection or holiness of His nature; exact rectitude; faithfulness.
3. The active and passive obedience of Christ, by which the law of God is fulfilled.
“To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.” Daniel 9:7.
4. Justice; equity between man and man. “To serve Him, in holiness and righteousness” before Him, all the days of our life.” Luke 1:75.
5. The cause of our justification.
The Lord our righteousness: “In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.” Jeremiah 23:6.
Krisan Marotta, a Charlottesville Bible teacher, provides in her work, Wednesday in the Word, thoughtful, encouraging, and inspiring scripture about God’s redemption of his people and the triumph of His righteousness over Evil:
“The wicked are sinners who have turned away from God and set their sights on what this world has to offer. They rebel against God. With greed and arrogance, they act unjustly to take what they want.
“The righteous are sinners who seek to follow the Lord. They try to live within the will of God. They do not seek profit at the expense of others. They pursue justice and wait on God.”
The promise that God assures us of His reign over evil resonates throughout the Bible. Merely a few examples from one of the 52 books of the Bible are taken from a few chapters of the Book of Psalms:
Evil and wicked are terms commonly used to describe actions or behaviors that are considered morally wrong or harmful. There is a nuanced difference between them: evil often denotes a deeper or more fundamental form of malevolence, usually linked to intentional and purposeful acts that cause harm or cruelty.
Psalm 1 – Righteous versus the Wicked
- Psa 1:1- Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
- Psa 1:4- The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
- Psa 1:5- Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
- Psa 1:6- for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 5
- Psa 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
- Psa 5:6 You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
- Psa 5:12- For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.
Psalm 7
- Psa 7:9- Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous — you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!
- Psa 7:11- God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
- Psa 7:14- Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.
Psychiatry has tried to understand the cause and nature of violent behavior.
“Evil” is a topic one does not expect to find in a textbook of psychiatry.
A mental disorder is defined as a condition that substantially affects an individual’s thoughts, emotions, or behavior, resulting in significant distress or impairment in daily functioning.
One in 5 American adults experienced a mental health condition in a given year.
One in 6 young people has experienced a major depressive episode.
One in 20 Americans has lived with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.
Suicide is a major cause of death in the United States, ranking as the second leading cause among those aged 10-24. Since 2022, about 50,000 Americans have died by suicide each year—almost twice as many as from homicide.
Just 3%-5% of violent acts involve people with serious mental illness, who are actually over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population.
Evil, too much with us today, disrupts into violence when least expected, but more often it follows sequential steps: hateful spoken threats, implied or direct, equally or even more hateful written documents or notes, ending with impassioned hateful bodily attacks.
A rose by any name would smell as sweet, but evil by any name will be destroyed by God’s righteousness.
It is not our duty to seek revenge for the consequences of evil among us, no matter how evil disrupts our lives.
It is our duty to love those who wish us harm. Erika Kirk was recently made a widow by an assassin’s engraved bullet. On national TV, Erika Kirk, in the words one must not forget, said, “Hate is not the answer to hate. Love is the answer to hate.”
No one said it would be easy!
May God Bless and Save America.
Robert S. Brown, MD, PHD a retired Psychiatrist, Col (Ret) U.S. Army Medical Corps devoted the last decade of his career to treating soldiers at Fort Lee redeploying from combat. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Education at UVA. His renowned Mental Health course taught the value of exercise for a sound mind.
