The Dark Aspects of Evil

Evil:

Profoundly immoral and wicked
of a force or spirit) embodying or associated with the forces of the devil.
Harmful or tending to harm.

                                  Oxford Dictionaries

Over the past few months accused serial killer Bruce McArthur has appeared in court related to charges in the deaths of eight men. Each time it is a chilling reminder that a human being functioned in society while deceiving others about his cunning and cruelty. It is hard to imagine what the families of the innocent men who were murdered have gone through. These were cherished persons who died terribly.

Yesterday, on the one-year anniversary of charges being laid against McArthur the lead officer in the investigation Inspector Hank Idsinga shared thoughts about what the past twelve months have held. In a CBC Metro Morning interview he said "It was a big dose of reality — a big dose of reality about what we were dealing with, and what had been going on in the city."

How do we prepare ourselves for the dark aspects of evil, even those who are confronted with grim realities on a regular basis? I have written about evil often enough through the years because I'm still convinced it exists both with individuals and within societies. Often I draw attention to the phrase "deliver us from evil" in what we call the Lord's Prayer, or the Prayer of Jesus. The gospels also speak about a Tempter, the one who is the source of evil in this world.

Each time we are confronted with the "profoundly immoral and wicked" circumstances of our world we can remember that the phrase from our communal prayer is more than just historic words but a cry from the heart that the God of justice and redemption in Christ is present with us. We can pray as well for those who continue to be the victims of these terrible crimes.