The importance of being evil

When I was younger, trips to Sunday school [Friday school in the Middle-East] were a common practice. Kids from all over town would gather in rooms that were air-conditioned to listen to people from the church community talk about the importance of being good and a beginners lesson in theology was offered. Of course, adults were also given importance and they too had to attend sessions as well. The natural progression over a period of time was that children who went to these classes would turn into church-going adults with a good sense of what their religion was about and what the church's requirements were for a good life on Earth. Sadly, this is not the case as I have observed. People tend to let their own conveniences override any belief system to get what they want. Is this wrong? Certainly not. Does the church think this wrong? Yes. The question then arises about why we go against the grain when we know that there are eternal repercussions. Is it because we think that what was taught to us at Sunday school is all hogwash? Is it because we have an all forgiving God that lets us get away with most things? Is it because every time we asked a question to a problem that seemed to challenge Church Dogma, we were simply told that it is beyond human understanding? Or is it because we know that a little evil goes a long way to being a better person?

I think that all of us have to be evil at certain stages in our lives to enforce the fact that we are good people. No one can have a perfect record of being a saint on the planet and even the saints according to catholicism also did rather vile acts before they became who they are. I always laugh at people that enforce social structures by stating that God will punish you. The reason I do this is because of the very definition of God. If something all-powerful is sitting somewhere in the Universe and watching us do all these acts of ill-will, shouldn't he/she/it be trying to stop it? By not stopping it, doesn't that make God selfish? I suppose the answer to all those questions would turn any zealot/devout catholic into a rebuttal attack helicopter answering with pre-programmed responses like - Its your faith you are asked to believe or No one knows what God wants for us, ours is only to obey and be good. If that's how the faith system really works then as human beings, we should probably have let slavery continue and the Crusades would have to be chalked down as the most worthless campaign we have ever run because freeing people completely contradicts what our faith is about if there is a super-power guiding us.

I don't really think there is a right answer to what God wants or if there is a God at all but I do know that there is definitely a right answer to the fact that good must exist at the cost of evil and vice-versa. No one knows whether genocide is a wrong act and for some people, this might be the only way for them to attain their freedom or ensure that their race survives. I wonder if people that hear of mass murders or acts of violence between cultures take a minute to analyze what is going through the minds of the people committing these crimes, laughable isn't it, as they talk about how evil the act is.

I could go on about how we should always think logically and never make a rash decision on blind faith but this is a fight fought during our formative years when our brains are incapable of deciphering what a logical decision really is. Are parents to blame for not bringing us up right? I would say yes but then again, what if our parents never had the chance to learn things the logical way and be offered a completely egalitarian view on logic vs faith?

So as an exercise take some time out today and think about what you really want; logic or faith. The first path leads you down a road that will question what is right and wrong from a very conditional perspective while the latter simply asks you to believe that what is written is right and because it comes from a supernatural power that can't be seen or argued with it is definitely right. Feeling sheepish? That's good because thats what a shepherd wants you to feel.

Disclaimer: I do not at any point ask you to change your faith so if you are a religious person and find this offensive please leave a comment and I will consider that as a reason to assume that your faith when questioned turns you into a rabid wolf. I wrote this as a chance to allow my logical side to do some thinking and express my opinions.

Mood while writing this post : Quizzical

Music listened to while writing this post : Sparrows chirping [no, its not a record]