When Evil Is Good

Read: Isaiah 5:20-25

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness! —Isaiah 5:20

In the early 1970s, political cartoonist Wayne Stayskal illustrated an age-old problem. In the first of three pictures, a father and his son are watching a violent television show together. From the tube blares the words: "Bang! Bang! Kill! Stab! Boom! Zap! Rat-a-tat-tat! Murder!"

In the second picture a news bulletin interrupts the program: "And now news from Vietnam." The TV shows scenes of mutilated bodies of Vietnamese children, some in their mothers' arms. The father is aghast as he shields the boy's eyes with his hands. "What are they showing that stuff on TV for!" he yells.

Stayskal raises a vital issue. How can we entertain ourselves with fictional scenes that glorify violence but be horrified when watching the real thing? Hollywood began asking the same question after the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 200l. They postponed the release of some films with terrorist themes. But how long will such restraint last?

Sin is so dangerous because it is blind to itself. The prophet Isaiah said that God's people were redefining good and evil. Incredible! But people are still doing it in the 21st century. Only God's Word can safeguard any of us from calling "evil good, and good evil" (Isaiah 5:20). —DJD

O Lord, correct my vision,
So dim and warped by sin,
That through Your Spirit's blessing
Your truth may shine within. —Bosch

If sin were not deceitful, it would not seem delightful.

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