I have seen people living in hell on earth.

Sin is a lack of awareness. In Hebrew the misinterpreted word for sin is ‘chet’ which means to miss the mark.

My meditation teacher once wrote to me, standing before the killing fields of Cambodia, thousands of skulls laying in the sun, “there are some things even the Buddha can’t explain”. Very few could look at the horrors of the world and proclaim no evil.

We are all sinners but the bible (bear with me here) tells us that there is an outside force which tempts us. This demonic force—an entity, shimmers flirtatiously, beckoning for us to choose that which is wrong while feeling good about our choices in the moment—evil. Humans can choose to create evil when choosing to align with this force.

Before I believed in a Creator or Spirits, I believed evil did not exist. I wore my apathetic slogan on my sleeve, “it’s all good”. My explanation of evil was people becoming confused by their internal narratives and the culmination of the cravings of ego and the black magic society we live in, which preys on our desires.

I didn’t admit God was there, and thus chose evil. I had to live with my own worst enemy which was myself, but at least I had the choice. Since beginning my gospel journey in 2008 and studying the Bible, I have seen people possessed by demons, I have seen people living in hell on earth. I have watched women wrapped in mini-skirts of bacon throw themselves in front of my beloved’s face since committing to share his life with me. It could just be a chemical reaction causing ovaries to do somersaults, or a force of Temptation. A force which exists whether we realize it or not.

While we are born of love and the capacity for goodness, we are also born onto an evil path in this tormented flesh. We do not know if we are choosing evil until we recognize the path of evil—but we don’t have to linger there. Once we have the awareness of evil we know how to recognize and celebrate good. Evil is an option that we created, it enables free-will.

This web of life was intentionally created—no one has proved that anything is created out of nothing, logically if something was there, it was created. Show me a place where God is not. Yet when we choose to ignore God, there is the absence of God—ergo or evil. Some say “_____ murdered/raped/started war in the name of God”. Were they really in tune with God? We are given explicit instructions and I believe what was meant to be said was said and what was said was meant;

“Therefore,
If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.“ —Romans 12:20-21

There is always a choice and our destiny is to love, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law”. —Romans 13:8

Loving is the law, love is fulfillment.

What does your faith tell you about the existence of evil?