Francis Berger
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Anti-Spiritual Confrontation Is Cooperation With Evil

9/13/2021

8 Comments

 
Confronting evil has always been an unavoidable part of mortal life for Christians. Some forms of evil can be confronted with quiet repentance while others must be dealt with bold directness. Some forms of evil are so great that they must be openly opposed with defiant hostility. 

Many factors undoubtedly influence and determine the "kind" of confrontation a Christian chooses against evil, but no serious Christian would deny the necessity of fighting evil, even when (or perhaps more correctly, especially when) the fight is "restricted" to our thinking. 

For Christians, confronting evil is a duty, not an option. This duty must be positive rather than negative in nature. At its core, all defiance of evil must result in the affirmation of Good. While evil aims to destroy all that is Good, a Christian confronts evil to confirm, increase, and expand that which is Good.

Put another way, while evil has been doomed to perpetually "fight against", Christians are perpetually blessed to "fight for". 

Destroying all that is Good is primarily a spiritual aim, just as confirming, increasing, and expanding all that is Good is primarily a spiritual aim. Thus, all conflicts between Good and evil are fundamentally spiritual conflicts. One side comprises those on the side of God and Creation; the other side, those who oppose God and Creation. 

Most on the side against God and Creation do not consider themselves to be "against" God and Creation for the simple reason that they have deluded themselves, or have allowed themselves to be deluded into believing in the non-existence of God and Creation.

Since they do not believe in God, they do not believe in Satan, and they callously reject any notion of active cooperation with Satan. If asked, people on the side against God will insist that they are actually on the side of good (the side of humanity, equality, morality, freedom, justice, and all the rest of it), and that they are actually fighting against dehumanization, inequality, slavery, injustice, and all the rest of it.  


Christians do not have the luxury of such delusions. All serious Christians understand that being on the side of God and Creation is a spiritual position. As such, all conflict with evil is spiritual conflict. Yes, the conflict may involve material and societal factors, but these factors do not and cannot override spiritual realities and considerations. 

Those opposed to God and Creation are free to blind themselves to the inherent spiritual dimensions of the war they wage. Authentic Christians find it nearly impossible to adopt this "freedom". They understand that if they do, they run the risk losing perspective - the risk of neglecting or forgetting just what it is they are truly "fighting for". 

When Christians neglect or forget what it is they are fighting for, the spiritual motivation behind any confrontation with evil weakens. In such cases, Christians may find themselves preferring to fight against rather than fighting for. All confrontations with evil are rendered anti-spiritual from the perspective of Good when "against" eclipses "for" in Christian motivation, . 

When a Christian enters into confrontation, what he or she is fighting for must always be greater than what he or she is fighting against. 

Always. Even during these unprecedented times. 


When Christians resort to fighting against rather than fighting for, they stop confronting evil and begin actively cooperating with it. 
8 Comments
bruce charlton
9/14/2021 10:52:19

An excellent post! This is a burning issue for all of us, and it is all too easy to go off the rails into negativity.

Reply
Michelle
9/14/2021 11:23:42

You are exactly right. We've been framing the arguments incorrectly for so long. Coincidentally I was thinking this same thing yesterday as I read about a "transgender" MMA fighter who beat the snot out of a woman during match over the weekend and won. In an attempt to normalize this, the trans fighter said "she almost had me a few times during the match". I thought this: what a perfect time to fight for woman, for their dignity, for their protection. Most honest people would see there is something wrong with a biological man beating up a woman, even if they don't know why. A fight for goodness. Why can't we just come out and argue for goodness instead of against (enter any leftist evil here)?

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Sean Fowler link
9/14/2021 17:44:56

Thank you Francis. Thoroughly, thought through. I’ve been struggling with this.
It’s only through reading and considering these last few posts on the subject, both yours and Bruce’s and the comments of fellow readers that I’ve really understood why it is so essential to love your enemy.

Reply
Francis Berger
9/14/2021 20:40:37

@ Sean - Everyone, including me, struggles with this. And we don't always make the best choices, regardless of how vigilant we may be.

Concerning loving one's enemies, Wm Jas Tychonievich once commented that loving one's enemies is an affirmation that we do indeed have enemies. I think that's an important point because most Christians mistakenly interpret loving one's enemies as tolerating and facilitating the evil our enemies inflict. I certainly don't subscribe to that!

These are tough times. Defiance and resistance are vital, but we must ensure our defiance doesn't play into the enemy's hands because there's a great deal of push-button tactics and manipulation going on at the moment.

Each of us must discern the right course for ourselves (with the aid of the Holy Spirit, of course). If we think clearly and honestly about our own particular set of circumstances and our own unique strengths, the right course of action (and thought) will reveal itself.

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NLR
9/16/2021 07:04:02

Good post.

As you said in a comment on your earlier post, we have to avoid being sucked into confronting evil on its own terms.

This situation makes me think of how Jesus often did not respond to people who were asking Him questions just to trip Him up. But He did respond when people asked something and really wanted to know the answer.

"When a Christian enters into confrontation, what he or she is fighting for must always be greater than what he or she is fighting against. "

This is important to keep in mind.

I think it is worthwhile for Christians to pray that if a time comes when we must confront evil in some fashion (whether big or small) that we will be able to recognize when the time comes and respond in the right way.

Reply
Francis Berger
9/16/2021 08:06:22

@ NLR - Your point about Jesus is a good one, and I thought quite a bit about how Jesus handled conflicts and confrontations in the Gospels when I wrote this post.

Jesus understood the nature of well-laid traps. He never allowed those confronting Him to "play" Him. (Pardon the vernacular.) I think this is vital when it comes to confronting evil. If we give evil what it wants and act in ways evil wants us to act, we are essentially cooperating with it.

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David Llewellyn Dodds
9/17/2021 02:09:34

The (traditional) Latin Mass for this coming Sunday, the Seventeenth after Pentecost, is very good on this, especially the Epistle (St. Paul to the Ephesians 4:1-6) considered together with the Gospel (St. Matthew 22:34-46, where Jesus quotes the Psalm about the Lord speaking to my Lord about putting his enemies under His feet), but also the Collect (praying that God's people avoid, shun, escape the diabolic contagion) and, indeed, all the 'texts' taken together.

Reply
Francis Berger
9/17/2021 10:17:41

@ DLD - "escape the diabolic contagion". Perfect.

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