Excerpted from An Essay:
Evil and C.S. Lewis by E.C. Andercheck
Christian hope and love come together in a unique way to counteract the forces of evil in this world; there is no more powerful a force. Yet there is one often neglected but critical tool in the Christian arsenal against evil: it is the humility of the Christian mind, which can allows us to carefully discern and identify the true presence of forces, both good and evil.
It seems this humility can be most elusive; scientific secular reasoning explains away evil forces or allocates bad events to convenient categories, which are able to then be seen as normal and therefore controllable forces. This is a well practiced and scientifically driven approach, which has evolved in the last century and is curiously unique to our era. It gives us comfort and ease.
The arrogance to consider evil as conquered by our mastery of a science or an analysis that describes and categorizes horrendous human behavior is theologically dangerous. The danger lies in the failure to consider the sources of evil as something supernatural. Fallen angels of C.S. Lewis’s Uncle Screwtape clan applaud this lack of humility
Christ taught us to be like a child: “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mat. 18:4)
This is a sound foundation for evolving our theology
of Christian discernment; humility can overcome our arrogance of self,
it can help us realize our place in the supernatural universe.
Let
us begin with an inquiry. Shall Christians who seek out supernatural
sources of goodness discern life without considering the supernatural
sources of evil?
Pray with eyes open!