’m thinking of the Virginia used to learn — Christ, crucifixTech murderer. ion, resurrection — real. We are each of us, It makes the inadequacy of our every human being, made secular-dominated society real. in God’s image (Genesis It’s sad to think that our 1:27). We are inherently good. individual destiny is determined We are also each of us, thanks by our capacity for evil, or that to Adam and Eve, possessed of a our striving for goodness can be heart that is “desperately wicked” defeated so easily by the evil of (Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9). We a gunman bursting into a busy are inherently evil. classroom. Modern psychology describes Current national statistics complex social and behavioral patindicate 90 percent of American Bob Walters terns, externalizing our individual teenagers are “unchurched.” That Spirituality behavior and removing blame is frightening because they are from our actions. Secular psycholmissing exposure to immensely ogy endeavors to locate blame either in the important concepts like, “do unto others as past, outside of the self, or both; the media you would have them to unto you,” “love your searches for blame where psychology leads it. neighbor” and — critically, a Bible exclusive The Bible describes good and evil in abso- — “love your enemies.” lute personal terms, locates Good in God and Mankind’s great capacity for goodness is Evil in our hearts, and makes us personally revealed when we use our freedom to seek accountable to God and to each other for our God. Our wickedness and evil is when we social and behavioral manifestations. use our freedom to define ourselves as God Pull God out of the equation and psycho(Genesis 3:5). logical description melts into a stew of nonSeek God, or Be God? Which do you think absolutes. Psychology doesn’t like the E-word. was in Seung-Hui Cho’s heart that day? Neither does the mass media. Evil is a hard word to say. It makes Satan Bob Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), a Carmel resireal. It makes God real. It gives voice to the dent, grieves for the unspeakable loss of young truth of the Bible and the truth of our hearts. lives at Virginia Tech, and cries for their parents. It makes that church stuff nearly everyone His views do not represent this newspaper’s.
WHERE I WORSHIP (and why) Meet The Ayoubs
11 IN SPIRIT
I
Evil Is as Evil Does
Family Members: Labib, Ragia, Ramez, Patrick Ayoub Residence: Robinbrook Dr. Members of: St. Mary and St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Carmel Why: We belong to the traditional Coptic Church which is based on the teaching of Saint Mark the apostle ,the writer of the second Gospel, who brought Christianity to Egypt and established the Church of Alexandria in about 55 AD. St. Mark structured the church worship, ordained one Bishop and seven Deacons, St. Mark established the famous school of Alexandria and was martyred by the
Romans in 68 AD. As a conservative church the Coptic Church has carefully presented the orthodox Christian Faith in its earliest and purest form handing it down from generation to generation, unaltered and true to the Apsotolic doctrine and patterns of worship. Believing in the Holy Trinity Father, Son and Holy Spirit (being one God) and believing that our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ , the true Son of God was incarnate ,born of the virgin Saint Mary died for us on the cross that he may grant us Salvation. Location: 800 E. 110th St. Indianapolis Phone: 848-1791
Tuesday, May 1, 2007 www.currentincarmel.com