Advantageous Sins

“He feeds his spirit on ashes! His deluded heart leads him astray. He can’t even ask himself, ‘Is this thing I’m holding in my right hand a fraud?’” (Isaiah 44:20 TPT)

Deception is widely practiced, because it is often personally advantageous. Take, for example, a brand name watch that is known to be expensive. Let’s call it a Bolex. The advertisers will inflate the benefits of owning a Bolex over other forms of keeping time. A Bolex buyer is aware that there is some manipulation involved, but they are willing to overlook it because they, too, have an agenda. They know that any watch will tell time just as accurately as a Bolex. However, they are willing to pay the inflated price, because they hope wearing an expensive watch will make them look wealthy. Sellers of counterfeit products also join in the scam, selling look-alike Bolex watches at much cheaper prices. Buyers of these knock-offs know that they are wearing fraudulent products, but they hope to trick others into admiring them. At every level of this charade, there is subterfuge. Yet, everyone willingly participates since it is advantageous to those involved. 

“If we do not see the true shape of evil or recognize how we are fully complicit in it, it will fully control us, while not looking the least like sin. Would ‘agreed-upon delusion’” be a better description? We cannot recognize it or overcome it as isolated individuals, mostly because it is held together by the group consensus.” (Richard Rohr)

The proliferation of evil requires group consensus. Like a virus, it needs a host to grow and reproduce. Those who are complicit in the ‘agreed-upon delusion’ act as vectors who support and disseminate the lies and justifications. They do so because it is personally advantageous, at least in the short-run. Thus, all types of collective sins--racism, exploitation, pollution, corruption, injustice, inequality, violence, war--are rebranded and practiced without shame. 

Unless we are willing to confront the true shape of evil, it shall remain in control. Evil baits us. It appeals to our desire for power, safety, admiration, pleasure. We willingly fall into the snare. Not only do we allow ourselves to be deceived, we also lead others astray. Once we recognize our role in the spread of this malignancy, we can opt out of participating. If enough of us recuse ourselves from the practice of delusions, we can break the cycle. Just as we entered into sin collectively, we must exit collectively in order to overcome evil.