🔍 Reason to Believe (15): “Evil Is What Opposes Life” – Understanding the Nature of Evil with M. Scott Peck
🔍 Reason to Believe (15):
“Evil Is What Opposes Life” – Understanding the Nature of Evil with M. Scott Peck
✨ Key Theme Summary
“Evil is in opposition to life. It is that which opposes the life force. It has, in short, to do with killing… specifically with killing that is unnecessary, that is not required for biological survival.”
— M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie
In his book People of the Lie, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck challenges the traditional idea that evil is just moral failure or violence.
Instead, he argues that evil is a deliberate refusal of truth, a conscious avoidance of responsibility, and ultimately a spiritual energy bent toward death.
📖 Theological and Academic Insight
1. Peck’s Definition – Evil Hides from Truth and Destroys Life
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In People of the Lie, Peck defines evil as a pattern of self-deception and the avoidance of responsibility.
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Evil people shift blame, harm others emotionally or spiritually, and justify their lies to preserve a false image of themselves.
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Over time, this creates a life that increasingly rejects vitality, transparency, and love, aligning itself more with death than with life.
“Evil people attack others instead of facing their own failures. They lie so deeply that they forget the truth themselves.”
— People of the Lie
2. Biblical View – Sin Leads to Death, the Gospel Leads to Life
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“The wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)
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Jesus said Satan is a “murderer from the beginning” and “the father of lies” (John 8:44).
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In contrast, Jesus came so that we may “have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
📌 Scripture consistently contrasts lies and murder (evil) with truth and love (God’s nature).
3. Modern Psychology and Ethics
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Contemporary psychology also links chronic self-deception and narcissistic behaviors with destructive relational patterns.
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Hannah Arendt’s famous phrase, “the banality of evil,” reminds us that evil often appears not as monstrous, but as normalized, bureaucratic, or emotionally detached behavior.
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This aligns with Peck’s concept of evil as something that doesn’t always look violent—but systematically kills truth, love, and life.
🎯 Application & Discussion for Young Adults
📌 1. Does “evil” always look violent?
➡️ Evil often appears not in physical harm, but in apathy, mockery, silence, manipulation, and evasion of truth.
Ask yourself:
Am I in any way suppressing life in myself or others through these subtle patterns?
📌 2. What happens when we avoid facing truth?
➡️ Habitual dishonesty and blame-shifting weaken our character and destroy community trust.
Healing only begins when we face the truth courageously.
📌 3. Am I moving toward life or toward death in my decisions?
➡️ Am I running from responsibility or owning it?
➡️ Am I silent where I should speak?
➡️ Am I loving, or just preserving comfort?
💡 Final Reflection
“Evil doesn’t always kill with weapons.
Sometimes, it kills by suppressing truth, avoiding love, and refusing responsibility.”
Jesus came to bring life,
and that life includes the freedom to live truthfully, take responsibility, and love deeply.
We cannot overcome evil on our own,
but when we cling to Christ—the Truth—we become agents of life in a world leaning toward death.
📘 References and Citations
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M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil, Simon & Schuster, 1983.
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The Bible: Romans 6:23; John 8:44; John 10:10
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Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, 1963.
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Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I Q.48–49 (Evil as the privation of good)
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Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil, 1967.
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