The Devil In Us All

Hello fellow bloggers, readers and passers by,

Allow me the opportunity to tell you something... The devil lives in us all. What? She has lost her mind! What the hell is she talking about? Please let me explain. We are human. Carnal creatures with thoughts and feelings and emotions and every other thing that make us who we are. And God made us that way. In his own likeness. With arms, and legs and hair and a brain and a heart and so on. And that is the most wonderful gift anyone could ever have... the gift of life.

But sometimes, that gift is taken advantage of. Sometimes, evil comes along and whisks it away as if it were never ours to begin with. Sometimes, the devil moves in and rather than a safety deposit, he simply makes a final withdrawal, closing out the account of our lives and forever holding hostage the things we once cherished.

I know that sounds like a ramble, but there is meaning behind it. Be patient. The bible says, 'do not pass judgement'... but we do. The bible says, 'do not commit adultery', but it happens. The bible says 'forgive those who trespass against us', but we don't, and when the bible says, ' thou shalt not have no other Gods before me', we do. Is it our own actions that cause this to happen, or the devil living inside us? I often hear people say, 'the devil made me do it'. Well, we are responsible for our own actions, thus, the devil is inside us, right?

Greed, gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, wrath and lust. Seven of the most deadly sins... But are they really? Can we not ultimately control each one of them? Or do we like to play the blame game and spend our time relishing in the life of greed, gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, lust and even wrath? Do we not kill our dreams when we refuse to own up to our decisions? Do we not slaughter our children's future, when we chose to lie over tell the truth? How can we call ourselves loving and forgiving souls and yet, live the way we do?

I've seen in the past 24 hours, southern people, living in the Bible Belt of America, make some of the most horrible statements against the life of a person. This person has been accused of taking the life of a child. This person also has been called a pedophile, a murderer, a killer, a soul-less creature, a person who deserves to die -- all without having been tried in court. I've witnessed people make allegations of his guilt without a shred of evidence. I've seen police officials state a confession had been made. I've also witnessed with my own eyes, three convicted men be released from prison for 'saying' they committed a crime, when I believe in my heart they did not. My question to you is this? If a person says they done something, is it true? If a person knows about something, does it mean they committed the act? The consensus from one site is the following:

"... knowing when, where and how a crime was committed means you are the killer!"
"... knowing the family members of the victim means you know everything there is to possibly know about the case at hand."
"... a person who is accused of having child pornography means they have molested their own children, their neighbors children and they should be put to death -- no questions asked."
"... being interrogated by police for hours on end to tell them nothing 'new' about a case they have talked to you about means you done the act and are going straight to hell."

But I ask you this...

When did it become OK for us to convict a person on a whim without so much as giving them a chance to defend themselves? When did it become second nature for us to say someone is guilty just because...?  It's not OK with me. And for that, I will always continue to look at both sides of each and every story -- because the devil lives in us all. And I will not let him steal my ability to see past him.

Sincerely,
LaVonda

PS The term 'devil' does not necessarily mean the 'evil one', but rather, it is used as a metaphor for the evil and negative things in which we act upon.