Before I get to the GQ article, I also wanted to share that while I was watching “Fox and Friends” this morning, there was a segment where Dr. Oz was interviewed because of his heroic effort when he stopped to help after seeing a bus on fire on the side of the road. It wasn’t the first time he had done this. In the past, he also stopped upon seeing other accidents that had happened; in an effort to help anyone who may have needed to be rescued. His decision to help (while many cars just drove past the burning bus) is quite admirable.
However, during the Fox and Friends interview, he said something that I thought was very odd. While discussing the concept of evil, he said, “Evil is not when bad people do bad things. That is going to happen. Evil is when good people watch bad people do bad things.”
What??? Isn’t evil both of those things? Dr. Oz only focused on just one concept (his own belief, apparently) of evil and that sounded very odd to me.
Dictionary.com attempts to explain the term “evil,” but noticeably avoids any reference to the Bible’s definitions/explanations about the term and the source of it.
So, why would Dictionary.com not include at least some reference to the Bible regarding that term? Maybe even one like this verse:
Perhaps Todd Starnes latest article, The Bible gets a bad review from GQ Magazine — Although it’s the bestselling book in history helps explain not only why an online dictionary editor might make the choice to eliminate any reference of the term “evil” being discussed and defined by the Bible, but also why a magazine like “GQ” would choose to give a bad review about the best selling book in history!
Excerpt from the GQ article:
“The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it. Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced. It is repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, foolish, and even at times ill-intentioned.”
Starne’s reply is quite humorous and shares the GQ editor’s foolishness as well:
As a longtime Southern Baptist, I’ve grown accustomed to such foolish declarations from the “enlightened” crowd. I suspect the highbrow editors at GQ Magazine would not know the difference between John the Baptist and Balaam’s Ass.
There are many Bible passages and verses that I could cite here. One of the best is John Chapter 8. Many people know one or two familiar verses from that chapter:
John 8:31
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
John 8:32
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
But I suggest reading the entire chapter because it is one of many segments in the Bible that shares the Gospel of Truth; and yet, the ending verse of the chapter shows how easily unrepentant men will reject Jesus and the truth that He shares.
Todd Starnes writes:
The truth is the Bible documents the greatest story ever told – a story about agape love and sacrifice and redemption – everlasting life.
And it’s also the best-selling book of all time – more than 5 billion copies sold, according to Guinness World Records, which also reports that the whole Bible has been translated into 349 languages and says at least one book of the Bible has been translated into 2,123 languages. Statistics Brain estimates even more Bibles have been printed – just over 6 billion.
“The Holy Bible is God-breathed, it is living and active, and it is sharper than a double-edged sword,” the Rev. Franklin Graham wrote on Facebook. “There is nothing more powerful, and there’s nothing more needed by mankind than the Word of God.”
Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, explained that the subject of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is Jesus Christ.
“And one day soon, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord,” he declared.
Now far be it from me to tell the pompous, erudite, literary crowd at GQ Magazine what books they should and should not read, but they might want to glance at John 3:16 before they kick the bucket. It states “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Hat tip: Todd Starnes article at Fox News.
Tags: Dr. Oz comment, evil, GQ article, Jesus Christ, The Bible, truth, where to find truth
Talk Wisdom 
April 24, 2018 at 9:48 pm |
Welcome back, hostess.
Considering how long you were gone, I’d wondered if you were ill, on vacation, or just lying low.
Now, then:
”What??? Isn’t evil both of those things? Dr. Oz only focused on just one concept (his own belief, apparently) of evil and that sounded very odd to me.”
It sounds to me that Dr. Oz was spinning Edmund Burke’s famous line, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” If good people watch bad people do bad things, and that’s all they do, isn’t that ‘evil’?
Why would Dictionary.com give more credence to the Bible than, say, the Upanishads? Also, we already know the source of evil; that very same Bible of yours says so. And we can’t have Dictionary.com telling us that, now can we?
Because then Dictionary might have to include a verse like this: So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
The original KJ uses the actual word evil instead of harm. I see why you prefer it. But “doing harm” to someone is still evil. Tell us again who’s ‘mak[ing] the choice to eliminate any reference of the term “evil” being discussed and defined by the Bible’!
I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again: most copies of the Bible are not sold—they are given away,, to travelers, soldiers, and people in distant lands where Christians feel the need to distribute them. Often disaster victims receive them too, in lieu of food, medicine or clothing. Eighty-dollar Bibles with full-color illustrations and silk bookmarks are for those already ‘blessed’ with the money to afford them, and the other kind are often New Testament only—some Christians would have you believe there is no such thing as an Old Testament.
But those copies that are given away legally constitute as a ‘sale’, putting Bible distribution in the same category as street drugs–giving away a joint is considered a ‘sale’ by the police.
Its ‘bestseller’ claim proves nothing. In any other context, you’d be telling me that!
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April 25, 2018 at 8:38 am |
A brief explanation of my absence from this blog? Answer: Because I’m a busy Nana! Also, my daughter, granddaughter and I went back east to celebrate my mom’s 94th birthday. We made it a “Roaring Twenties” themed party and all the guests dressed up with the accessories worn at that time. She loved it!
I will likely take additional long breaks from posting at this blog. Eventually, I may discontinue posting. You might be the only commenter who will miss Talk Wisdom; then again, maybe even you won’t miss it.
Exodus 32 is about the making of an idol – the golden calf – which was a grievous sin. Commentator Robert Jamieson (via Blue Letter Bible) wrote:
David Guzik’s commentary goes into more detail:
[Note: bold mine]
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April 26, 2018 at 2:46 pm |
Well, if you’ve lost your passion for blogging, then take more breaks, or shut it down. I preferred your old forum, and I’ve told you why. But if you do decide to end it, don’t drag it out for months like you did with your old site. Give it a quick and respectful death. I’m sure you still have a lot to say, but since January of ’17 the fire just ain’t been there. You used to be full of zeal, “speaking out against destructive social and political issues”. Now, you don’t seem to care any more.
Those were evasive interpretations of Exodus 32. Jamieson doesn’t say (nor was it relevant) why God did or didn’t destroy his people. He certainly didn’t mention evil, which was the subject of your post. Guzik
is a little more thorough, but he also fails to address the point of ‘evil’ directly. In quoting other versions, he chooses the softer-sounding versions and glosses over the fact that the Amplified Version also uses the actual word ‘evil’. He and Jamieson both emphasize that God didn’t actually perform the evil, but he still threatened to do it!
You also completely ignored the Isaiah passage, even though you must have known I’d quote it. What do those scriptural scholars have to say about that?
Getting back to my related question: “doing harm” to someone IS evil, isn’t it?
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April 26, 2018 at 4:51 pm |
So now you feel that it’s necessary for YOU to tell me what to do and/or how and when to end this blog? Sheesh!
Why don’t you start your own blog?? You enjoy your attempts to demoralize, mock, and challenge God’s Word and believers who choose to follow His Living Word, Jesus Christ – right? Have at it via your own blog.
I think that what I posted answered your questions and countered your accusations quite well.
Throughout the OT, God always provided a way of escape from the coming judgment. Those who ignored the warnings and way of escape, perished.
It’s the same thing regarding God’s way for mankind to escape deserved judgment in the New Testament. Believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through confession and repentance of one’s sins, provides the opportunity for reconciliation back unto God. Every person has that choice to make in his/her lifetime.
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April 27, 2018 at 11:55 pm |
I’m just remembering the old days of your former site, when you agonized for months about whether you should continue it. You asked for opinions then. Only Sothenes/Sosthenes and I had anything to say about it; then, as now, none of your other followers gave a damn. It’s only a suggestion, lady. No one says you have to follow it.
You thought wrong. Is doing harm to someone evil, or not? That’s a simple yes/no question, and you won’t answer it.
In fact, you didn’t even answer your own question: ”What??? Isn’t evil both of those things?”
Funny, I don’t recall readingchapter and verse where God ‘provided a way of escape’ for the people of Jericho. Only Rahab and her household got out. As for places such as Ai, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon, Gezer, Debir, Geder, Hormah, Arad, Libnah, Adullam, Makkedah, Bethel, Tappuah…slaughtered to the last, right down to the livestock, and without any warning. For them, the only way of escape was at the point of swords held by Joshua’s army.
God seemed to be more interested in seeing people perish than seeing them escape.
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April 30, 2018 at 7:19 pm |
Repentance is needed for “the way of escape.” It was true then, and is true now.
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April 30, 2018 at 8:55 pm |
Yep, the grace or the mace.It was true then, and is true now.
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May 6, 2018 at 9:02 am |
Were you just being sarcastic through using that silly little rhyme? Typical.
God’s grace is divine.
It’s your choice to choose or reject grace from God.
Mace
[meys]
Trademark.
1.
Also called Chemical Mace. a nonlethal spray containing purified tear gas and chemical solvents that temporarily incapacitate a person mainly by causing eye and skin irritations: used especially as a means of subduing rioters.
verb (used with object), Maced, Macing.
2.
(sometimes lowercase) to attack with Mace spray.
Origin
1965-70; probably from mace1(in the sense “clublike weapon”)
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May 6, 2018 at 11:04 am
That ‘silly little rhyme’ was good enough for you to quote it once. You must have found it annoying.
As for choosing or rejecting this grace you talk about: since I don’t believe there is a God to offer or withhold it, the choice is irrelevant. AFAIK, grace is something some people say over their meals—especially those people who don’t actually raise the food themselves.
Despite your claim, this God did notnot extend that grace to everyone, nor did he allow some people the luxury of choosing. I merely pointed that out, and you choose to ignore it.
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