The Banality of Evil

How We Handle Guilt

I'm sure that if something had happened to his little boy, he would read the riot act, but because the other man's boy was Jewish, he was able to exterminate the child with little more concern that swatting a fly. Such is the banality of evil.

Ravi Zarchaias detailed five methods that people use to expunge their hearts of guilt. People need to do that if they are to live with despicable acts.

Expel guilt by irreverence

This is common in today's embrace of post-modernism. What you see is all there is. There is nothing else. There is no God, so we are not accountable.

In Georges Simenon's "Maigret's Dead Man"^[2], a gang of marauders prey on wealth country farmers, torturing them for the location of their wealth and then murdering them to cover their tracks. After the ring-leader is apprehended, one of the characters asks Maigret how the perpetrator can sleep at nights, having murdered so many people. Maigret answered:

"Because, like many men, some who commit crimes and some who do not, he lived a life where people are not people; they're just things."

That is the problem. In a secular world, the sacred has been expelled. We are just an accident of nature. Human life has no worth. We are just so much in walking chemicals, and killing a child is of no concern. There is no purpose to life, no meaning, no grand plan. The question “Why are we here?” goes unanswered.

To the Nazis, Jews were not people, they were vermin and exterminating them was no different than exterminating a nest of rats. Only to people who understand that we are made in the image of God, are people of great worth, something to be protected and caused to flourish. Our elites today consider us, the great unwashed, to be vermin, and exterminating us would not prick their conscience in the slightest.

The only lives that matter are their own. They leave the borders "unwalled" and let all manner of miscreants into the land, but their communities are walled to keep them out. They move to defund the police, but their enclaves are heavily guarded with private police. They move illegals into towns and villages, but when a group gets shipped to their enclave, they expel them as quickly as possible, viz. Martha's Vineyard.

Smother guilt by pride

Here the perpetrator knows he is guilty, but his ego won't allow him to acknowledge his crime. Zacharias points to King Saul as an example. When faced with Goliath, he saw the situation on human terms. He did not seek God for victory and the men were overcome by fear. David, on the other hand, went with the zeal of the Lord.

Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 1 Samuel 17:45

Later, what galled Saul was that he was diminished in the eyes of the people.

And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 1 Samuel 18:17

Jealousy drove him to erase this blot, which would be accomplished by killing David.

Expel guilt by fear

Zacharias points out this is a double whammy. The perpetrator feels guilt for the transgression, and also fear that it would be exposed. This is the case in the garden after Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8

When their sin was exposed, they tried to play the blame game.

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. ¹³And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12-13

Neither was willing to confess to their guilt. This game is being played out today. Catch a child doing something naughty and out come the two gremlins “Idano” and “Notme”.

Dismiss guilt as cultural

This is similar to the first, dismissing guilt as a cultural appendage, a throwback to a bygone era. We are modern now, we don't need all that cultural baggage. When this happens, morality is lost, because morality has to come from without, not the whims of society.

Deny guilt by innocence

A person who has lived a life so good considers that he has earned a place in heaven. God cannot send a person as good as I am to hell. As I have said before, one's goodness places the focus on themselves, and God is not looking for people who are focused on themselves and their goodness. He is looking for people who are focused on Him, on Jesus.

There is a saying, "Hell is full of good people."

We humans are good at exonerating ourselves of guilt. When we see bad behaviour in others, we pounce on it. That only belies the guilt in our own hearts. Joseph J. Bucci calls this pretzel logic[3], the contortions we go to in order to keep from facing the truth of our own failings.

What Is the Answer?

God's answer to guilt is repentance. This is exemplified in David. He transgressed, by having an illicit affair with Bathsheba, who became pregnant. He then tried to cover it up by bringing Uriah, the husband, home and allowing him to go to his wife. But the man chose not to sleep with his wife as he did not want special favour away from his men. Then David sent him back, had him put in a dangerous situation and the man was killed in battle.

David thought the matter was closed, but then he was confronted by Nathan the prophet who told of a man with many sheep and a man with one sheep, which had practically become a member of the family. A wayfarer came to the home of the man with many sheep, but rather that use one of his own to entertain him, he had the sheep of the other man slaughtered.

And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: ⁶And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 2 Samuel 12:5-6

Only to be confronted with the truth "You are the man".

David could have covered things up again by having the prophet executed, but he realized that his relationship with God was severely damaged and the only solution was to go to Him in repentance.

O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. ²Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. ³For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. ⁴Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest… ¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. ¹²Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit... ¹⁶For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. ¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:1-4,10-12,16-17

The world today is filled with people who, in their covering of guilt, have taken the moral high ground. "I am for equality", "I am for women's rights", "I am working to save democracy". "I am helping to save the planet". There is no guilt where there is no acknowledgement of wrong doing.

We need to return to a guilt-free world, where, when we fail, we can take it to God in repentance and he will cleanse us of our unrighteousness. There is no intermediary other than Jesus. No priest, no minister, no pastor can absolve you of your sin; only the one you have sinned against, God Himself. There are always consequences to sin. David paid for his sin with a child that died and a broken house, but his standing before Almighty God was restored. Let it be so with you and with me.

References

1. Ravi Zacharias, “Cries of the Heart”, Word Publishing, 1998.
2. Georges Simenon, “Maigret’s Dead Man”, Penguin Books, 2016.
3. Joseph J. Bucci, “Pretzel Logic”, Canada Free Press Oct 10, 2026.