Desperately Wicked

Yesterday I was listening to a story on my car radio. I was shocked by the evil about which it was centered. Being a student of the Holy Bible, I should not have been shocked. The heart of human kind is summarized with great precision in the Bible and the picture is not a pretty one. It seems that what first appeared to be a pilot of a reality television game show entitled “The Game of Death” was actually a social experiment that is to become a documentary film in France. Eighty contestants, who thought they were to be on a game show, agreed contractually that they would be willing to administer electric shocks to other contestants when answers were incorrect. With the exception of the contestants, everyone else involved in the show, including the audience, the host and the contestants to be the victims of the electric shocks were actors. The whole show was a carefully contrived attempt at eliciting the worst of human behaviour from those who thought they were the actual contestants. When contestants were required to shock who they thought was a fellow contestant, they were placed under a great deal of peer pressure by the demands of the host and the loud audience demanding punishment of the victim. As the game progressed the severity of the mock electric shocks was increased to the point of being lethal. Despite the screams of pain and the begging for mercy of the actor playing the victim, contestants were pressured unmercifully to actually “kill” the actor playing the losing contestant. The sad commentary is that of the eighty contestants only 16 refused to continue and 64 were willing to comply with the crowd and inflict great pain and even death. The conclusion of this social experiment showed exactly what the Bible tells us about human behavior.

9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

20 For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10)

I could keep adding quotes. Human beings are indeed sinners who unfortunately can be greatly influenced by the evil of those around them. The greatest evil in my opinion was the man who devised this diabolical experiment in order to document what he already knew. I can’t even imagine the trauma caused to the sixty-four who must live with such a horrible opinion of themselves after the fact. The damage done to these people can’t even be estimated. All will need intensive therapy in order to be able to live with themselves. In retrospect, it was observed that those who refused to continue complying all seemed to have some previous experience at being able to rebel against the system or to resist what appeared to be authority. I wish I could self-righteously declare right here and now that I would have been in the righteous sixteen. I hope, had I been there, that I would have had the moral backbone to refuse to go with the crowd, but hope is the only assurance I have. As Jeremiah put it, who can know the depths of depravity possible in human behaviour? We are indeed all sinners and as such we need a saviour who was willing to pay the price of our redemption. That Saviour is Jesus Christ. Have you accepted the free gift of His work on the cross of Calvary?

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