There is a passage found in an ancient sacred text (The Book of Mormon) which is at once fascinating and disquieting. The passage is a statement by a Hebrew prophet of God who had lived in the area around Jerusalem in the days of the biblical prophet Jeremiah, around 600 BC. This prophet I have in mind is named Lehi. Being warned by God in a dream of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, he took his family and fled Jerusalem. They sojourned in the Arabian desert for 8 years before coming to the seashore near the Arabian Sea. Eventually, one of his sons, guided by the revelations of God, built a seaworthy vessel, and they sailed across the world, landing at last in the Americas.

After some years had passed, as he came to the end of his life, Lehi made a series of pronouncements that were of deep import. One thing he proclaimed was the following:

“For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, . . . righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.” (2 Nephi 2:11).

I do not pretend to possess a complete and thorough understanding of what Lehi had in mind, but if we are to believe Lehi and take him at face value, he seems to be saying that opposition, strife, resistance, friction, conflict, and discord is woven into the fabric of life.

I think most all of us would concur that our own experience tells us this is true. Life is fraught with such things. We don’t glide through life in a tropical oasis as a matter of routine. Even for those who live a mostly idyllic life find their smooth sailing punctuated by moments of trouble and consternation.

This column may seem somewhat contradictory to what I wrote about resolving conflict in the Self-Development column above. And it is, because it addresses a very different level of conflict.

Even so, one lens through which to perceive the world around us is through the perception of good and evil. I wish to be on the side of good. So what do I do when confronted with real evil?

I could ignore it, and I notice that most people do.

But what happens when the early seeds of cancer invade the human body? If left untreated, such seeds sprout, grow, spread, and metastasize, eventually overcoming the various internal systems. The result is often death.

What happens when a community allows evil and lawlessness to spread unchecked? Evil is able to spread unheeded and the overall culture begins to weaken and stagnate and become degenerate.

Thus, I came to realize I had to make a decision. While I wish it could be otherwise, I decided to be a warrior, albeit a reluctant warrior. I take no great pleasure in conflict, but I take even less solace in the alternative, a weakening of the social order and seeing society descend into anarchy. As much as I’d prefer a life of tranquility, I embrace what I believe is an obligation to confront and vanquish evil at every opportunity. When certain forces of evil rear their head, the gloves come off, as it were, and I go to work, doing some of the most important work (yet unpleasant work) I can possibly do.

Warrior, yes. But reluctant warrior, ever and always.