Malice is a word that isn’t used very often in every day conversation, unless you are a lawyer. But it means the intent to do harm to another and/or to commit an unlawful act. Probably every person who has ever lived has experienced the emotion of malice. Not, necessarily, the kind that would cause you to knowingly commit an unlawful act but the kind where you feel like doing some degree of harm to another person. You may just feel like ‘punching ‘em in the nose.’ There are many reasons that malice may come to mind. Maybe something of value was stolen from you or you may have personal disagreements with others. Your malice may have been sparked by an International event, where you hear of politically motivated terrorists killing and maiming innocent people, and you would like to be in a position to make sure they stop their cruelty. It seems to be a natural thing for one malicious person or act to insight malice in another. The malice may only be in our mind, not an actual act that is carried out, but is there a difference?
Most of us have probably met people who have a lot of malice, people who spew out hateful statements on a regular basis. They may never actually follow through with their hate, but they talk hate. Others are victims of such malice, innocent or not; many people are wounded mentally or physically every day because of another’s malicious talk or behaviour.
Historically, the first recorded episode of malice was referenced in the Old Testament when Cain killed Abel. Cain was jealous because Abel’s sacrifice was accepted of the Lord, and Cain’s was not. After committing the act, he realized another benefit of his malice, and that was that Abel’s property could now be his. So murder, or the act of malice, became a way to get wealth without working for it. Thus, Cain became the Master Mayhem, and he organized a secret society whose purpose was to murder and plunder to get gain. From Cain, such secret societies have flour- ished all over the world.
There is an awful lot of malice in our world today. Most of it is initiated as opposition to another’s way of life. These are a few examples: one religious belief opposes another, one political party’s views being opposed by another, one gang fighting a rival gang, race against race, ethnic group against another and even teams against teams. Any competitive group has a tendency to develop malice towards another. There are even published statements of malice. Joshua Crump writing to Joseph Bozman stated:
“Accursed wretch for I will tell; Of all thy roguish ways you are a villain doom’d to hell, for cheats and roguish plays; You who can cheat the poor, and every man can swindle; You ugly gristly bearded boar! Oh! how my malice kindle…”
The Savior’s message was to publish peace and love in order to change individuals from lives of malice, from lives of hate and anger, to lives of peace and tranquility. His message was to change the natural man to a spiritual man, a man who is a peacemaker, whose interest is a life of developing trust and cooperation between all groups of people. His message was directed toward individuals.
A life without malice has to begin with me (you), for individuals can influence groups just as groups influence individuals.
That is not to say that a spiritual, peace-loving person will never fight. When a person’s way of life is threatened, their liberty, their freedom and when the lives of family members are at stake, then one must be prepared to defend those things. In those situations, the malice or threat always comes from an evil force, and that evil must be put down. In the Book of Mormon, Moroni was such a defender: “And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery; Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people. Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.” (Alma 48:11–13) The defense of basic freedoms on the side of right is not recognized as malice. It is for those principles that we have a God-given right to fight with all our might. May God bless us with the courage to always stand up in defence of our rights but never to offend, for when we offend, we do so with malice.