An email brought me this word for the day, and its usage (according to Garner’s Modern American Usage.

mayhem:
(1) malicious injury to or maiming of a person, orig. so as to impair or destroy the victim’s capacity for self-defense; (2) violent and damaging action, violent destruction…

And “maim,” n. Though etymologically identical, “mayhem” and “maim” have undergone differentiation. In the best usage, “mayhem” refers to the crime (sense 1 above) and “maim” to the type of injury required for the crime.

It strikes me that sin causes spiritual (and often physical) mayhem.

Thanks be to God for our great Redeemer and Lord, Jesus Christ!
pdb