April 5, 2014 by Ron Hutchison

Having just finished a Youth Sunday that centered on the theme of Good and Evil I have been thinking about the concept of Evil…or is it evil? For me it carries such a heavy connotation. Evil is what the world is corrupted by. Evil is epitomized by our symbolic or literal concept of Satan (the Devil or “The Evil One”). So I think it is so heavy a term that I do not find it easy to use in confronting human flaws. When I was counseling youth and families as a Probation Counselor I tried to stay away from loaded words like “bad” or even “wrong” when addressing dysfunctional or poor decisions. Sometimes it seemed necessary but I used them sparingly. I would never use the word “evil.” I think that I am concerned about the finality of the word for me. “Satan” is not a redeemable concept for me.

 
I begin to think about what would be evil in my eyes and I think the total absence of GOD would mean there was evil. I think there have been very few acts in my world that would constitute evil in my knowledge of history. The Holocaust, the Inquisition, most serial killers, and endeavors that have the acquisition of wealth the only goal. That is not to say there have not been many bad things done out of carelessness or misunderstanding that have had horrible consequences. The crusades, witch burnings, religious persecutions, jihads against people are examples of that, I think. Any time we condemn someone for behavior we believe to be wrong and count them as evil for it we may be the ones who have done the injustice. That may make us sinners but not “evil.” So, what is the difference between being a sinner and just evil?

I think here is where Jesus has freed us and given us permission to recognize our mistakes without the condemnation of being evil. Before Jesus it seemed to me that people who suffered were doing so for the evil they personified. Job was told he must have been evil for GOD to have forsaken him. In that culture the gods or GOD abandoned one for not living up to expectations. Wealthy prosperous people had the favor of God or the gods. God bestowed power to abuse others so anything they did was GOD’s or the gods’ will. Jesus turned all of that upside-down. First he made it clear that GOD would never abandon us. GOD is love personified. GOD creates LOVE for us to share with GOD and each other. Now the world is no longer separated between GOOD and EVIL because there is very little that is totally absent of GOD’s LOVE. Yes, we may pervert that love in life by misunderstanding or disobeying, but GOD’s LOVE is eternal. Jesus spent a great deal of his time ministering to us, gently planting the ideals that would cultivate that LOVE between GOD and ourselves so we could also share it in a loving community (an ideal church community).

It is my belief that Jesus taught us we are not evil but created with freewill to choose how to serve the LOVE that is GOD and sometimes--well, often--we choose wrong. But our wrong choices do not condemn us to evil. Jesus has shown us the way to reconnect with GOD’s LOVE. He has saved us from evil with a NEW COVENANT of forgiveness. All we have to do is acknowledge our sins (mistakes) and follow his directions. The Gospels give us the DO’s from Jesus. They are easy to find but hard to live.  If they were easy would he have needed to die? Christ gave his life for me so I can know GOD my LOVING CREATOR as he knows GOD. And Christ still lives for me.