Good and Evil — Wrap Up

The prophet Isaiah warns us; “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).  Critics outside our faith and false teachers within it would have us believe that certain things are acceptable and others are to be rejected.  How can we know what is true?

The Bible is clear that discerning good from evil is expected of God’s people.  Consider Romans 12:9:  “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”  The writer of Hebrews clarifies the matter in Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Discerning good from evil comes from practice – from studying the word of God.  While the Holy Spirit guides us, our human nature deceives us.  Without solid foundation on the Word of God, we cannot distinguish good from evil.

Good and Evil — Part 2

In one of my recent posts, I opined that seemingly opposite ideas are common and even central to the message of the Bible.  I am convinced that concept is also at the heart of the discussion about good and evil.

In Genesis, we read the story of Joseph and his being sold into slavery by his own brothers (strong evidence that righteousness was not the basis on which God chose Israel to be His people, but that is another debate for another time).   Joseph went on to become second only to Pharaoh and to be God’s instrument to save Egypt and the surrounding people, including Israel, from starvation.  After being reunited with his brothers, Joseph gave one of the best explanations of God’s providence in all of scripture:

So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

So it was not you who sent me here, but God.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Genesis 45:4-8, 50:20 (ESV)

This is not a case of finding a “silver lining” or God’s making the best of a bad situation.  This was God’s decree from the beginning.  Good and evil coexisted in the act of selling Joseph into slavery.

As good and clear as the story of Joseph might be as an illustration, it is not the best.  The greatest good of all human history coexisted with the greatest evil of all time in the crucifixion of our Lord.  As was the case with Joseph, Christ’s crucifixion was also pre-ordained.

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’– for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Acts 4:26-28 (ESV)

In both cases, God had a plan to redeem His people and He carried it out for “good” by those who meant it for “evil.”

DSC

Good and Evil

It seems that we (Christian and non-Christian alike) love to debate the topic of good and evil.  These discussions usually start with a question such as “why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?”  That question is too broad with too many facets to answer satisfactorily in a blog and there are good books available from those much more qualified than I to address such a complex issue.  Instead, I want to highlight two fundamental points of the discussion that are typically overlooked.  I believe the debate cannot be meaningful until we get a better grip on the definition of “good” and its relationship to “evil.”

Over the course of the next two (or more) posts, I will explore these aspects of the question.

I am amazed that today’s post-modern philosophy rejects absolute truth, yet largely seems to assume that recognizing “good” is a no-brainer.  However, based on our track record, man’s ability to make this distinction is greatly overrated.  Consider the biblical account of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1-2:

“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.”

While it is likely the two brothers thought they were doing “good”, the Bible is not clear regarding their motivation for offering “strange fire,” so lets look at another example, this one in the book of 2 Samuel:

“And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.”

2 Samuel 6:5-7 (ESV)

Almost certainly, Uzzah had judged touching the ark to be a “good” idea and his motivation was honorable.  After all, the oxen had stumbled!  The ark was in danger of falling to the ground!  The Lord, however, saw things differently and punished Uzzah on the spot for his act.  How can we reconcile this?  Obviously, if God is truly good and all His acts righteous, Uzzah’s discernment of good and evil was flawed.  I suspect that, like us, Uzzah thought the act of preventing the ark from falling was a no-brainer.  He didn’t consider that his touch was disobedient to God (Numbers 4:15).  Nor did he consider that the touch of fallen man desecrated the ark more than its falling to the ground would have.  We think too highly of ourselves, and it hinders our ability to see ourselves as inherently evil.  After all, we are taught that there is good in all of us, right?

As another biblical example, I encourage the reader to review Saul’s judgment of what was “good” in 1 Samuel 13:6-14.

Jesus sets us straight on this count in the 19^th chapter of the gospel of Matthew where the author relates the story of the rich young ruler.  During the conversation between this man and Jesus, Christ indicates that the man is confused about “good” when He asks the man “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 19:17(ESV)

Herein lurks the danger in much of the teaching (or lack thereof) of today’s Church in America; the danger of establishing the righteousness of deeds without firm creeds.  Many have reduced doctrine to a level of insignificance through both deliberate acts and by sheer negligence. Without the clear, timeless standards that are found in a complete and systematic theology of the Bible, we tend to fall into the same error as Saul, Uzzah, Nadab, and Abihu.  We cannot rely on “common sense” or any sense other than scripture to determine what constitutes “good.”