God, Good, and Evil
God.
That’s not exasperation – it’s contemplation.
God contains all things . . . or at the very least, He created all things and therefore everything exists through Him – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.* What does this mean of different types of “forces”? For example, good and evil? Does God contain these things? Does evil exist through God?
Perhaps.
But how? I think possibly the truth is that good and evil are merely extensions of the same thing, a thing which God does in fact contain – contain and command. It could be minimized to Power or Love. If love, then good and evil would be some sort of excess vs. deficiency. Good would be some sort of excess of Love and evil the deficiency. This seems peculiar, because often an act or mentality which we would label as “evil” is not necessarily a deficiency of Love, but a misallocation. Muslims bomb, not because they do not love, but because they love and revere God, Allah, and His call above all else. This is tough to define, and it seems odd to think that God could contain a sufficiency and a deficiency.
If God is Love*, He does not quantitatively contain Love.
Good and evil may also be extensions of the quality, or force, “Power.” God definitely has power. If we switch perspectives and think again about what it would mean for humans to do good or evil, it seems that good and evil are each our use of power. Good, if defined by examination of Christ as our model, is power in service as a servant and evil is the contrast, power in self-service. Christ was definitely “powerful.” Christ was definitely “good.”
When I think about ethics, as a discussion of good vs. evil and what it means to act as “good,” I can’t help but think of it as an extended power struggle. It’s merely disguised as a pursuit of “righteousness” by the pious and of “humanitarianism” by the secular. How could we answer the question which asks, “What is the right way to act?” I think a good place to start discussing would be with the question, “How do I understand “power”?”
The difficulty in developing an ethical theory which adequately establishes the priority of actions – the hierarchy of “good” and “evil,” is that there are so many minute calculations, there are infinite scenarios to account for, there are limitless exceptions to the rules. I don’t expect anyone to account for all these things, except God.
I’m tired of power-struggles. I’ve tried them throughout my own life and I’ve seen them in others. That’s what bothers me about politics; often decisions over “what is best for the country” become less about “what is best for the country” and more about individuals or parties trying to maintain as much power as possible for themselves and their constituents.
I have noticed that, with the very limited power I have, I have done both “good” and “evil;” I have served others and myself. This also is a power-struggle I am tired of having – the struggle of where my efforts aim.
The Grace of God says that I, as a human-being, am not defined as “good” or “evil.” Those things do not become me – I am neither. I am a being who has been entrusted with power. In acknowledgement of this, I declare both my own acceptance of the power with which I am entrusted and my allegiance to the One from whom all power comes.
*In John Chapter 1, John talks about the Word, Christ, through whom all things that are came to be.
*1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16
