October 2005 Newsletter

EVIL ATTRACTS GOOD

     At the end of September, during the national conference of The Confessing Movement within The United Methodist Church, one of the conference speakers mentioned, under his breath in a personal conversation, his admiration for Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679).  Hobbes, an Englishman and a philosopher, described his general view of the world in this way: the rather cruel state of nature is a place where people are often in a condition of war of “every man against every man.”  In Hobbes’ worldview, there is “continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

     Obviously, Thomas Hobbes not provide the stuff of devotional uplift.

     Sometimes it seems that we have entered a particularly Hobbesian era.  The war in Iraq, whatever our opinions about it, drags on; and the death counts mount.  Palestinian terrorism against Israelis, and Israel’s military responses to Palestinian terrorism, do not go away.  The “culture wars,” in American society and around the world, continue.  On the natural side of things, it appears that American society is always fighting hurricanes, one after the other.  All of this is not to mention the daily challenges in marriages, families, neighborhoods, schools, businesses, congregations, and denominations.  Sometimes it can, and does, feel like a Hobbesian world, where conflict and strife are all over the place.

     Let’s be honest: sometimes it seems like evil is winning the day.

     But the Church believes that Jesus Christ, through His death and resurrection, has defeated evil.  To be sure, evil still lurks in many forms and in many places.  Still the Church trusts that, though evil has not been eliminated, it has been denied victory by the cross of Christ.  And the defeated character of evil can been seen, even when and where evil strikes.

     Consider Hurricane Katrina.  This murderous, horrific storm was an eruption of natural evil in this fallen world.  Furthermore, the storm loosed an evil in some people to loot, rape, and otherwise savagely exploit the weak.  Because of natural and human evils, millions of people in the gulf region were harmed in body and/or plundered of possessions.

     But the story does not end there.  Order and the rule of law have been reestablished in the gulf area.  Due to the kindness of strangers, the mercy of churches, and the justice of governments, people are being fed and sheltered.  Homes are being reclaimed.  Lives are being renewed.  Hope is being reborn.  It is as if evils, and the losses resulting from evils, attract good.

     Consider how the immunity system in the human body works.  An injury occurs.  On its own, without conscious thought, the body’s immunity system figures out what the problem is, where the problem is, and what must be done to restore health.  So, the body’s immunity processes send cells, reparative cells, to the cite of the injury.  The damaged tissues are removed; new tissues are built and infection is fought; and the body’s journey toward recovery continues, often with the help of modern medicine.  Again, biologically speaking, it is as if injury (or evil) attracts healthful recovery (good).

     We know that good attracts evil.  Think of the temptations faced by extraordinarily good women and men.  Good draws the attention of the evil one and his minions.

     But also, evil often sets the stage for the arrival of good.  Sometimes the arrival of good takes a while.  Most often the arrival takes place under the media’s radar screen.  Usually the arrival is simple and subtle.  But when evil happens, good is soon to follow.  If we wait long enough, and we look carefully enough.

     Because of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, evil is defeated, and the world is redeemed.  Still, evil looks for potential victims and attacks them.  But that does not end the story.  For good arrives on the scene.  Sooner or later.

     Thanks be to God.