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Character or Evil ...
Friday, July 4, 2014. People have different character. Humans have different concepts of how they interact with their environment - with other people and the structures around them. These concepts of action can differ considerably from person to person … but is it all just to understand it? Is there better and worse in action concepts? And what about “good” and “evil”?
Character Scheme and Ethics …
I have intensely read a character typology in the past days - trying to understand how different people act, what drives them and how you could properly deal with them. That is extremely exciting … humans are so different, and you will not succeed to build a community if you do not give space to the different personalities which are a part of it.
But I also came to the question: what about evil? If people ignore others, that IS just evil. If they treat others badly - and there is a whole range of ways how that can happen - that is evil. I took time to search for “evil” in the biblical books, and there are many hundreds of verses where the bible talks about evil. Just as an example, look into proverbs:
Pr 17:13 If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house. Pr 20:22 Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. Pr 21:10 The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes. Pr 28:5 Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely. Pr 28:10 Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance. Pr 29:6 An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.
What is the source of evil? …
I ask myself: what is the source of evil? And how can you overcome it? When there are conflicts in the church, when people make mistakes and hurt each other, when people are weak and struggle, and then blame others … all this can be overcome as long as people believe in Jesus and follow his forgiveness. We need to talk about things which are not good, we need to have the willingness to change our behaviour, we need to say sorry to each other and combine it with clear changes of what we do and how we do it. I see great chances to live the forgiveness we all receive from the Lord!
But it does not work with someone who is stubborn in his behaviour and continues with blaming others or hurting others. I am trying to understand where evil starts, and where weakness of character ends. Let us note that the bible clearly identifies evil. It says it is there, and it is terrible. And we see evil in the form of war and suppression in many parts of our world. But what about our work environment, about our families, our relationships between neighbors and church members, between colleagues and friends?
Perhaps evil starts where mercy ends? The moment you start to ignore mercy and shift it away, you start to become evil to the other person? The moment you put ignorance first and love second? Is it only God who can combine justice with love in a proper way such that his consequences and actions are good? I think we have reached a very important and deep point here, which will help us a lot when we move on … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts