"I
will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of
the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living
creature as I have done.” Genesis 8:21
The early chapters of Genesis offer
to us explanations for some of the epic questions of life. One of those is the question of evil, and why
God doesn’t act to wipe evil off the face of the earth. Never again.
Following the flood, God’s resolve is that such an act of judgment will
never again happen. The reason is that “the
human heart is evil from youth”. In
other words, if God were to destroy evil, there would be no end to the slaughter
as at one level we are all inclined to wickedness.
And yet we offer up one lament
after another for the wickedness that remains part of the human story. This week was a bad one. Two major assaults. Bombs sent to Democratic leaders and
activists. And then there was the mass
shooting at a Jewish house of worship in Pennsylvania. These seem to be at
least in part politically motivated-- the work of deranged minds. Are they at least in part the result of the harsh
political divide in our country? Yes,
but it’s too early to come to conclusions.
Sometimes these acts of violence
have had no motivation whatsoever, except to do evil. At other times there is a motivation, a
belief that somehow these acts are justified and serve a greater good. The gunman believes that he is acting ‘for
the good of all’ by destroying those who are responsible for the problems in
society. Early indications are that the
gunman at the Jewish temple believed that Jews were responsible for the “invasion”
of immigrants from South America.
Historically, one of the most
pervasive causes of evil is ironically the belief in a utopian future. If only certain people were overcome or eliminated,
then evil would be eradicated from the earth.
Stalin purged the Russian population in the name of establishing a
utopian socialist society. Hitler
believed that the eradication of the Jews would solve Europe’s problems and
bring about a better world. It was the “final
solution”. It is the belief that a
greater good is being served that justifies acts of evil. As people pursue a pure and perfect society,
inevitably entire classes of people need to be eliminated for the sake of that
purity. And even in our country, Native
Americans were seen as an obstacle that needed to be overcome in the building
of this nation. My ancestors were the
direct beneficiaries of this effort as they were given land to homestead
following the Indian wars.
If there is a solution to this, it
is that we accept each other and the world as imperfect. And part of that is accepting a rich
diversity, not a pure unity.
In the political realm this means
embracing the give and take of a multiple party system. Republicans and Democrats need each other’s
perspective as correctives to their own.
The opposition party is not an impediment to progress, but an essential
part of that.
Within the Church this means
practicing love, forgiveness, and a reconciled diversity not a purified
righteousness. When metal is purified,
the dross needs to be burned off. This
metaphor, though used in the bible, actually can never work in the church. If we seek to purify the church of sinners,
in the end nothing is left.
That’s why in the history of
salvation God decided to pursue the path of forgiveness and acceptance, not
purity.
At the end of the Bible, in the
book of Revelation, we have a description of the final battle against the
forces of evil. One of the lessons of
that is that evil will remain part of our world until the end. No amount of effort on our part will be able
to create a ‘pure’ society. Instead, to
live well means living with each other, faults and all.
We cannot solve the problem of evil
in the world. What we can do on a day to
day basis is simply to love and accept one another, even in our
differences. You are not always going to
agree with me or me with you.
Nevertheless, we are both part of the Church and the society.
As a church we are called to love
one another. As a society we need to
practice civility in public discourse and relationships. And we need to accept that this is an
imperfect world that can never be purified.
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