I've Been Thinking About Good And Evil

(My column for the In Port News, to be published this week.)

"On May 6 our lives changed forever. What happened to him was not God's doing. I know that if it wasn't Tim it could have been another man and another man's family. What if they didn't have the support that we have. I couldn't be here without all of you. Evil came to pass. We have seen there is far more good on this earth. I believe, especially in this case, good will overcome the evil." Those words were spoken by Sharlene Bosma, the widow of Tim Bosma, who was apparently kidnapped and murdered on May 6, at his memorial service. As I heard the words on video, and then read them again later in print, they literally sent shivers up and down my spine.

Tim Bosma, according to everyone I've heard who knew him, was a genuinely good man. A loving husband, a devoted father of a 2 year old girl, a man of faith active in his church and community. The police have confirmed that he was exactly that; exactly what he appeared to be. And then his life was brutally ended for no rational reason anyone can understand. It was an act of evil. And evil can so easily overwhelm us. But I found myself awestruck at Sharlene Bosma's words - words that showed such faith in both God and goodness even in the midst of evil. Her words got me thinking about the concepts of good and evil, and the reality of sin.

Many people use the very existence of evil as a reason to not believe in God. A good God wouldn't allow evil, is the argument. I've always believed that the only way for God not to allow evil to happen would be to coerce us to be good - but coerced goodness wouldn't really be good, would it? And if there were no evil, then how could goodness shine? And a life lived under coercion wouldn't really be life, would it? I celebrate the freedom God gives us to choose, even while I realize that some will make the wrong choice, and some will even choose evil. But I do agree with Sharlene Bosma that, ultimately, good does overcome evil.

It's my opinion that too many Christians give evil far too much power. I reflect, for example, on the doctrine of "original sin." I understand it, of course. It states that human beings are born with a sinful nature. It's not that we're born as sinners - because sin is an action that has to be chosen, and a person has to have the capacity to make the choice (to understand right from wrong and good from bad and to choose between them) in order to sin. The doctrine basically says that once we reach the point at which we can make that choice, we will inevitably choose to do wrong at least some of the time, because we can't help ourselves. It's our nature. I readily confess that in my own life I'm well aware of my own shortcomings, failures and sins. That awareness also makes me grateful for the grace, mercy, compassion and love of God. But "original sin" puts too much emphasis on sin, and can too easily be turned into an excuse to surrender before evil. And so I choose to balance it with what I call "original goodness."

Genesis 1:31 tells us that as God finished the work of creation, "God saw all that he had made" - including us - "and it was very good." As people we are made in God's image, and we are declared "good" by God. That tells me that while we may have a sinful nature, and while we may choose to do wrong and even to do evil, there is a reservoir of goodness within us that will ultimately triumph. I think deep down we all know that. Although we're sometimes inundated with signs of evil - scandals and violence and wars and hatred - we all know as we look around our own neighbourhoods that there's far more goodness in the world. It's that hope (a hope that I believe comes from living with the image of God shining from us) that helps us through the horrible things that sometimes happen in our own lives.

It's that hope in goodness that Sharlene Bosma was talking about. May God bless her and her family. May they find the strength to somehow move forward with their lives, and may they find joy.