The Evil In Me
I started watching this new show on Netflix called The Good Place about a woman who accidentally ends up in Heaven. There, she is matched with her soulmate, who happens to be a professor of ethics, and she convinces him to secretly teach her ethics so she can learn to be good enough to 'earn' her place in Heaven, so that she won't get kicked out.
As I'm watching it, I'm half expecting the punchline to be that everyone is there by accident and hiding it, because some of the people there are just so selfish and self-absorbed. I mean, if you raised millions of dollars for charity, but you only did it to get back at your sister, are you really one of the top best people in the world?
At the Alpha Course* one week, one of the questions we discussed was, what does sin mean to me? I took a really long time to come up with an answer, because I was trying to think what it actually means to me, deep down inside, and not just what I had been taught.
I think sin is not a set of actions that break some rule, but part of the fabric of who we are. The actions are just a symptom of a deeper problem--our own selfishness, greed, pride, self-absorption. You might be able to keep some of it at bay with inordinate self-control, but those ugly parts of you are still there, you're just good at subduing them.
It's like this quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which can be found as the epigraph of Humans by Robert J. Sawyer: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
I have heard it be insinuated that religions in general, and the Church specifically, profit off of feelings of guilt, and even, that it is in their best interest to inflate or even manufacture feelings of guilt, because it keeps people coming back to get relief from their guilt.
But, as for me, I don't need to dig very deep to find ugly parts of myself. I have said so many stupid things I wish I had not said, I have made so many choices that put myself before other people, I have participated in gossip that has torn people down, I have allowed resentment and bitterness build up over the stupidest things.
You may be thinking, why should you feel guilty about that? Everyone does those things. No one is perfect. But that's exactly the point. No one is perfect--that's the problem.
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24)
*Sorry if you get sick of references to the Alpha Course... we have some really good discussions. It gets me thinking and keeps giving me ideas for this blog.
As I'm watching it, I'm half expecting the punchline to be that everyone is there by accident and hiding it, because some of the people there are just so selfish and self-absorbed. I mean, if you raised millions of dollars for charity, but you only did it to get back at your sister, are you really one of the top best people in the world?
At the Alpha Course* one week, one of the questions we discussed was, what does sin mean to me? I took a really long time to come up with an answer, because I was trying to think what it actually means to me, deep down inside, and not just what I had been taught.
I think sin is not a set of actions that break some rule, but part of the fabric of who we are. The actions are just a symptom of a deeper problem--our own selfishness, greed, pride, self-absorption. You might be able to keep some of it at bay with inordinate self-control, but those ugly parts of you are still there, you're just good at subduing them.
It's like this quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which can be found as the epigraph of Humans by Robert J. Sawyer: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
I have heard it be insinuated that religions in general, and the Church specifically, profit off of feelings of guilt, and even, that it is in their best interest to inflate or even manufacture feelings of guilt, because it keeps people coming back to get relief from their guilt.
But, as for me, I don't need to dig very deep to find ugly parts of myself. I have said so many stupid things I wish I had not said, I have made so many choices that put myself before other people, I have participated in gossip that has torn people down, I have allowed resentment and bitterness build up over the stupidest things.
You may be thinking, why should you feel guilty about that? Everyone does those things. No one is perfect. But that's exactly the point. No one is perfect--that's the problem.
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24)
*Sorry if you get sick of references to the Alpha Course... we have some really good discussions. It gets me thinking and keeps giving me ideas for this blog.
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