Do you Remember?

Do you remember where you were on September 11th, 2001? As the horrific details of the day unfolded, as most Americans you were likely glued to the TV in disbelief and shock. I was in a classroom filled with 7th and 8th graders whose main questions were who would do this and why? That’s what we all wanted to know. Who, with cold and calculated ideology, could plan and follow through with mass murder of innocent lives? What purpose, message, statement or motivation could fuel this atrocious act? To me only one word expresses a strong enough answer…evil.

The word “evil” by Encarta Dictionary is the quality of being profoundly immoral or wrong, deliberately causing great harm, pain or upset. Our contemporary definition of this word leads us to some foundational follow up questions: If evil exist than can we not name it? If we name it, there must be a decisive judgment between what is moral or immoral? Who gets to judge what is moral or immoral and by what criteria? These are tough questions that can lead many sincere and thoughtful individuals down separate paths. Try tackling that topic in a Jr. High classroom on the fly?

We believe God is good and His goodness is pure and complete. He is Holy. In God’s character and being there is the complete absence of even a shadow of evil. Jesus makes the statement, “No one is good–except God alone”.-Mark 10:18 (NIV) Can someone or something tainted with evil be a judge or set the moral standard? No, there is only one who has the moral purity to define and judge what is good or evil, moral or immoral. God alone, and He has given us the framework of understanding good and evil. From the mention of the Tree of Good and Evil in Genesis, acts of disobedience and rebellion of humanity against God and His will, to evil’s rise in the end of days with Christ’s ultimate victory at His return as written in Revelations, evil describes physical and moral attitudes and actions with its frightening consequences.

As we enter into a national time of remembrance of the ten year anniversary of this attack on our nation, we grieve in the perverse evil that impacted each and every one of us and the innocence lost. Today we can say, “Yes, evil undoubtedly exists”, but our hope in the face of unadulterated evil is the power of the goodness of God. Darkness flees from the Light. Jesus has defeated sin and death in the Cross and resurrection, and God our Father will judge and cast away evil for eternity. Our response as Believers in Christ is to live daily in obedience and alignment of His standard of goodness, mercy and grace.

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. – 3 John 11 (NIV)