Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)
Like sin, evil hangs
around the house and loiters in marketplace. Some people think that passing
laws and putting up signs (“Shoplifters will be prosecuted,” or “_____ only,
all others will be towed at owner’s expense.”) will fix things. As I consider
this passage this morning, one of the things that strikes me about it is its
applicability at both the individual and collective level.
We must each overcome evil
with good. We must do it within our own lives first, to make sure we can see
well enough to remove the specks from the eyes of others. But we must also overcome
evil with good in our dealings with others. Those who attack us with intent to
hurt must be given reason to regret their misdeeds. And the Church is to act to
end evil. The Church should not tolerate evil in its midst.
All this means that we
need to clearly understand what evil is, but keep in mind that our battle isn’t
with flesh and blood. And one of the evils we must fight is power - our own
power over others, or anyone else’s power over others. This is why it’s evil to
use the government to fix things - because it is all about power over others. We
might claim to be seeking to do good, but doing good by doing evil is doing
evil.
This is one of the things
I like about a ministry called Remember Nhu. The goal is to provide children
with a safe home, food, and an education so that they don’t have to resort to
prostitution or slavery to survive. As far as I know, while they are opposed to
sex trafficking and slavery, their focus is on the children, not the criminals.
I’m not saying that criminals should be allowed to get away with crimes, just
that preventing someone from becoming a victim or rescuing someone from victimhood
is probably more of what the Church is supposed to be doing.
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