I write to you, dear children, because your
sins have been forgiven on account of his name. I write to you, fathers, because
you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because
you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have
known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is
from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the
word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (I John 2:12-14)
Years
ago, I read a science fiction story written from a Christian perspective. The
only other thing I remember about the story is that I didn’t like the ending because
the hero died without accomplishing whatever it was he was supposed to
accomplish, but he was welcomed into heaven as a hero – not because he was
martyred, but because he was faithful. I’ve grown up a lot since then, but I
have to admit, I have some problems with seeing myself, or anyone else, as strong
or victorious, or as having overcome the evil one. I tend to equate victory and
overcoming with destroying the enemy, with saving the world. Yu now, the sort
of thing you see on TV.
I’ve written a little about this
before. We think that the penitent vampire, who wants to be a good person. He
gets into a battle with another undead or demonic something and he loses horribly
until… he releases the vampire within himself and wipes up the floor with the
foe of the week. And we all cheer, or breathe a sigh of relief because once
again, Good has prevailed, and the world is safe for another seven days. But has Good prevailed? Can Good ever prevail
if the means of achieving it is evil?
I’m
not going to claim that good people should stand by and watch evil occur. I’m
not saying that a sniper who has a chance to take out a mass murderer should
not do so because doing so requires that he kill a person. I’m just saying we
need to think about these things, and consider whether doing that is enough.
What if overcoming evil takes more than that? What if it takes being good
ourselves? Not just a little bit good, but one hundred percent good? What if it takes taking all that evil can
dish out without stooping to evil in our response?
These
are important considerations, because if we’re going about it all wrong, we can
not hope to overcome.
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