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Good and Evil

             Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (I Corinthians 13:6)

Let’s start with the quick reminder of the “read it in front of a mirror” exercise.

          At the heart of today’s verse is one issue that can be said in two ways. It’s evil v good and lie/deception v truth. Which will we choose as our cause for celebration? We’d like the choice to be simple and obvious. White hat v black hat, or (better yet) everything I delight or rejoice in being good and true, and everything I don’t like being evil and a lie.

          As we consider love in connection with good and evil or lies and the truth, we face a dilemma. How do we discern what is good and true and what is evil and deceitful? Do we focus on private or public good? Who gets to decide what is good and true? Today, on the one hand, we’re being told by some that each individual has the right to dictate how others must perceive them and what is right and true. This doesn’t tend to be universal because while some may impose on others, others may not be granted that power. On the other hand, we’re told that what the collective, or “the people” say must be good and true. But those are both roads to chaos. For the next 30 seconds, I or society may hold one opinion about good and true, and then society or I may change our minds for some reason. What was considered good and true ten years ago is now considered evil and false. But why should we change our minds about it? Ten years from now, it may all reverse again. And while some of us will be happy about that, it will remain unstable as long as our opinions, whether as individuals or a collective, dictate what is good or evil.

          The only hope we have for stability, truth, and goodness is to abide by an objective definition that comes from outside of ourselves or our collectives

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