Responding to Evil

I've been thinking about evil a lot the last couple of days. That was the subject of our sermon on Sunday. What is evil? Why does God allow it? What should our response be? etc. And then the massacre at Virginia Tech happened yesterday, and I thought that there could hardly be a more fitting (and tragic) illustration of this concept.

It didn't seem real at first. It felt like a story to me, horrifying but removed. Oh, I said, "How terrible!" like, I'm sure, everyone else in this country. And I prayed for the friends and loved ones of the victims. But it didn't seem real until this morning when I was in Mark's ER room with him, watching the news coverage of the service at Virginia Tech. The words of the speakers sounded so hollow in the face of such horror. And the students ... they looked like they'd been flash frozen. Their vacant expressions were haunted.

And then there was one idea that seemed to break through--to me at least. Some of the speakers talked of how evil only wins if we let it, that we have a choice whether to let this horrifying act be the end, or whether we will open ourselves to healing and allow a new beginning.

I think of a group of Jews I read about once. Existing under horrible conditions in a concentration camp, several of them organized into a choir. Under some of the most horrendous conditions, they found beauty. They created beauty where there was none to be found.

But why, oh, WHY does God allow this kind of evil in the first place? If he is all powerful, why didn't he stretch out his hand to stop Cho Sheung-Hui before he set out on his mission of terror and death, before he destroyed so many lives? How could he just sit there and let it happen? It's because good without the possibility of evil means nothing. God could have created a multitude of robots who would all go around doing all the right things, but he chose not to. If he had, our goodness would be about as meaningful as the fact that a drill, when fitted with a bit and connected to a power source, makes a hole. God wants more than that, but to open himself (and us) up to all the goodness of which humanity is capable, he HAD to open us up to the potential for evil. There was no other way.

I think about my own life in the wake of this tragedy. I am truly fortunate that I have experienced nothing anywhere near as traumatic as what the students and facility (and their families) experienced yesterday at Virginia Tech. They truly have a rough road ahead of them. Healing will not be instant, and it will not be easy. Each person impacted is going to have to choose--not just once, but over and over through the next few days and months and years-- whether they are going to let evil win--or if they are going to let this be a new beginning.

Pastor Jerry said in his sermon that it is not nearly as important to define evil as it is to pursue good. Evil and good are polar opposites, he said. One drives out the other. Do I do that in my own life? When someone offends me, when I am the victim of a slight or an injustice, do I respond in a way that expands evil, that passes it on? Or do I meet evil with good and so remove its power? Do I open myself up to the healing power of goodness and love? I'm afraid I'm making it sound simple. It is NOT simple. But it is vitally important that we make this CHOICE, whether we are here in Podunk, Oregon, dealing with a nasty sales clerk, or across the country in Virginia dealing with the aftermath of an incomprehensible mass murder. The principle remains the same. To banish evil, we must pursue good. It's our choice, and I can only pray that we make the one that will lead to healing and hope ... and life.