Book Recommendation: Apatheism: How We Share When They Don't Care by Kyle Beshears

In Apatheism, Kyle Beshears describes how modern culture has become increasingly indifferent to God (both intellectually and emotionally) due to secularism, physical comfort, and technological distractions. We normally think of belief in God ranging from atheism to agnostic to theism. But these categories ignore how much someone cares about the “God questions,” ranging from apathy to spiritual fervor (positive or negative). Traditional apologetics does not normally interest someone whose heart is indifferent to God. They find spiritual matters dull, boring, and irrelevant. Beshears urges us to recapture the joy of our salvation and then be a witness of genuine delight in God in our lives to our apathetic family, friends, and neighbors.

Why has apathy toward God increased so much in our culture? First, belief in God now is openly contested and debated. In the past, the existence of God was automatically assumed. Today, monotheism is challenged by science and other alternative claims to authority. Second, much religious and spiritual diversity exists in our society with little harassment and no persecution if a person chooses an uncommon or non-traditional faith. Third, most people are comfortable and secure in these times of extraordinary peace and prosperity. The world’s major superpowers have avoided all-out war with one another for the longest stretch of time since the Pax Romana. And most people in the U.S. spend little time worrying about food, clothing, or shelter. Across much of the world, obesity is a more significant health problem than starvation. We no longer turn to our God for safety and security with the desperation of many other people throughout history. Fourth, people are busy and distracted from considering “God questions.” Technology has allowed us to become addicted to various amusements and entertainment with no time nor patience for contemplating the significant questions of life.

Before we can effectively reach an apathetic world, we Christians need to recapture a joy-filled witness for Jesus that also embraces the peace, hope, and security that only God can provide. We cannot bear an authentic witness to what we have not experienced ourselves. Without the gift of eternal joy from God filling our lives, we can sound like travel agents describing somewhere we have never been. Or like a CPA reciting the tax code; giving facts without any passion. Recapturing our Gospel joy begins with personal confession and repentance.

Beshears describes a three-step outline for a conversation with someone who is indifferent or uninterested in the Christian faith. First, have them describe what brings them their greatest joy. Their source of happiness will likely be some combination of themselves, relationships, possessions, or experiences. Sadly, many Christians provide the same answers to this question as unbelievers. Without spiritual fervor, Christians can slide toward spiritual apathy and become practical atheists; living as if God doesn’t matter. Second, ask the person to consider how fragile and temporary their sources of joy are. How would they react to the loss of a relationship? A financial setback? A health crisis? Being the victim of violence? Where would they find joy in these difficult circumstances? These questions are “Gospel pebbles,” small annoyances that grow over time and to the point where they cannot be ignored. These questions get someone to think beyond their current circumstances and they create an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to nudge them toward God. Doubts and uncertainty about one’s future happiness can cause thinking past one’s immediate situation in a way that facts alone cannot.

Third, describe how God is a powerful and permanent source of joy, peace, hope and security in your life. Describe how the Gospel provides lasting joy despite sufferings and difficulties. Christians can (and should) increasingly find their ultimate joy in God Himself. His eternal joy transcends circumstances. This godly joy is sustained by God’s grace. Once someone becomes more interested in finding God’s joy, then the time is right for a more traditional Gospel presentation such as (i) how our sin separates us from God and how Jesus sacrificed to reconcile us to God, (ii) how the Kingdom of God is battling the forces of racism, poverty, and injustice, and now God’s people can experience a foretaste of the ultimate victory in Christ, (iii) how idolatry leads us to exchange the worship of God for worshipping things that will ultimately disappoint us, but Jesus offers divine joy, rest, and peace, or (iv) presenting the traditional arguments for the existence of God, including God as the first cause of everything (cosmological), God as the standard of what is good, true, and beautiful (moral), and God as the great designer/creator (teleological).

For most of us, time is precious these days. If you cannot afford the time to read 142 pages or listen to a three-and-one-half hour audio book, Kyle Beshears gave several long-format interviews about “Apatheism” including for the Hank Unplugged podcast and the Gospelbound podcast. These interviews captured most of the critical points in “Apatheism” in about an hour.

Are You a Consumer or a Christian?

There is a spiritual disease in modern America called “consumer Christianity.” This disease is rampant among evangelical and Reformed believers, especially in wealthy suburbs like Garnet Valley and Chadds Ford. But at its root, consumer Christianity is an unbiblical mindset that turns Christians into consumers and churches into businesses.

So here’s my question: Are you a Consumer Christian or a Christian missionary?

If you’re not sure, here are two diagnostic questions to consider:

First, how do you choose a local church?

·         Consumer Christians say, “Ask not what I can do for my church but what my church can do for me.” They look for relevant music or well-oiled programs that are already established.

·         On the other hand, Christian missionaries say, “Ask not what my church can do for me but what I can do for my church.” Rather than attending a local congregation for what they can get out of the church, they look for opportunities to serve and use their gifts. For example, they may choose a church near their home so that they can invite their friends and family. They could drive 45 minutes to a church with better preaching, more people their age, or shinier programs. But they want to be missionaries and are willing to sacrifice the “ideal church” for the sake of gospel-mission.

Second, why do you leave a local church?

·         Consumer Christians tend to be serial church hoppers. They attend a local church for a while because they like the services it provides. But eventually, they get bored, have conflict, or disagree with the direction of the church. The church no longer offers what they hoped for. Therefore, they “feel called” to move on to a new, shiny church where they can consume something new and better.

·         But Christian missionaries tend to be loyal. Yes, they want a church that faithfully preaches the Bible and administers the sacraments according to the Word of God. Yes, they want a church that is devoted to prayer, fellowship, and evangelism. But they won’t leave a church for petty reasons as long as they have the opportunity to serve and use their gifts for the glory of God.

In conclusion, don’t simply join a church to receive a spiritual service; join a church to worship God with God’s people on the Lord’s Day. Don’t have the mindset of a passive consumer; have the mindset of a missionary. In all, look for a faithful, gospel preaching church that needs you to serve and use your gifts for the glory of God. Be a missionary, not the consumer.

Do I Really Have to Love That Person?

            Do I really need to care about people?

If you’re thinking about close family and friends, that’s easy to answer. “Of course, I love and care for my friends; I’ve gone through life with them!” But let’s ask this again with different people in mind:

            The toxic individual with an undiagnosed personality disorder. Or maybe the guy who’s struggled on and off with any form of substance abuse. Maybe someone who can’t seem to hold a job for more than a couple weeks, and he uses you to get by. Perhaps someone who truly has brought turmoil into your life, and you feel better off without them.

            What about those people? Do I really need to care about them too?

            All of us have people living on the outskirts of life, and usually we like to keep them there. We don’t actively seek out difficult people, and when they do come into our lives, we’re quick to limit our interaction with them. And when someone has been declared a lost cause, why should I also waste my time, energy, and finances on them?

            If I voted on who is the King of Lost Causes, it would be the Gerasene Demoniac in Mark 5. You may know him as Legion, and he had a terrible lifestyle. Read the opening verses for yourself: He lives in a graveyard and the town treats him like an animal: chain and subdue the guy. The pièce de resistance of Legion’s story? He passes his days shrieking and mutilating his body.

This man was psychotic and dangerous. He is rightfully ostracized from the community, and he has little hope for any future. Dave Garland calls him “a microcosm of the whole of creation, inarticulately groaning for redemption (Rom. 8:22). He is condemned to live out his days alone amid the decaying bones of the dead, with no one who loves him and no one to love.”[1]

But then Legion meets Jesus, and his life changes forever. However, what’s noteworthy in the story is the town’s response: they beg Jesus to leave. What just happen? From everything we described of this man, Jesus did the town a huge solid: they finally can sleep through the night without ear-piercing screams; they don’t need to spend their time subduing the maniac, and most important, they have a man who can return to society as a functioning adult.

You know what the real problem was for the town—why they were upset? Jesus just cost them a fortune, 2,000 pigs to be exact. They all were for helping the demoniac, until it decimated their wallet. Now they wanted Jesus out of there because of it.

How many pigs is Legion worth to you? How much of a cost can you handle? In this story, Jesus is showing that there is no excuse, no one beyond a redemption arc. If someone as hopeless as Legion can become a preacher,[2] then there is no one beyond the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. How much more should we see this for whatever Legion resides in your life.

We are called to have messy—dare I say—unlovable people in life. And my knee-jerk reaction ought never be calculating how many pigs I’ll lose because of them. So, circle back to that final question: Do I really need to care about people?? In fact, change the wording: as a Christian, do I need to love unlovable people? Following Jesus Christ as the example, the answer not only is yes, but it’s more extreme than that: you are called to love lost causes, psychotics, outcasts, people who you believe could never experience God’s grace.

That radical love is nothing less than the love Christ showed us—the most unlovely of individuals—at the cross. And if we claim to have experienced this love for ourselves, Christ calls us to display this same love coming out from ourselves.

[1] Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark: The NIV Application Commentary, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 203.

[2] When you read Mark 5:19-20 for yourself, what else would you call him besides a preacher?

The Gospel according to a Baking Show

I have been a fan of The Great British Baking Show since the first minute I watched, while I was holding a sleeping newborn. I do have some good memories in my life to hang that show on, and also I chose it partly because it was one of the few shows I found that didn’t make me depressed about human nature in some way. But I think there is actually something deeply good in it. The show feels like going over to a dear friend’s house and sipping the tea they brewed and sharing a fresh scone. It feels like welcome and love. When you find a show that warm, you know the Gospel’s in it.

The Great British Baking Show has a culture that is more powerful than justice alone, more powerful than one person beating everyone else. It’s an atmosphere set by the staff, the judges and particularly the hosts, who with compassion engage the baking flops, injuries, and disasters that beset the stressed contestants. They speak the truth about each dessert, but they affirm the beauty of the people and their ability to overcome obstacles, and offer themselves as sincere, supportive friends. This is how the contestants from week to week don’t stomp out angrily at being judged. Their hearts are fed with this fundamental grace, this Christ-kind of love, and they flourish and grow in their abilities and confidence, showing others the same compassion and friendship in the process.

The Gospel is even more beautiful than so beautiful a show. It is the good news that Jesus entered the world to give us the ultimate welcome. He gave himself up in death so that we could have life with God, so that God can clean up the dropped pies and the cut fingers within us, in our souls. Being loved by Jesus who holds out hospitality richer than tea, so ultimately gives us power, like the contestants in the show, to encourage instead of gossip, hug instead of judge, and be genuinely joyful for the success of others. Let’s remember this vision of community made beautiful by love. Let’s mediate on the welcome of God in the person of Christ, who held out bread, after all, and cooked Peter’s fish. Who looked us in the eye and didn’t look away. If we understand the power of that love, and the gentleness of it, we will walk through the world seeing people instead of mistakes (and maybe holding out tea) to make others welcome in His home.

What's Mine Is Mine! ... Or Is It?

In their book, "Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives" James Salzman and Michael Heller describe the legal and historic perspectives everyone uses to claim anything they own. Ownership claims are some variations of one or more of these simple (though potentially conflicting) stories (i) I had it first, (ii) I possess it, (iii) I worked or paid for it, (iv) it's part of me, (v) it's part of what's mine, and (vi) it's my family's. Salzman and Heller describe many interesting situations of differing ownership claims including reclining airline seats, children on a playground, professional athletes’ obligations to their teams, fishing quotas, e-books, video streaming, medical research on patient's tissues, mineral & oil rights, inheritance, a full grocery cart prior to check-out, and many more competing claims for ownership.

 Greed, covetousness, pride, selfishness, and other manifestations of our sinful nature allow these competing ownership stories to bring out the worst in all of us. The ungodly passions and sinful desires of first-century believers led to quarrels, fights, and even murder. (James 4) Today, we are blessed with an overwhelming amount of material prosperity that is unimaginable to most people throughout history and in many parts of the world. Yet our possessiveness and obsession with our stuff shows no sign of waning. The comedian George Carlin frequently made many clever comments questioning whether we own our stuff or if our stuff owns us because of the time, energy, effort, and resources we devote to our possessions. The Christian approach is not to take our stuff less seriously, but to view what we have from an eternal perspective.

 Private property is an important matter throughout both the Old and New Testaments. For example, four of the Ten Commandments address private property, either directly or indirectly. (Exodus 20) The second commandment prohibits making "for yourself a carved image". The fourth commandment prohibits "your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock" working on the Sabbath. The eight commandment prohibits stealing, i.e. taking what you don't own or depriving someone the value of what they own. The tenth commandment prohibits coveting or desiring what your neighbor owns. God's people are even commanded to protect and care for the stuff of our neighbors and enemies. (Deuteronomy 22 ; Exodus 23)

Our private property should cause us to be thankful for the many blessings from God in our lives. So much of what we have is the direct result of God graciously answering our prayers. Actually, everything we have we received from God (1 Corinthians 4) The list of what we have to be thankful for is endless and should cause us to "rejoice always." (Philippians 4) Many studies show that an attitude of gratitude improves our physical and mental health. And thankfulness is the gateway to the virtues of contentment, generosity, and kindness. But thankfulness does not happen automatically. We need to be specific, deliberate, and consistent in our appreciation for what God provides to us. If we take a few extra minutes each day to thank God for His blessings, the fruit of the Spirit will grow and ripen in our hearts.  Then we will become less preoccupied with our stuff and less eager to win the conflicts over whose ownership story is more important.

Signs of Drowning

Thankfully, few of us have seen someone drown. But we have seen drownings and near-drownings on TV, so we think we know what to expect. The victim splashes and flails around while screaming and shouting. In real life, drowning is not the violent, splashing shouts for help that we see on TV. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet and quick event. During aquatic distress, the victim’s “Instinctive Drowning Response” activates several involuntarily reactions to avoid suffocation in the water. Drowning victims do not splash or wave their arms. They do not yell or call for help. They seem almost calm as they battle to keep their nose and mouth above the water. People have drowned in very shallow water, often close to family and friends because no one near them perceived the danger and no one recognized a struggling victim. Many brothers and sisters in our church family are drowning spiritually, but we are not noticing their distress. Their difficulties and worries may seem small to us. They are not crying out for help. They do not appear to be in distress. And so we do not reach out to rescue them and pull them to safety.

As sinners in a fallen world we all struggle from time to time with our marriage, our finances, our health, our families, our career, and our friends & neighbors. And at times the burden will be more than we can bear alone. Instead of crying out for help or flailing around, people may suffer in silence and withdraw from others. The New Testament has nearly sixty “one another” commands for living in Christian community including loving, serving, honoring, encouraging, forgiving, teaching, and admonishing one another. Helping to carry one another’s burdens is to fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6). A critical aspect of these “one another” commands is that sometimes we dispense love and grace to others, and sometimes we receive kindness and blessings from others.

Most of us would ease the burdens of others if we only knew who was struggling or how to help. When seeking to help others, a good place to start is to remember when we have been overwhelmed in our own lives and to use the comforts and blessings God provided to us for ministering to others. God has a long history of blessing His people to be a blessing to others (see Abraham in Genesis 12). and comforting His people so we can comfort others in their afflictions (2 Corinthians 1). When we remember our own experiences of spiritually near-drownings, then we can more clearly see the signs of distress in others. Deliberately seeking out others who are overwhelmed is the first step toward rescuing them and pulling them to safety. And we can pray that God will open our eyes and our hearts to the struggles of others. By His grace we can help Jesus fulfill His promise of rest for those who are weary from their efforts and weighed down by their burdens (Matthew 11). Let’s not wait while others continue to suffer. Let’s not just hope someone else comes to their rescue. Let’s not delay while sin wins another battle.

The Forgotten Importance of the Ascension

You could imagine a friendly debate about whether the single most important event in Jesus’ life was His death on the cross or His resurrection. His incarnation or His baptism would also find many supporters. Unfortunately Jesus’ ascension is often overlooked and underappreciated. Jesus’ ascension is described in three passages, but the brevity of the record of this event must not hide its importance. (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-11)

First, the Ascension explained Jesus’s absence. If Jesus had merely returned to heaven without any witnesses, His disciples would have spent much time looking for Him. They might have even doubted if they saw Him after His death and they might have begun to question if His resurrection actually occurred. The absence of Jesus, without an explanation confirmed by many witnesses, would have given the Jewish leaders and the Romans a chance to say that they finally killed Him and thoroughly destroyed His body so He could not deceive anyone again or cause any more trouble

Second, Jesus needed to go away so He could send the Holy Spirit to every believer. The night before His death, Jesus told His disciples He is going way. (John 14) Jesus comforted them by telling them that He and the Father will make Their home with them, and that the Holy Spirit will dwell with them and will be in them. After Jesus departed, His disciples could then experience the power, presence, and peace of God directly wherever they went, not merely when they were in His physical presence.

Third, the Ascension further affirmed that Jesus accomplished everything He had come to do. Jesus’ death appeared to signal His defeat, but His resurrection from the dead three days later showed that He had perfectly kept the whole Law of God and that He had defeated death itself. After His resurrection Jesus needed to forgive and restore His sinful disciples. He also needed to finish their preparation to proclaim the Kingdom of God without His physical presence and earthly leadership. Jesus’ ascension was the fitting end of His earthly ministry, confirming that He fulfilled everything God the Father had called Him to do.

Fourth, the Ascension restored Jesus to His glory prior to the incarnation. Jesus emptied Himself when He left His heavenly home to be born as a poor child in an occupied land. (Philippians 2) Upon His return to heaven, Jesus traded His earthly circumstances and surroundings to once again residing in Heaven. He no longer restrained or deferred any of His divine attributes as He had while He walked the earth as the God-man.

Fifth, the Ascension enthroned Jesus at the Father’s right hand. Visions of Jesus in heaven showed his place of power, privilege, and proximity to the Father. Since God is spirit, we understand “at the Father’s right hand” to be a metaphor for a position of glory, majesty, and honor while reigning over all creation. The presence of Jesus at the Father’s right hand showed us that whatever alienation and separation Jesus experienced from the Father at the cross is a thing of the past and they have been completely reconciled to one another.

Sixth, the Ascension allowed Jesus to minister to His church as Priest, Prophet and King from Heaven. So much of the Old Testament describes the roles and responsibilities of these officeholders in Israel and records their activities in the history of God’s people. These men were merely a shadow of Jesus as the ultimate High Priest, Heavenly Prophet and Divine King who rules over His whole creation and His Church. One important example of Jesus’ on-going ministry is as our intercessor, reconciling us to God the Father for any and all sins we commit.

Seventh, the Ascension glorified human nature as never before. In His resurrection body, Jesus gave us a small preview of what human limitations will be gone when we have resurrected bodies. Jesus’ bodily ascension further showed us that “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” when we are fully glorified and we join Him in the new heaven and the new earth. (1 Corinthians 2, ESV)

Eighth, the Ascension foreshadowed Jesus’ personal, physical, and glorious return. After His ascension, the disciples were told, “Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1, ESV) While we eagerly await Jesus return when He will create a new heaven and a new earth, we know what His return will be like. We are cautioned to beware of deceivers pretending to be the returning Messiah. Since we know the way in which Jesus will return, we are less vulnerable to counterfeit and demonic would-be saviors who desire to lead us astray.

While not neglecting the importance of Jesus’ incarnation, death or resurrection, let us not forget that Jesus’ ascension was a critically important event in human history and in the birth of His church. While we wait for His return, Jesus’ ascension should fill us with hope and anticipation of the glorious future that awaits us.

A Christian Appreciation of the Konmari Organizing Method

Imagine a life where everything you own brought you joy. Impossible? According to Marie Kondo, that lifestyle is more within all our grasp than we realize.

I spent this month self-consciously thinking of ways to tidy my apartment. For me, it was helpful because I just moved into a new place. Second, I’ve never been a self-declared tidy person. In fact, I’m probably their worst enemy. I didn’t do dishes in time; I can go weeks without seeing the floor of my room; I had piles of possessions that I had no intention of ever using again but would hoard them “just because I might use it again.”

And then I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and something has been slowly changing in me. My apartment is not clutter-free, but I’m personally making differences which change the way I view cleaning. I no longer feel obligated to store things that I know I will never use again; I’m much pickier with the space I use and what I keep; there’s about five trash bags full of stuff that I’m perfectly okay with tossing now.

There’s a saying that a cluttered mind produces a cluttered desk; sometimes we treat our mess as if it’s a sign of genius, and we’re not willing to just face the facts: it’s a mess we don’t want to clean up. Look at God Himself: read Genesis 1-2:3 or Psalm 104 and you’d see the overabundance of God’s emphasis on order both in creation and governing the world.

If we are looking deeply at the KonMari method, there is one nuance that Christian ought to realize. Marie calls us to appreciate what we own, but she calls us to treat our possessions as something with life: enter your house and thank it for sheltering you; thank your clothes for keeping you warm; she mentions her own story of texting her old phone before it broke, thanking it for everything.

This may seem innocent enough, but I think we’re missing a key element here: we should be thanking God Himself because He is the one where every good and perfect gift comes from. Scripture itself comes close to describing this view, but it always in a negative light. In your free time, read all of Isaiah 44:12-20, but here is just a sample, speaking of a blacksmith making an idol:

Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!” They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

There is a lot of great benefits that we can draw from Marie; there is probably more clutter in your house than you want; you own more than you really need; you don’t consider what actually brings you joy in life. We should take care of what we own, and we should realize when we own too much. But we don’t do this because of the life we see within them; we appreciate and take care of what we own because ultimately, they are gifts from God Himself.

Dealing with Interruptions like Jesus

We all hate interruptions. But as a parent of two small children, interruptions are a way of life. I finally lay down to sleep after a long day, and—interruption—a toddler burst into my room. I think I have my baby down for a nap, and I settle down to read a book until — interruption— cries ring from the bedroom.

But interruptions can come from other sources as well. You settle in to get that project done at work when — interruption— a coworker barges into your office. You are out for a relaxing walk to clear your head when — interruption— your talkative neighbor stops you.

So, how can we deal with interruptions? Well, as I was enjoying an uninterrupted time of Bible reading recently, I was struck by the way Jesus handled interruptions in Matthew 14. Jesus heard about the death of his friend, John the Baptist, and in verse 13, the text says that he “withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.” He sought out solitude. And this was his modus operandi: he often retreated for times of prayer and reflection in the busyness of life and public ministry.

Now, most of the sermons I’ve heard on this passage say something like this: “Jesus needed time alone for prayer and reflection. Therefore, it’s right for us to pursue this as well.” Of course, this application is correct. But is it the only application? After all, notice what happened to Jesus in Matthew 14:13: “But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

And this should be our response to interruptions as well. When the kids crawl into your bed when you’re trying to sleep, when your toddler interrupts your time of reading and reflection, when your neighbor needs to talk, when your coworker barges into your office, do you feel compassion? Do you look for opportunities to love and serve?

However, lest we think this is an isolated event, Jesus makes another attempt to be alone in Matthew 14. His first attempt failed. But in verse 23, the text says, “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” Jesus seizes another opportunity to be alone.

But look at verse 25. His disciples got on a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee until a dangerous storm suddenly blew in. They were about to be drowned. Therefore, Jesus left his time of solitude to save them. Jesus was willing to be interrupted out of love for others.

Therefore, are we willing to be interrupted? Do we respond in anger and frustration? Or do we respond in grace, compassion, and mercy like our Lord Jesus Christ? My prayer for all of us is that we will pursue times of solitude for prayer and reflection. This is important in a busy world. But we should never idolize our times of solitude. Sometimes they are interrupted, and that’s okay. The greater call is to love God and to love those around us as God first loved us and gave himself for us.

Pascal’s Paradox: How Can We Be both So Wonderful and So Wicked?

Blaise Pascal was a brilliant 17th century mathematician, physicist, logician, inventor, and Christian thinker. In his incomplete work Pensées (thoughts), Pascal pondered the paradox that people (individually and collectively) are both unimaginably good and staggeringly evil. History provides countless examples of people sacrificing to alleviate suffering and struggling to secure the freedom of others. But we also find terrible examples of cruelty and oppression. When we study the history of science, we find tremendous advances in medicine, public health, and using natural resources to better mankind. But we also find more efficient ways for people to oppress or kill one another and pollute our planet. As Pascal said, “The more enlightened we are the more greatness and vileness we discover in man.” What can explain these extremes of goodness and wickedness co-existing within our hearts?

Many have tried to explain away either man’s goodness or man’s wickedness. For example, some believe we are merely evolved animals “red in tooth and claw”, and we should expect to be savage and merciless as we strive to survive. Any apparent goodness is just the animal within us looking for some selfish advantage in a world where only the fittest survive. In contrast others believe we are all inherently good, and any wickedness or evil we do is because we are victims; enslaved by the chains of our society and oppressed by the culture around us. They cry, “restore justice” and “set us free” so we can live in peace and harmony with one another. Pascal said, “It is dangerous to explain too clearly to man how like he is to the animals without pointing out his greatness. It is also dangerous to make too much of his greatness without his vileness. It is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both, but it is most valuable to represent both to him.”

Are man’s divine aspirations and animal malevolence mutually exclusive? If not, how could both natures with their opposing thoughts, desires, and actions be true about us? Pascal concluded that, “true religion must necessarily teach us that there is in man some great principle of greatness and some great principle of wretchedness!” The Apostle Paul described his own battle with his desire to do good while actually acting wickedly. “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. … Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7 ESV)

The Bible and the Christian faith provide the best explanation for the seemingly paradoxical condition of human greatness and wretchedness that we observe in ourselves and others. First, we are created in the image and likeness of God including the understanding of right and wrong, the ability to love and sacrifice, the capacity to think and create, the power to design and build, the foresight to plan and prepare for the future, and many more attributes not found elsewhere in creation. So, what is the source of our wickedness? Because second, we have been corrupted, tarnished and distorted by our rebellion against God. All of our capacity and capability for greatness has been turned in the direction of evil and wickedness, though it may not seem that way to us. God’s grace opens our eyes to see that the sin in others is no different that the sin in our own hearts, minds, and bodies. And when we cry to be free from our rotten condition, Jesus rescues us, sets us free, rebuilds our relationship with God, and renews us to live a life without hatred, cruelty, pride, selfishness, anger, or anything else that separates us from God.