Darth…me?

Like any red blooded, American boy, I grew up on the imagination of George Lucas.  Now that I am a father, I am passing on the joy of Star Wars to my children.  And just to clear up any confusion, I am starting them right with Episodes 4-6.  Of which, Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back is the best.

Now, I also grew up in a traditional, Southern Baptist church.  This means my imagination and my view of myself and my view of people in general formed with very different ideas clashing in the grey matter of my developing brain.  As a young (lower case f) fundamentalist, I was taught that people are naturally evil (not good), because that is what the Bible says.  As a lover of all things Star Wars, I was taught that all people, even the reprehensible Darth Vader, have good in them.  So which is true?

I would imagine that when most of us hear the word evil we instinctively picture Hitler, a horror film or something of the like.  I would like to propose a different view of evil.  After all, if we allow ourselves to view evil as extreme immoral action, all of us will be immune to that label.  But, what if the best way to understand evil is:

The privation of, or absence of good.  [Augustine]

For those of you familiar with Augustine and other explanations for evil, simmer down for a moment.  Use the force if necessary.

My goal in this post is not to explain why there is evil.  Rather, I want to see evil for what it really is.  So, assuming for a moment that the definition above is true and helpful, if kindness is good, then not kind is evil.  If generous is good, then not generous is evil.  If patient is good, then not patient is evil.  The list could go on and on; you get my point.  Contrasting good and evil in this way, we have painted a darker picture of ourselves.  We are all a mixed bag of good and evil behavior.  Yet, the question remains…

Are we naturally good or naturally evil?

This has always been a tough one for me, and not just because of the influence of Star Wars.  I have known quite a few good people who were not at all religious, people who were convinced that no god exists, of any kind.  I bet you know people like that too.  This has been source of conflict for many Christian teenagers whom I pastor.  In almost every Bible study when this subject is broached, a hand is raised and the words are uttered,

What about ________ at my school?  She is good person, maybe even better than me.  She doesn’t even believe in God.

If it is true that no person is good, not even one…what are we to do with this objection and the objections that we silently carry in our own consciences?  Do we really trust the Bible that we are, by nature, evil and enemies of God?  Not only do we believe it, is it even true?  I don’t think we can afford to just go with our gut on this one.  And as much as I cherish faith, I don’t want embrace a faith that forces me to reject my mind.  Perhaps we need a few more questions instead of one more answer.

Have you ever been so tired that your capacity for kindness was all but gone?  Have you ever been so hungry, sick or in pain that you just were unable to be kind, generous or patient?  Sure.  We all have.  And you were probably given a free pass in that moment, as you have probably given others a free pass.  There are times that our circumstances are so trying that we simply do not have the capacity for these actions.  Our goodness is affected by our circumstances.

One of things that amazes me about the goodness of God is that his capacity for good is never once affected by his circumstances.  When Jesus hung on the cross he uttered,

Father, forgive them.  They don’t understand what they are doing.               

With his life fading, the pain intensifying and the back of the Father turning, Jesus looked at his mother and ensured that she would be cared for by entrusting her to John.  His goodness was unaffected by circumstances because his goodness is not circumstantial.  It is his nature.  God is good.

Now, has there even been an instance in which you did something not kind, not generous, not patient, i.e. evil, and your circumstances were, at that moment, superb?  In other words, have ever done evil when you were not pushed into it by circumstance? Sure, we all have.

So, if our capacity for good can be squeezed out by circumstance, in a very real sense our goodness is dependent upon something(s) external to us.  And if our capacity for evil is unaffected by even the best circumstances, then we don’t need anything to be evil.

If we need a certain set of circumstances to act with goodness and if doesn’t matter what our circumstances are for us to be evil, it would seem that we aren’t quite as rosy as once imagined.  Unfortunately, my nature is more Sith than Jedi, yours too.  And Lucas is more wrong than right.