Overcoming Evil in Orlando with Good

Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21Orlando

Paul’s warning to not be overcome by evil reminds us that
we can.

We can be overcome with it by letting it crush us like a tidal wave, or scare us into submission, or repulse us so badly that we turn away without taking action
against it.

None of which is a legitimate option for Christians, who are called to both resist then overcome the monster. When doing so, we’re reminded not to try fighting fire with fire or, in this case, repaying evil with evil. Instead, the more powerful weapon of good is called for.

Good isn’t necessarily nice. In its truest form it’s muscular, generous, fair, gentle, very smart, never compromised, always immovable. And if it can also be nice without sacrificing those primary qualities, so much the better.

Today finds us in equal parts sickened and determined in light of Orlando, weeping and angry yet ready to overcome evil with good. So let’s consider a few points about our challenge.

When overcoming evil we accept its nature.

Evil is, it’s not because. It’s something devils and humans share, the difference being the degree to which each group yields to it. No demon is only “somewhat” evil; it goes full throttle. But people, though sinful by nature, do make a conscious choice to resist or yield to evil impulses. Who among us has never felt, if only fleetingly, a desire to kill another person? Or to humiliate someone, or
cause agony?

We’ve tasted evil impulses and, I’ll wager, we’ve said no to them plenty of times.

What we didn’t do, if we were smart, was overanalyze them, because evil can’t be fully explained or reasoned with. Why did otherwise decent German citizens comply with government sponsored annihilation during the Holocaust? Why does one person who’s been abused become a responsible citizen, while another becomes a mass murderer? How does anyone give himself permission to rape
or torture?

I’m inclined to say “who cares?” Evil is; it’s not because. It’s not there for some mysterious reason waiting to be excavated. It’s a long-standing force which some, at the end of the day, simply choose. That is what sets us apart from animals and brings misery or blessing – our capacity to say yes to some things; no to others.

Early Sunday morning someone said yes to evil. Whatever else the post-mortems discover, and whoever else comes forward with new historical data about a young murderer who lacked something crucial, hated homosexuals, and worshipped a strange god, the bottom line will continue to be that he choose evil. And that’s something I’m more interested in overcoming than understanding.

When overcoming evil with good we don’t drown in the drama.

When a tsunami hits it’s easy to get sidetracked by going over the details of the damage, describing and lamenting them at the expense of addressing the
damage itself.

Of course we grieve, weeping with those who weep (Romans 12:15) and there’s lots to weep over. But drowning in how awful it all is can be a way of avoiding redemptive action.

The wounded in Orlando need our strong intercessory prayers for physical healing; the families of the murdered need strong intercessory prayer for anything and everything God can do to get them through every parent’s worst nightmare. We can, and have to, labor on our knees for these people.

Then any practical good we can do, whether by giving blood, sending notes, organizing aid, or extending financial help, we have to do as well. Not much good comes from rehashing how horrible this all is. Much can come from finding where and how we can respond, then following through.

When overcoming evil, we love both its victims and its perpetrators.

For quite awhile my wife and I have committed ourselves, pretty much on a daily basis, to pray for the homosexual community. We’ve been asking God to draw them, enlighten them, save them, make them part of His family, and partakers of His best.

Now we’re adding “protect them” to the requests, and I want you, please, to join us in that. Please pray with us that God will keep them safe, that He will confuse the purposes of anyone who ever again plans to hurt them, that He will purge the hatred out of anyone with malice towards them, and that every attempt to assault a gay man or lesbian woman in the future will be aborted.

Some are now claiming that if you believe homosexuality is a sin, then you also hate homosexuals and are a party to harming them. Reasonable people won’t buy that; neither should we.

When Jesus defended an adulterous woman against men wanting to harm her, then told her to forsake the sin, He demolished the idea that believing something is wrong is the same as hating the wrongdoer. (John 8:1-11) Had He hated her, then He would have condoned her execution. Had He approved of her sin, then He hardly would have told her to forsake it. Grace and truth won out, the one not cancelling the other.

So our conviction that homosexuality is one of many sexual sins hardly negates our concern for the safety of homosexual people. To love my neighbor as Jesus told me to (Luke 10:25-37) I concern myself with his welfare, not just his wrong, always taking the log out of my own eye before I confront his speck (Matthew 7:5) yet never falling for the notion that calling his sin good is something love requires when, in fact, love forbids it. (Isaiah 5:20; I Corinthians 13:6; Ephesians 5:11)

Then there’s the more difficult work of loving, and praying for, the
evildoers themselves.

Speaking of logs, when I see footage of ISIS members, my visceral response is disappointing, because there’s no way God views them with the contempt I do. I have a long way to go on this one, but to overcome evil with good, I have to keep it at bay.

When you hate people, no matter how legitimate the hate seems, you’re weakened and thereby less able to resist the evil they practice. Hatred also, in my experience, breeds obsession. Whenever I’ve hated someone, I’ve invested all kinds of thought and emotional energy into them, scheming about ways to hurt them, or at least fantasizing about the various torture devices I’d like them to test drive.

That’s counterproductive and childish to boot.

Besides which, God has nothing to do with my hate. He loves these people, wanting to show them mercy, and His mercy rejoices against judgment. (James 2:13) In other words, the day will come, should they never repent and come to the truth, when they’ll face a fiery judgment from Him infinitely worse than anything my darkest imaginings can conjure up. (Romans 12:19)

Until then, His invitation – “Whosoever will” – stays open to them. He really does not want to see them eternally lost, having no pleasure in their death or destruction (Ezekiel 18:23) yearning for them to be saved. (I Timothy 2:4) And if I call myself His son, can I with any integrity want anything less for them?

So as I pray for the families, for the wounded, for gays, and for Isis, I add my name to the list of sinners needing correction and healing. That, too, puts me in a better place to avoid evil from getting a foothold.

At this point, still reeling just like you probably are, I can’t think of anything else
to do.

Please Note: In light of current events I’m holding the last part of the five-part series on transgender issues for a couple more days, as I think we need to step back from the controversies and focus on prayer and reflection for a bit. Hope you’re OK with that.

Comments

Jim | Jun 13, 2016

Do you know of any legitimate effort to minister to the people affected by this that I could support?

Norman Birthmark | Jun 14, 2016

Isn't attributing this crime to "evil" part of the problem? Make believe and fantasy are fun and easy to speculation, but the boogeyman isn't real.

What are real is religious/ideological fundamentalism, anti-LGBT hatred, and easy access to assault weapons. Wouldn't it make more sense to focus on calling on more inclusion, stop vilifying LGBT people, and work to ban assault weapons?

Julie Beam | Jun 14, 2016

Alot of great insights in this post. My heart is broken for those slaughtered in such a horrific way. I don't agree or condone their life style but I don't think any of us wanted this horrible thing to happen to them. Sadly I am seeing us as Christians being blamed now for this...it makes no sense to me since these extremist also hate Christians, but it's happening. :( I have wept seeing these terrible eye witness reports on the news, as I always weep when these horrible things happen. I struggle to love the world as God does because of these things and so many other evils that happen around the world on a daily basis.

I will add my prayers of protection for them along with you and your wife.

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