By Wombats

Thanks for stopping by and rambling. I appreciate your comments and your engagement in the topic of the post, even to voice a differing opinion. I hope my explanation below isn't too much rambling of my own. It's essentially an examination of the basic assumptions behind my beliefs stated in this blog post.

In your post, you mention a few basic assumptions you bring to the table when I discuss the fear of the Lord in a Christian context. I don't believe the same things, like the fact that no one is 100% pure either way or that it's more appropriate to respect evil instead of hate it.

I would offer instead that people were in fact created by God to be 100% pure but that from the beginning, people have chosen to do what was evil. I do believe that Jesus lived the 100% pure good life, and I believe he did so as an example for all people. (Part of his good life was hating what was evil - legalism, greed, pride, false worship, adultery, etc. - and speaking out against it.). The Christian message is essentially that no one can be 100% pure good, as you point out, and that if we don't we are living lives contrary to the plan of God whose goal is to eventually eliminate evil from the world. By nature, this belief leads to the conclusion that those who practice evil will either be changed by God or ultimately harmed by him so that the evil is removed. In order for us to escape such a judgment, God will count the 100% goodness of Jesus toward anyone who believes that Jesus is their substitute in his life and his death - living the good life we could not and taking the judgment for our evil on himself.

So, fundamentally I'm just trying to be consistent with my basic assumptions, and part of that works it's way into how I view evil and would commend others to do the same. I don't think evil should be respected, like we might respect a flame that will burn us if we get to close. A flame might cause harm but is respected because it can do good if used correctly by experienced people. However, when a harmful fire crops up perhaps threatening human life, we quickly move to put it out. Why? We hate the death and devastation such a fire can cause.

Evil by definition is opposed to good, and people who try to accomplish things by doing evil are harmful to themselves and those around them. If we just respect evil, we're communicating either that we're ok with someone practicing it and we're ok with its consequences. In my opinion, this leaves us without basis to protest when evil negatively affects us, and it also leaves the door open for individuals to use evil to accomplish a goal if it seems to be expedient.

I don't believe this basic assumption can be lived out consistently, but I do believe that hating what is evil - particularly refraining from practicing it ourselves and working to change those who do - can be lived out consistently. So, I'm not looking to brainwash, but live a life consistent with what I believe are the basic principles of the world.