Good and Evil. Truth and Lies. Light and Dark. Love and Hate. Dreams and Reality. (Did you notice... the "good" things are always listed first... which means reality sucks).
So, I am writing on this blog because I promised a sermon at least once a week. And, it's been a week since I've written one. But, this isn't so much a sermon. In fact, it really should be on my other blog... and I will probably post it there as well as here just to get adequate readers of this post.
Anyway, I have been thinking today and tonight and the past 10 years or more about how so many things in life have two sides - and you can't have one without the other. You can't have light without dark. You can't have good without evil. You can't have love without hate. You have to have the opposite for the one to mean anything.
God is good (in theory). This would make Satan evil. The Bible is truth (theoretically). This would make anything that disagrees with the Bible, a lie. This is how the books of the Bible were selected. I watched a television documentary the other night on recently found books which were left out of the Bible. Some of these were written by other disciples (or about them). For example, there has been found the Gospel of Judas. Now, as we all know, Judas is the one who betrayed Jesus. However, according to this Gospel, Jesus actually requested this betrayal from Judas. Jesus had to sacrifice himself for our sins, and therefore asked his friend to do help him. This goes against all the other Gospels... the "real" gospels. Therefore, it is heresy and cannot be in the Bible.
Don't get me wrong. I don't believe the Gospels we know are lies. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John - all the other disciples would have seen Judas as the betrayer. They would have seen this as truth. But why can't it be possible that Judas' account happened? If it was done in secret - which it would have had to be for it to work - the other disciples wouldn't have known. Therefore, all accounts would be truth.
How can conflicting details both be truth? Because truth is subjective.It is in the eye of the beholder. This is the same with good and evil. In some cultures, cheating on your spouse isn't "bad". Killing someone isn't "bad." Granted, yes, these are sins in the eyes of God... but if you aren't Christian, you can only go by what your religion (or culture) tells you is good and bad, and these won't always agree with the rules of Christianity.
And it isn't only that. It can also simply be the difference in interpretation between an action someone does, and who they do that action against. Suppose you push someone off the boat in the middle of the sea and drive away. You might think you're doing it for this person's own good, to teach that person how to swim on her own. This person, on the other hand, hates you. It doesn't matter if she makes it or not. It doesn't matter if she learns to swim or not. Your perceived good act is an evil act in her eyes. Too dramatic? Ok, say you made a promise to always be there for someone, then walked away. You might see this as not a big deal... nothing bad. It's not your responsibility and you simply don't have time for this someone. It isn't so much that you think what you've done is good... you just don't see it as bad. Or, don't bother thinking about it at all. But have you ever considered looking at it from the other side? Everything has two sides. Always. There are always two truths. Two lies.
Light and dark. Light is truth and goodness. It's God. It's heaven. It's life and salvation. And it couldn't exist with dark - without evil. Without death and the thought of eternal torment. And yet, we have both of these living within our world, and ourselves. Not one of us exists without both this light and this darkness. Now, it is simply a matter of which you are seeking. Which do you actively pursue?
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