[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during July 2020]
Do you think that mankind is basically good, generally co-operative and generous but marred by a relatively small number of miscreants, or do you think that mankind is intrinsically evil, largely selfish and intolerant but constrained by social norms and the need to find some way of living together?
Two apparently-irreconcilable points of view, but I suspect that most people would see a sliding scale between the two extremes. They would place the majority of people somewhere in the middle and could name a few candidates for both ends of the scale. But what about the person whose image appears in your bathroom mirror? Somewhat biased towards the positive, I suspect.
In 1954 William Golding wrote “The Lord of the Flies”, an account of what happens when these two social extremes meet in the absence of any moderating authority. But we don’t have to turn to a 20th century novel – our 21st century TV screens regularly report the same scenario.
Nor is this something new. Genesis chapter 6 describes the times of Noah when
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.”
Later the Lord said to Moses,
“I have seen these people and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.” [Exodus 32 v9-10]
Justice requires retribution yet love requires restoration. How does God, who epitomises both love and justice, reconcile these two extremes? The apostle John tells us the answer:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”.
Condemned or saved – two extremes with no middle ground. Where is that person in the mirror now?
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
