Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by robobro 977 days ago
> We are undeserving, evil people who deserve justice for our sins.

I'm not an evil person.

3 comments

We all tell ourselves that. God is holy, loving, and just. He’s that all of the time. Heaven will be life without a single act of evil. God’s definition of good is that you obey Him and love others without failure.

In your case, you can test yourself using Romans 1:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1%3A18-3...

Have you ever lied, stolen, cheated, shown apathy, lusted, or wished evil on someone? Have you rejected the true God or tried to live your own way instead of His? These are evil per the God that defines what morality is.

“The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God us eternal life in Jesus Christ.”

Fortunately for you and I, the only good person to ever live… tempted in all ways we are but having committed no sin… earned God’s favor for you, died for your sins, was raised again, and offered you eternal life in His name. You just have to repent and put your trust in what He did. He’ll also transform you from the inside out when the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Nor am I. And I don't appreciate the implied equating of "justice" with punishment.

More broadly, I don't think "evil" is a useful word; it refers to (a) the embodiment of everything that is irremediably bad, and (b) to people or actions that are irremediably bad. I don't think such people and actions exist, and I don't think pure badness is embodied anywhere.

So I think the word has no referent.

Do you think most people you would consider evil considered themselves evil?