Feb 22, 2017
by Katrina Goodrich
In the course of my college career I took a psychology class called Motivation and Emotion. The goal of the course was fairly self-explanatory — learn about emotion and motivation and how they work together. I can’t recall exactly what spurred the discussion — if there had been a recent crisis or if it was brought up in the flow of course material — but my professor started lecturing about evil in the present world and how it affects a person’s outlook on life. This was several years ago and things were different at that time, but I believe what she said is no less relevant today.
She said something like this, “Many people say that the world is more evil than ever and is going in a downhill spiral. Don’t allow them to dictate the future to you. There are many ways in which the world is a better place than it was even 30 years ago.” She then gave a brief summary about why she held this view. To say this is not a popular worldview is an understatement, particularly coming from a credible Christian source. Hearing that the world is spinning out of control, irredeemable as it gets ever closer to its demise, is routine. The crux is that the view is not incorrect. The world will end.
While my professor’s words have stuck with me, I find myself immersed in skepticism. We are more informed about the evil of the world and it affects us on a more personal level. Rather than succumbing to ignorance, we are now forced to acknowledge the evil around us.
All you need to do is look at news headlines or glance at your Facebook feed to be up-to-date on the terrible happenings around the globe. So how is it that an intelligent, educated, Christian woman can stand up in front of a room full of young adults — who’ve had a front row seat to the depravities that have been committed in the world — and say, “It’s okay, the world isn’t irredeemably evil and you should stop looking at it that way?”
Evil doesn’t change — it is still bent on destruction and death just as it was 30 years ago — just as it was thousands of years ago. People have been foretelling the end since that time, but no one apart from God knows when. It could be in this lifetime or not. But when we think about it, I believe we consider it a certainty in our lifetime and that paralyzes us. We aren’t God but we act like we know that tomorrow is the day the world ends. This doom and gloom outlook contributes to the subculture of anxiety and depression becoming so prevalent. Evil wants us to wear the mantle of paralyzed depression because then we will forget something important.
We forget that there is good in the world. There is redemption and there is hope; we forget to have faith. My professor could say what she did because she had not forgotten faith. Many of her students had, so she reminded us. She reminded us that good things are happening in the world and hope isn’t just another four-letter word.
So, how do we reverse the tide of doom that paralyzes us? I don’t think we need to start preaching the wealth and prosperity gospel; nor do we need to stop discussing the end times. We do need to change our focus from the detrimental doom forecasting. When we think and talk about evil, we need to include God and His plan in the conversation. Evil doesn’t get the win in the end. If we can remember that fact, it no longer matters if the world ends tomorrow. We can have faith that in spite of whatever evil or darkness falls around us, there is hope. Evil’s fate is not our own. We are not doomed.
WANTED WOMEN:
If you know an SDB woman whose lifelong service to the denomination and her church community deserves recognition, submit her as a candidate for the Robe of Achievement. Applications due March 31, 2017. More information and applications can be found on our webpage @ www.sdbwomen.org
