Do the Work!

Finished reading Do the Work. It's more of a pamphlet then a book (though you pay a book's price!) but one memorable quote:

In our feel-good, social-safety-net, high esteem world, you and I have been brainwashed to believe that there is no such thing as evil, that human nature is perfectible, that everyone and everything can be made nice. We have been conditioned to imagine the darkness that we see in the world and feel in our hearts is only an illusion, which can be dispelled by the proper care, the proper love, the proper education, and the proper funding. It can’t (59).

I made a similar remark in my message this past Sunday in connection with Jesus' anger at Lazarus' tomb. While most focus on his weeping, and we did as well, we miss his anger at the effect that death has on those still living. Jesus' anger is the reality that death is the consequence of a broken relationship with God, and he's angry about it, angry that all is not right in the world. We too ought to be upset when we come across things thata aren't right in this world, and while we don't think of these things (whether it be a kid needing adoption or a backpack full of good food for the weekend) as evidence of evil in our world, we're kidding ourselves if we think they aren't.