Grace & a quote by Martin Luther

"Behold, from faith thus flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a joyful, willing, and free mind that serves one's neighbor willingly and takes no account of gratitude or ingratitude, of praise or blame, of gain or loss.  For a man does not serve that he may put men under obligations.  He does not distinguish betwen friends and enemies or anticipate their thankfulness or unthankfulness, but he most freely and most willingly spends himself and all that he has, whether he wastes all on the thankless or whether he gains a reward.  As his Father does, distributing all things to all men richly and freely, making 'his sun rise on the evil and on the good' [Matt. 5:45], so also the son does all things and suffers all things with that freely bestowing joy which is his delight when through Christ he sees it in God, the dispenser of such great benefits."

-Martin Luther, "The Freedom of a Christian Man"

In light of God's grace--frivolously and unconditionally given to all--the only appropriate response is to be gracious in our relationships with each another.  To be generous toward our friends and our enemies alike, to give without expectation and without engendering debt in others, and to live joyfully assured that there is enough for us all.

Origins of Evil

He posed to question to me: "Where do you think it comes from?  Evil, where does it come from?"  My boyfriend wasn't referring to the catastrophes and illnesses that behalf all of us (more or less), but to what many have called "moral evil."  He was referring to the drive that has lead humans to create structures that favor few while depriving many, to build institutions that perpetuate the horrors of violence, to insatiably consume the earth's abundant resources and create unsustainable economies.  How did we become enslaved to a momentum that only seems to multiply the cruelties in the world?  What's the origin that gives rise to enslaving black bodies and dispossessing American Indians?  Or to violence against women or to totalitarian regimes?  Or to exploitation and economic inequality?  What's the source of [moral] evil?

There's no answer to this question.  No psychology, history, or philosophy has or can adequately answer this question.  And, despite our interpretations, the Bible doesn't pretend to give answer to this question either.  By definition, evil is meaningless and without rationality.  This is the case even in instances when evil can be executed by highly rational and precise movements--for example in the Holocaust, war, or slavery.  Many of these executions of evil are very strategic and justify themselves by use of science, political theory, or some other discipline.  But the reason for the evil--why such conditions are brought about--remains beyond reason.  It's my belief, however, that the non-rationality of evil can only be rivaled by the non-rationality of grace and the madness of faith that it commands.  The meaninglessness of cruelty that lies beyond all logic can only be overcome by a grace that exceeds all calculation or horizons.  And those who respond to that grace in faith, respond with a generosity that can only appear as madness.