That Line Through Our Hearts

People are acting really hateful today. I'm not seeing it on Facebook, but I've checked Twitter a few times ... and whew! I'm newly amazed at how utterly cruel we can become in our self-righteousness.

There is another thing I'm seeing, too. The people who aren't being cruel are talking about how they would never be so cruel as to cheer for a leader getting COVID, who would never be so hateful as to wish a sitting U.S. President would suffer and die. I imagine they wouldn't, but I find that thinking that way ("I would NEVER do THAT ...") can be dangerous. Because I don't think we can think that way without some degree of pride in our own personal righteousness.

I am reminded of the Solzhenitsyn's words in The Gulag Archipelago:

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either--but right through every human heart--and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years.

I know that I've experienced that. Particularly when feeling betrayed or slighted, when experiencing true righteous anger, I've known those evil thoughts. I haven't often spoken or tweeted them aloud, but I have known them: Wishing ill on someone, hoping the person will fail at whatever is important to them--or at least hoping they'll get their comeuppance ... and fantasizing about the schadenfreude I'll enjoy when they do.

Another quote that comes to mind is one from Paul in the Book of Romans, the one that says "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

I think it's easy to say glibly that "we've all sinned," without thinking too hard about it. More likely, for any number of reasons, we'll say things like, "Nobody's perfect" and "We all make mistakes," and "Everyone does dumb things from time to time." But those three very common statements miss something important in their implications about our agency in doing things: We can't help being imperfect, a "mistake" implies we would have done better but messed up somehow, and "dumb things" are things we wouldn't have done if we'd just been thinking like we normally do.

Only the word "sin" implies that we meant what we said, and we meant what we did, that we knew exactly what we were thinking when we said or did or thought that cruel thing. It means acknowledging that the line between good and evil does indeed pass through our own heart. That we are capable of cruelty, even though we feel our behavior is justified by some higher purpose.

Particularly when we feel our behavior is justified by some higher purpose. 

It's not a popular thing these days, to look at ourselves and acknowledge the capacity for evil within us. No, we're encouraged instead to believe in ourselves, to speak our truth, to know that we are good enough just as we are.

No. No, we're not. And until we can see that yes, we are capable of great cruelty, of the same as our opponents and worse, we will live under the falsehood of our own righteousness.

Both of those quotes I gave you above are incomplete. Here they are again, with some important stuff added:

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either--but right through every human heart--and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. (Solzhenitsyn)

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22b-24)

There is hope. Even for the darkest heart. Even for each one of us.