Saturday, December 27, 2008

Idea of reflecting on experience and scripture related to good and bad

Story: basic worldview/meta-narrative

  1. Origin of good (Why is there good?)
  2. Problem of bad (Why is there evil?)
  3. Victory of good over bad in history (the gospel)
  4. Struggle of good and bad in us (personal change by adoption and then growing up)
  5. Hope of removal of bad and establishment of good (a post-evil world)

The idea is to connect experience (from our own lives) to that of Scripture. The cycle starts with intentionally noting that we daily encounter good and that there should be an explanation as to where it came from and what it means. The Biblical answer is that God is good: light, love etc., and that he is the source of all the good we encounter. The next obvious experience is of not good: bad, evil, pain, suffering, injustice. That is a fallen world. A world that is not now as it was made to be. The Biblical answer is the creation in rebellion to the Creator. Then comes the questions related to how these two basic realities interact: good vs. evil.

The promise is that good overcomes evil. There are three areas of focus for our story: Christ, me, and the world.

In Christ we see the weight of evil seeming to overcome good on the cross, but the resurrection shows the victory of God and his good. That hope is then extended to individuals with the promise of being included with Christ's victory in our relational position, and then in our relational practices. We become adopted as the children of the God of good and are then raised to become more like him as we are empowered by his spirit and wisdom. The final aspect of the story is how God applies the victory of good over evil won in Christ to all of creation. This is the promise of the end of evil (bad, suffering, death, etc.) and the new creation functioning as intended.

Good /bad /good over bad in Jesus/ good over bad in me/ good over bad in all

That's the idea…

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