Affirming the proposition that people are good depends on your field of view. Universally, we believe it is true. Nationally or regionally, we hope it is true. Locally, we try to convince ourselves that it’s true. Individually, we meet winners and losers everyday.

I’ve been considering the proper Christian perspective to this question. I can’t seem to make up my mind. I suppose this begs for a definition of “good,” but I’ll leave that philosophical dialectic aside. Still, I wonder, should I give people the benefit of the doubt? Should I assume that an unknown or untested person is most likely good?

We are called to love our neighbor, but since we’re neighbors, chances are good that we know them and, good or bad, we are called to love them anyway. Should our default position be loving, or does that happen after we understand what it takes to love them?

Practically, I think we answer this question based on how we judge our society. If we believe that our society is producing well-meaning men and women who endeavor to live out their lives in a productive and peaceful way, then yes, I would give a person new to me the benefit of the doubt. If, however, we believe that our society is shaking on its foundation ready to collapse from rampant selfishness and an utter lack of nobility, then no, I will be watchful and wary of those I meet. Putting it in a literary context: in a world of Jane Austin’s making–man is striving to be good; in Cormac McCarthy’s world–watch out.

I think anyone who has spent considerable time with the public at large will have a particularly hard time answering this question. When you come in contact with the full prism of humanity you either come away with a loving sense of wonder at the complexity of life, or you become bitter, scared and frustrated. I’ve personally experienced both, but lately more of the later.

Every society is made up of a mass of individuals–some good and some bad. Collectively, a society pushes in either a generally beneficial or a generally harmful direction. I pray that those standing beside me are striving to support the good, the true and the beautiful. Anything less will tip our collective scale toward darkness.

Tags: goodness

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