CHRISTIAN THERMODYNAMICS

I believe it was the ancient Christian leader St. Augustine who described evil as 'the absence of goodness.' That is to say, the less something is good and godly, the more it is evil and sinful. A person who focuses less and less on goodness will therefore become more and more evil and sinful.

What then is the best way to keep from falling into self-destructive behavior and habits that gradually drag our minds and actions into realms of darkness and selfishness and greed and self indulgence? The answer is to avoid the absence of goodness--which means that one will focus on being continually filled with goodness.

Can you imagine what a day would be like if we all focused on the godly, good things all day for one day, and looked at each person in as good a way as we possibly could?

I dare say that if we listen to music that promotes the goodness of God, and we watch movies that promote godly goodness, and we look at people and make ourselves think, 'regardless of how they act, they're created by God and God loves them and so do I,' etc. etc.--we'll be well on our way to being filled with such goodness that evil will naturally decrease because of our increase in God's goodness.

"God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." -- 1 John 1:5-7 (NRSV)