I think what is missing from the notion of “good people/bad people” is the understanding that evil is corruptive. It takes what was truly and objectively good and rots it into something that is truly and objectively bad. The splendor of Christ is that the state of corruption need not be permanent in the temporal or the eternal. So yes, m…
I think what is missing from the notion of “good people/bad people” is the understanding that evil is corruptive. It takes what was truly and objectively good and rots it into something that is truly and objectively bad. The splendor of Christ is that the state of corruption need not be permanent in the temporal or the eternal. So yes, maybe this act really is out of keeping with the character the lady displayed until the point at which she began to cooperate with evil. That is truly tragic. She can still be redeemed. Whether that should include a prison sentence isn’t up to me, though I tend to agree with JD that repeated demonstrations of little to no consequence for crimes in, through, and against the Church are not helpful. I’ll even add that I’m of the opinion that dynamic can be a millstone that influences people against wariness of cooperation with evil.
I think what is missing from the notion of “good people/bad people” is the understanding that evil is corruptive"
This connects with JPII's system of ethics, expressed most fully in his book "Person and Act". He understood that the acts of a person help they themselves become more of the likeness of Christ or not become more of the likeness of Christ. Since the goal is to put on the human nature of Christ, the cost is more than the consequences of getting caught. Instead, the cost of evil deeds is the decrease of our divinization. The good news of course is that our acts of love increase our divinization as we become more Christlike.
So much yes to this comment. This understanding of evil is the only view of it that can bring us to respond with justice to the misbehaviors of people who otherwise seem to be good and decent. It's also the only way to understand it that accords with the idea of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Angels and demons are fixed as good or evil. Demons will never repent, angels will never sin. Human beings can and do flip between the two repeatedly through the course of their lives. Mixing up the two very different natures is irrational and will not work out well for us.
I think what is missing from the notion of “good people/bad people” is the understanding that evil is corruptive. It takes what was truly and objectively good and rots it into something that is truly and objectively bad. The splendor of Christ is that the state of corruption need not be permanent in the temporal or the eternal. So yes, maybe this act really is out of keeping with the character the lady displayed until the point at which she began to cooperate with evil. That is truly tragic. She can still be redeemed. Whether that should include a prison sentence isn’t up to me, though I tend to agree with JD that repeated demonstrations of little to no consequence for crimes in, through, and against the Church are not helpful. I’ll even add that I’m of the opinion that dynamic can be a millstone that influences people against wariness of cooperation with evil.
I think what is missing from the notion of “good people/bad people” is the understanding that evil is corruptive"
This connects with JPII's system of ethics, expressed most fully in his book "Person and Act". He understood that the acts of a person help they themselves become more of the likeness of Christ or not become more of the likeness of Christ. Since the goal is to put on the human nature of Christ, the cost is more than the consequences of getting caught. Instead, the cost of evil deeds is the decrease of our divinization. The good news of course is that our acts of love increase our divinization as we become more Christlike.
So much yes to this comment. This understanding of evil is the only view of it that can bring us to respond with justice to the misbehaviors of people who otherwise seem to be good and decent. It's also the only way to understand it that accords with the idea of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Angels and demons are fixed as good or evil. Demons will never repent, angels will never sin. Human beings can and do flip between the two repeatedly through the course of their lives. Mixing up the two very different natures is irrational and will not work out well for us.