We Become Like What We Oppose

Think of something you are really against... something that makes you get all worked up and angry, and perhaps makes you start playing imaginary conversations in your head. You know, the conversations where you are confronting that person who represents ______ (whatever you're against) and telling them how it is. Maybe you don't have to imagine this too much--maybe you are actively engaged in this kind of thing on Facebook or Twitter. Maybe this is a regular occurrence, where you are opposing your enemies fiercely, telling them how it is, and making sure they understand that you are against everything they stand for (and throwing in a few subtle jabs and insults for good measure). 

How's that working for you? Making any progress? Changing anyone's mind?

One of the great big dangers we have in fighting against something, is the very real possibility of becoming like the thing we oppose. Someone may say, "I thought it was a good thing to fight against evil." And in response, I'd say, "Of course it is... however, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. There is the very real danger that we can take on the negative energy of the thing we are fighting."

In the 1st Century, many Jews bitterly opposed the cruelty of the Roman Empire that they were subject to. They were constantly on the lookout for a Messiah who would rally them together and fight for their freedom so they could regain their land. But when their Messiah came and tried to show them a different way, they were already captured by the spirit they opposed. Ironically, they ended up cruelly torturing and killing the one who came to save them by handing him over to the very people they hated. They had become the very thing they so bitterly despised about the Roman Empire--so much so, that in 70 AD they did finally rise up in rebellion against Rome and were crushed in response. 

Apostle Paul instructs us in Romans 12:17, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil." In the name of fighting against a terrible evil, someone may easily justify doing evil to the evildoer. It happens all the time, if we're honest, which is why he says in another place, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood," but against powers, principalities, and spiritual forces (Ephesians 6:12).

Think of any number of our modern action films, where something terrible happens to the good guy, who then gets revenge (and then some) by going after the bad guys and doing the same kinds of things to them. "Eye for an eye," we might say, and call it "justice." But Paul wisely says that this is not our place, and the reason is we very easily get captured by the evil we think we are defeating. 

No problem can be solved at the same level of consciousness that created it, noted Albert Einstein. If we don't find a higher way to deal with evil and problems, we just take on the spirit we are opposing and become another great evil in the world.

In the long resistance against apartheid, Bishop Desmond Tutu noted:
“We must not allow ourselves to become like the system we oppose. We cannot afford to use methods of which we will be ashamed when we look back, when we say, '...we shouldn't have done that.' We must remember, my friends, that we have been given a wonderful cause. The cause of freedom! And you and I must be those who will walk with heads held high. We will say, 'We used methods that can stand the harsh scrutiny of history.'”

Similarly, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has often been quoted, "Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."

In the closing lines of the movie Star Trek: Into Darkness, Capt. James T. Kirk says this: "There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves."

Indeed, we can easily miss the fact that the darkness has a seductive power to it, a power that we often don't think we'd be seduced by until it's too late.

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you," said Friedrich Nietzsche.

The New Testament repeatedly warns:

"Bless those who persecute you; Bless and do not curse." -Romans 12:14
"All who live by the sword will die by the sword." -Matthew 26:52
"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." -Luke 12:34
"You reap what you sow." -Galatians 6:7

"Love your enemies." -Matthew 5:44

Because we become what we repeatedly do.

"Sacrificing the values that define you for a good cause cannot bring real victory. If division is the enemy, dividing cannot be the answer. Building bridges is the answer. If war is the problem, violence cannot be the answer. Peaceful resistance, compassionately displayed is the answer. If selfishness and greed are the concerns, then looking out for your best interests cannot be the answer. Heartfelt sacrifice for the good of others is the answer. If dishonesty is the problem, responding with half-truths or falling into self-deception cannot be the answer. Openly and fairly seeking the truth is the answer. Our ego’s tell us to do to others what they have done to us. But most of us see the superiority of the golden rule, doing unto others what we would want them to do to us. If we become that which we oppose, then we abandon the moral high ground and the real basis for lasting change."  -Darren Bond

I don't know about you, but I see our culture getting more and more ugly as it harnesses all of its energy on fighting opposition. And while there are many people doing heroic work, rising above the evils they encounter, may we remind ourselves regularly to resist the seductive powers that pull us into becoming the very thing we oppose.