What a wonderful world…

“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good just because it’s accepted by a majority.” — Booker T. Washington

I remember when my parents would play Louis Armstrong’s famous ballad What A Wonderful World. It was one of my father’s favorite tunes. A man of color sang about his life in a wonderful world, with nature, beauty, babies and love all around him. What motivated him to sing that song and see the “wonderful” in a world with the potential for so much pain, loss, and evil?

Let’s take a look at the recent Charlie Kirk assassination. A young man shared his faith in Jesus Christ and the Biblical/political viewpoints he had as a result of that faith. He went to college campuses to challenge the youth of our generation to think for themselves, using critical reasoning skills to dissect assumptions and not just blindly accept whatever the majority might prescribe. As a result, he was assassinated, martyred. A hate-filled man (with applause from equally intolerant men and women) killed him to try to end the proliferation of truth and discussion.

Many in our universities call themselves “educators” but don’t allow varying viewpoints. Our youth attend colleges and pay dearly for a certificate of “education”, but are many times discouraged from asking the tough questions, challenging the status quo, or seeking real truth. “These viewpoints are too polarizing” is a sentence often used to squash opposition or deep questions. The wonderful world gets shut down while youth are just trying to become educated and prepared to face the adult world.

Good versus evil is a real thing. Evil doesn’t like freedom, evil doesn’t like faith, and evil certainly doesn’t like it when one shares political/Biblical facts that undermine the dogma of the age. Evil eventually rises up in violent opposition when its monetary faucet might also become threatened because of liberating choices resulting from enlightened faith. Evil seeks to destroy what it cannot overcome.

So where do we go from here? How do we get to a wonderful life? It is my opinion that is in the human discovery of God, our value, the truth, and eternal realities. All of these cannot be killed or destroyed. This is where God’s powerful presence emerges, and His loving goodness perpetuates a movement of truth and inquiry that surpasses common fear. It’s the fellowship we develop with each other as we honestly face issues and discover the purposes God designed for us. It’s the simple beauty in each other and profoundly evident in nature. It’s the victory of ultimately overcoming evil and its intimidation. It’s when we don’t fear the temporal because it will never take away the eternal. It’s truth itself and the people who stand up for it.

In the face of evil, we celebrate the life God has given each of us — to reflect His beauty, truth and love. And it’s the most wonderful opportunity and responsibility we have — to ourselves and to each other.