The Evil of Optimism or The Problem with Optimism
A few weeks ago, as I was preparing to teach on chapters 19 and 20 in John’s Revelation, I came across an idea about optimism in the commentary I was studying. The commentary is “Reversed Thunder – The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination” by Eugene Peterson. Peterson calls these chapters, “The Last Word on Salvation”. Here is what he wrote, in part:
“The world’s alternative to salvation is optimism. Optimism is a way of staying useful and being hopeful without having recourse to God . . . The moral optimist thinks that generous applications of well-intentioned goodwill to the slagheaps of injustice, wickedness, and the world’s corruption will put the world gradually, but surely, in the right . . . Optimists see that there are few things left to do to get the world in good shape, and think that they are just the ones to do it . . . But the biblical discernment is that a spiritual evil motivates their good actions. It is the evil of ignoring or circumventing or denying God” (pg. 154).
Strong words. Is optimism actually evil? It seems mean-spirited, even un-American to criticize optimism. Isn’t it better to be the person who sees the glass as half-full rather than half-empty?
Peterson’s words resonated with some other ideas I had been wrestling with the week before. Chuck Todd, the host of NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ tweeted this on Friday, March 30, 2018, which was Good Friday for Christians:
“I don’t mean disrespect to the religious aspect of the day, but I love the idea of reminding folks that any day can be “good”, all it takes is a little selflessness on our own part. Works EVERY TIME.”
As I read this tweet, I found myself thinking, “Is he right? All we need to fix this world is more selflessness?” The tweet disturbed me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. After all, part of Jesus’ message was,“Deny yourself”
About the same time I came across another quote, this time from an email sent out by a member of a bible study I used to attend. This one is from the Dalai Lama:
“Change in the world comes from individuals, from the inner peace in individual hearts. Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals have far reaching effects.”
(I am assuming that what the Dalai Lama means by ‘change’ is making the world a more peaceful place).
Again, sounds good but something about it left me thinking, “this is wrong”, but I couldn’t say why, exactly. To most people his words probably seem wise, and to some even profound.
And then I came across Peterson’s comment on optimism, and I understood (or at least it made sense to me). Both of these statements are very optimistic. Both of these quotes tell us that we can cure and even defeat the evil in the world if we will just be less selfish and release some of the inner peace from our hearts. Chuck Todd and the Dalai Lama are telling us that we – the human race – can change the world one selfless act and one pebble of inner peace at a time. Only in my mind there are at least two problems with this utopian vision – it underestimates the power and scope of evil and, as Peterson says, it leaves God completely out of the picture. For the billionth time since the Garden of Eden, it puts man at the center. And by Peterson’s definition, that is evil!
So, what is optimism? The dictionary defines optimism as:
“A disposition of tending to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcomes.” This is summed up by the bumper sticker I saw the other day: “If anything good can happen, it will.”
“A belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world.”
“A belief that goodness pervades reality.” This reminds me of the Country Western song, “Most People are Good.” In this song, Luke Bryant sings in the refrain, “I believe this world ain’t half as bad as it looks. I believe most people are good.”
“A belief that the existing world is the best of all possible worlds”, a philosophy proposed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the brilliant mathematician (he invented the calculus concurrently with but independently of Isaac Newton) in the late seventeenth century. But his ideas are not about the type of optimism I am addressing here. If you want to read more about Leibniz, here is a link.
https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-optimistic-science-of-leibniz
I call the optimism I am talking about ‘popular cultural optimism’. This philosophy claims that the world and the people in the world are basically good and we can expect people to do ‘good’ things most of the time. If we will all be a little bit more loving, unselfish, and more tolerant the world will be a much better place. This is certainly true, to a point, and many of us try to live this way. But the way to a better world does not lie just in our day-to-day interactions. We need help, a lot of help.
Os Guinness describes this optimism – he calls it ‘progressivism’ – in his book “Unspeakable – Facing up to the Challenge of Evil”:
“Progressivism in philosophy and politics has replaced evil with utopian views of human goodness and led people and whole societies to believe that people are truly getting better and better” . . . giving many “Americans (and I would add, not just Americans) a constitutional propensity to look on the bright side of everything” (pg. 7).
I have four problems with popular cultural optimism:
First, optimism denies or minimizes the power and force of evil in the world and conveniently turns our eyes away from the carnage, catastrophe, and war that we are engaged in with “a malign opposition, and evil will at work to deceive and destroy us” (Peterson, Reversed Thunder, pg.160). The optimist says, “I know the world looks bad, but it really is better than it looks”. No, it is that bad, and getting worse.
Os Guinness estimates that in the 20th century over 200 million people were killed by their fellow human beings in wars, famine, genocide, political repression, and massacre – and notably by secular states, not by religion! And the destruction has not stopped. Sex trafficking, human slavery, government corruption, persecution, addictions, especially drug addiction; sexual immorality fueled in part by Internet pornography, a breakdown in the family, and a culture of hatred is now the norm in many parts of the world. At least in my lifetime, hatred, persecution, and fear are at an all-time high.
To what extent is fear fueling optimism? Sometimes it is easier to look at a dark, dangerous situation and say, “Oh, really it isn’t that bad” because if you admitted the truth you might slide into despair.
Second, the optimist acknowledges that the world has problems, but these problems can be solved with more love and more selflessness flowing out of individual human hearts.
The Apostle Paul describes the human heart accurately for people who have ears to hear. He writes:
“There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know” (Romans 3: 12 – 17 NIV).
The Prophet Jeremiah is in agreement with Paul about the human heart:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17: 9 NIV).
The pervasive wickedness and corruption of the world mirrors the wickedness and corruption of the human heart. Whence evil? Evil in the world flows out of the human heart.
Third, the optimist’s belief that he can solve the world’s problems by his love and selflessness has a fatal flaw. It leaves God completely out of the ‘solution’. The powers of darkness and the corruption of the human heart cannot be confronted and defeated apart from the power of God, the Father; Jesus, the Son; and the Holy Spirit.
This idea, that human beings alone can bring about ‘world peace’, reminds me of the ‘COEXIST’ bumper sticker that most of us have seen. The letters in COEXIST are represented by symbols that signify different religions. The ‘C’ is a crescent moon, signifying Islam. The ‘O’ is the peace symbol or the ‘broken cross’ signifying the wiccan (or witchcraft) pentacle. The ‘E’ represents a scientific equation and male/female or humanism. The X is represented by the Star of David signifying Judaism. The ‘I’ is another pagan or wiccan symbol. The ‘S’ is the Chinese symbol for yin-yang. And the ‘T’ is the cross.
The bumper sticker suggests that if all of these religions or philosophies can ‘just get along,’ the world would be a better place. The bumper sticker implies that all these religions have equal value and deserve to be equally accepted. What this idea ignores is that the war between good and evil that humans have been participants in for all of our history is expressed in these different religions. Witchcraft worships the devil! Humanism is a philosophy opposed to the rule and reign of God in the human heart, which is the definition of the Kingdom of God. Satan is the father of lies and the source of darkness. It is spiritually and physically impossible for the Light of Christ to coexist with darkness. Light always displaces darkness. The purpose of the Christian life is to release the Kingdom of God, which is a Kingdom of love, to defeat the power of darkness and evil. To imagine that Christianity could willingly coexist with darkness is to reject everything about God. It is blasphemy – morally, emotionally, and even physically repulsive. Enforcing the victory over satan and the power of evil that Christ won on the cross is a war worth fighting. The world will be a better place when the love of Christ rules and reigns in every human heart and every person is loved with the agape love of Christ. Idyllic, I know. But worth fighting for.
And of course, in this post-truth culture, to claim that “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him”, makes Christians ‘intolerant’, which is becoming more and more equated with ‘hate’. That is how ‘optimism’ opens the door for good to be called evil and evil, good.
There is only one solution to evil in the world – the Kingdom of God. In a general sense, the battles being fought around the world today are kingdom battles – the kingdom of the world (the kingdom of self – allied with satan) versus the Kingdom of God. Will we allow God to rule and reign in our hearts so we can partner with Him in defeating evil wherever it is found, or will we rely on our own power or self-will, which is idolatry, allied to the powers of darkness? If the latter, which is one consequence of optimism, then we leave God out of our struggles and open the door for darkness.
Fourth, if I believe that the world is not that bad, and that with more of my love and selflessness it can be made a better (or even a good) place, then I have no need of a Savior. Salvation becomes something I work for, rather than a gift of grace that gives me life. But the ‘salvation’ that I work for is never true salvation – it always leads deeper into bondage and destruction.
Optimism is a belief that ignores, circumvents, or denies the role of God in the salvation of the world. It is a belief that attempts to steal the glory of God.
For these reasons, I believe optimism is a dangerous, and as Peterson wrote, evil philosophy.
Today, popular cultural optimism is a pervasive belief in America. It denies the real power and effects of evil, places man at the center of the solution, eliminates God, denies the power of His Kingdom, and plays into the hands of satan.
There is only one solution to the darkness that is spreading over the face of the earth. It is for all men, everywhere, to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself”. Who is our neighbor? Everyone! But, the reality of this solution is that the only way to do that, given the corruption of the human heart, is to repent, believe in Jesus, and love God and others through the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Which is the same thing as saying, “we need the Kingdom of God.”
Heidi Baker, who has rescued thousands of children from poverty, darkness, and certain death, who has planted over 10,000 churches, fed hundreds of thousands, healed the blind, and now has a global ministry that feeds, shelters, heals, and cares for millions of people, understands the importance of confronting evil wherever she finds it. But she is no optimist. She sees the world for what it is, but more importantly she understands how the world will be made a better place. In her words:
“His mercy extends to those who fear Him (meaning “who stand in awe of Him”) – that is the response we are to have when God comes upon us and gives us prophetic promises. No matter how much we have fasted, sacrificed, or toiled, we cannot boast in what we do. We produce nothing alone. I know that I can do nothing without the Lord . . . but if I will lie down and love the One who is worthy – if I will fear Him, trust Him, and have faith in Him – His mercy upon a jar of clay like me will be enough to let me carry some of His glory to a lost and dying world . . . We cannot cause anything to be birthed in ourselves. Without Him our efforts produce nothing spectacular, no matter how much we strive” (Heidi Baker, Birthing the Miraculous, pg. 108).
There is great hope for this world. But that hope is not in men and their self-centered, humanistic optimism. The hope for our world is found in Jesus Christ, the One who created a perfect world, who loves us, died on the cross to save humanity, and lives in the hearts of those who accept Him.
“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1: 27 NIV).
Always hopeful,
John