In the Beginning

"In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth -- the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, and God saith, `Let light be;' and light is. And God seeth the light that [it is] good, and God separateth between the light and the darkness," - Genesis 1:1-4 (YLT)

"to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of the Adversary unto God, for their receiving forgiveness of sins, and a lot among those having been sanctified, by faith that is toward me." - Acts 26:18 (YLT)

It interests me that we do not hear God say, let there be darkness. We know that darkness is simply the absense of light. If darkness is only the absense of light, is it not also the potential for light? How often do we associate light with good, and darkness with evil. If light and darkness are true representations of good and evil, they share the same properties. What then is evil, but the absense, and therefore, potential for good? If darkness does not exist and is only defined by the absense of light, can we not also say that evil does not exist in that it is only the absense of good? While not exactly a profound statement, it seems greatly overlooked. As Christians, we often see the world as a fight between good and evil when it may be better to view the world as a fight between good and potential good.
For those who wish to continually characterize people as good and evil let them ask how the good inside of themselves was created. If we were all created equal and empty, what would make someone believe that put into another's circumstance, they would behave any differently? If this is possible, it is beyond my comprehension as it is beyond cause and effect. Not that I deny that there is anything outside of causality, but to assume there is, and that because of this you are superior to another person, seems to me a dangerous assertion. Without this seemingly dangerous assertion, we are left with the fact that only by circumstance are we superior to the worst of humanity. Many people have heard and repeated the phrase, "There but by the grace of God go I" without understanding the consequence of this statement.