Take care not to wrongly identify evil

Recently, I wrote about picking up trash along U.S. 54 and that on one such occasion, I found a pair of unmatched left-handed work gloves. I threw them away because they didn’t match, and I don’t have two left hands (I do have two left feet, however!). That previous article’s point was we’re to test everything holding on to the good and throw out the evil.

Another thing that reminded me of was, until not too long ago, naturally left-handed individuals were forced to learn how to write and do other things right-handed. Maybe that’s why I only found left-handed gloves — someone bought two pair of gloves and threw out the lefties because they had two right hands, which is the origin of the term “ambidextrous,” for someone who could use either hand equally well.

“Dextros” and “sinistros” are Latin for “right” and “left,” respectively. Ancient societies throughout Eurasia and Africa considered left-handed people to be evil probably just because they were different, and that concept carried over into even 20th-century cultures (www.jstor.org/stable/628543?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents; https://wordinfo.info/unit/3777/s:left). Among 26,700 soldiers, Judges 20:15-16 mentions 700 left-handers who but could sling a stone and not miss a hair. None of the 26,700 was probably on God’s side at the time (read Judges 19:1-21:25 for the whole intriguing account). Baseball has known the value of left-handed pitchers and batters for some time, and they’d love to have those 700 lefties!

We must be careful to not wrongly identify things (Isaiah 5:20-21). God never made a difference among people in regard to their dominant hand. He always has accepted anyone who does what is right (Acts 10:34-35; pun not intended). In fact, God also used left-handed people for good in the Old Testament (Judges 3:12-30). So, what most called evil, God used for good.

Back to right and left and good (dextro) and evil (sinistro), God says there’s only way to salvation, and it’s a narrow way but, almost since humankind learned good and evil, nearly each person has done, “that which was right in his own eyes,” without regard to God’s law (John 14:6; Matthew 7:13-14; Acts 4:12; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; 4:1-10; Judges 17:6; 21:25; Matthew 15:1-14). In some cases, both left and right can be wrong, particularly when it comes to straying from the way God prescribes for going to heaven (Deuteronomy 28:14; Joshua 1:6-9; Proverbs 14:12; Jeremiah 6:16).

We’ve come a long way regarding the ancient concept of wrongly judging people about left-handedness, but we need to get back to those ancient paths for what God says about being saved — Christians. Read the Book of Acts, where salvation was first taught, and just do what people were told there become Christians, if you haven’t already. God will help you understand the commands if you keep studying his word to learn the truth without adding or taking anything away (Philippians 2:12-13; 3:15-17; 2 Timothy 2:15; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Revelation 22:18-19; Proverbs 30:5-6).

Have you been doing that?

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]