The reality of good and evil

I had recently a conversation with a Hindu co-worker about the nature of good and evil.

I want to share a follow up message I sent, where I clarify my worldview.

Thank you again for our conversation last Thursday. It was lively, but very interesting and thought-provoking. I truly appreciate your openness and perspective.

I still believe that Jesus — as the image and manifestation of the one true God — reveals a character, wisdom, and power that surpasses Krishna’s. But I’ll leave that discussion for another day.

What I’d like to focus on is something you said that kept me thinking. You mentioned that good and evil are relative — that it all depends on perspective. Your example was that you might push me out of the way of an oncoming car, injuring me in the process, but ultimately saving my life. While I didn’t think that was the strongest example, I understood the principle: an action that appears harmful from one viewpoint can actually lead to good when seen from another perspective.

A stronger example, I think, would be the Hiroshima bombing. It was truly evil. Ending the life of so many innocent people remains fundamentally wrong despite any positive outcomes. But it ended the war. Countless other lives were saved this way. Another example from the Bible is Joseph’s story. His brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy, a truly evil act, but God worked through that injustice to position Joseph as second to Pharaoh, which ultimately saved his family from starvation.

Where I respectfully disagree with you is with the idea that good and evil are simply matters of perspective. I believe — as a Christian — that good and evil are real and objective. God is not just “good for me” or “good from a certain point of view.” He is Goodness itself. There are certain events in the world that are truly evil, even when good can eventually arise from them. Even when we witness evil or suffering in the world, I believe that God, in His sovereign wisdom, can use even the worst situations for His purposes. My concern is that if we treat evil as merely subjective, we could lose the moral conviction needed to oppose genuine injustice and protect the vulnerable. Similarly, treating goodness as merely subjective could prevents us from recognizing the genuine beauty that exists in what is truly Good.

To me, the most powerful example of this is the cross of Jesus: an act of cruelty, injustice, and suffering — and yet, through it, God brought forgiveness, healing, and redemption to the world. Evil wasn’t redefined as good — rather, God overcame evil with good.

We can agree that identifying what is really good and evil is not always straightforward. But I wanted to make the point that I believe some things really are Good, and some things really are evil - not just from our limited perspective, but in themselves

I understand this might not align with your worldv iew. From what I understand, many Hindu and Buddhist approaches see good and evil as provisional — useful at one level, but not the final word on reality. I respect that view, but I can’t accept it. I believe there truly is a difference between light and darkness, truth and illusion, good and evil — and that this distinction is essential to understanding love, justice, and the hope of salvation.

It’s possible that I’m misrepresenting your actual beliefs — these are complex philosophical questions, and I don’t want to put words in your mouth or oversimplify your position. My intention wasn’t arguing against a view you don’t hold, but rather to clarify my own perspective and explain why I hold to objective morality, even when it’s difficult to discern what that looks like in practice.

If I’m wrong on any point, I would love to hear more about how you actually see these questions. I’m always available for conversations like this whenever you’re interested — I find them intellectually stimulating and personally meaningful, even when (or especially when) we see things differently.