I’ve digressed. I need to refocus on the basic question. How can I be saved? I could easily get sidetracked again by wondering what it is that I need to be saved from, but the presumption is so ancient as to be beyond debate. However evil is defined, it is seductive and to be avoided. When I become aware of being in evil’s grasp, then I need to be saved from it. Who, or what, is capable of accomplishing this?
It seems reasonable to explore where evil comes from in the first place. If that can be determined, then there’s a better chance of developing a plan for escaping from it or avoiding it altogether. In my relatively fortunate state, however, I may find it difficult to identify what is genuinely evil. If I lived in a dangerous environment, the palpable threat to my life would clearly stand out. But in a safe environment, the threat from which to be rescued almost needs to be imagined.
Perhaps it is that which is beyond explanation or understanding that is perceived as evil. Death certainly falls into this category, and the case is repeatedly made throughout Hebrew and Christian scripture that death is initiated by evil as a form of punishment for human transgression. So, I’ve established an evil from which I want to be saved. I selfishly don’t want to die, and that logically leads to my practical need of a supernatural savior. Now we’re getting somewhere!
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