Most people have heard the expression, "You can't keep a good man down." The reasoning behind this statement is that if an individual is basically good, good will finally assert itself again in his experience, and he will rise to overcome the thoughts and acts that caused his downward journey. Of course, this is something that can take place only in the human realm, for the real man is spiritual and cannot be downgraded.
We have authority for this conclusion in the Bible, in which we learn that "God created man in his own image" and that "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen.1:31). The latter declaration points to the fact that if a thing is not good, it is not of God and has nothing to do with His creation.
It is only in the material realm, then, that evil, which is the opposite of good, seems to exist and to have the power to debase mankind. But since it does seem to exist and to have this power, there is an urgent need to handle or deal with it and to rise above its degrading effects.
