ARE YOU WILLING TO SUFFER EVIL RATHER THAN DO IT?

Jesus "suffered evil rather than do it" (as William Mays comments in the chapter on VERITATIS SPLENDOR in his book AN INTRODUCTION TO MORAL THEOLOGY). The emphasis is on how one's moral act, what one actually chooses to do, defines one's moral being, who one really is. Deciding to suffer evil is morally superior to deciding to avoid suffering. One who enjoy's doing God's will is always conscientiously willing to do ONLY what is good given one's hope to remain in the joy of the Lord on the Day of Judgment (cf. Hebrews 12:1-29). Such joy is evident in how Jesus overcame ANY temptation to not go through with the crucifixion by consistently praying to his Father God, "Not my will, but Thy will be done" (see the Passion Narratives in the Gospels).

We read in Acts 17:16-34 how Paul preached Jesus and the Resurrection among the idolatrous Athenians. It is especially interesting to note that Paul quoted a pagan philosopher to make his point that "In him [God] we live and move and have our being." This God is unknown apart from the person and work of the resurrected Christ (cf. Acts 17:22-23, 30-31).

Given who we are in God ("created ... in his image," Genesis 1:27), we ought to do what is consistent with such a character. Christians consider the character of Christ to be the perfect example to which we can conform by faith enacted through each thing we decide to do. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to enjoy God's grace, being and doing that which is pleasing to God.