I think Christians have brought some cloudiness into the world’s thinking. First, let me speak about the issue and then I’ll show how Christians may be part of the problem.

There is false logic called, “Moral equivalency.” In this way of thinking, one person or group’s nastiness or nasty behavior is equal to the others. So, for example, we hear the Palestinians and the Israelis are no different. After the revelation of prison abuse, the USA is no different than Iraq under Sadam. How did we get to this non-logical thinking? Here is the Christian contribution.

One of our key verses from the Bible is Romans 3:23.

“For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

This is where the confusion lies. Compared to Jesus, there is moral equivalency with people. None of us measures up. Compared to Jesus, for example, the difference between me and Mao is microscopic. But, the difference between Mao and myself on a strictly human level, well I am not connected to 35 million or however many deaths as Mao is.

So we must not confuse categories. I will argue that from a strict human standard, some people ultimately bring more good into the lives of others and some people bring more evil into the lives of others. But compared to Jesus, our differences pale compared to his infinite goodness.

It all depends on what you are comparing.