> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://amemamem.com.br/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Who Are the Good Ones in the Story? - URL: https://amemamem.com.br/en/who-are-the-good-ones-in-the-story/ - Published: 2026-06-16T14:34:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-09T01:04:06.000Z - Description: They help us interpret the world, define who we are and identify who the heroes and the villains of the story are. - Author: Airton Humber - Tags: #en, #teste-sonnet, #de-quem-sao-os-bons The power of narratives and the ancient temptation… All of us live inside narratives. They help us interpret the world, define who we are and identify who the heroes and the villains of the story are. Conservatives usually believe they are preserving what is good and true. Progressives usually believe they are correcting injustices and leading society to a better place. The neutral usually believe they can see the errors on both sides more clearly. The problem arises when each group concludes: > “We are the good ones.” And, almost inevitably: > “They are the bad ones.” Perhaps this is one of the oldest narratives of humanity. ## The narrative of Eden In Eden, man wanted to take God's place. Not merely to disobey or to eat a forbidden fruit. But to take for himself the ability to determine, on his own, what is good and what is evil. > “God knows that, on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”Genesis 3:5 Ever since, we keep repeating the same pattern. Parties change, religions change, speeches change, but the temptation remains to believe that we have finally found the group of the righteous. And when we believe that, we begin to look at the other not merely as someone who thinks differently, but as someone morally inferior. Thus, politics becomes religion. And religion, many times, stops leading to humility and begins to feed superiority. ## The human heart The Bible, however, offers a profoundly humble view of the human condition. It does not begin by saying that man was created evil. In the beginning, God saw everything he had made, and it was very good. But after the fall, the biblical narrative shows a deep inclination in the human heart. > “The heart of man is inclined to evil from childhood.”Genesis 8:21 This means that the problem is not only in others. It also dwells in us. That is why every narrative that automatically puts us among the good ones deserves to be examined carefully. Because we are very skilled at building stories that justify our desires, our fears, our preferences and even our resentments. Adam said: > “It was the woman the Lord gave me…” Eve said: > “The serpent deceived me…” From the beginning, the narrative appears as a way of shifting blame. And perhaps we still do the same. The blame is always on the other group, the other party, the other religion, the other generation, the other person. But the word of God calls us to a deeper honesty. ## Paul and spiritual honesty The apostle Paul, a man profoundly reached by God, did not maintain a narrative of superiority about himself. On the contrary, he confessed: > “For what I do is not the good I desire, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing.”Romans 7:19 This confession dismantles the illusion that there are pure human groups, fully good, free from self-deception. Conservatives need to be suspicious of themselves. Progressives need to be suspicious of themselves. The neutral also need to be suspicious of themselves. The religious, atheists, leaders, followers, all of us need to acknowledge the same frailty. The struggle does not happen only between “us” and “them.” The struggle happens within us. > “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”Galatians 5:17 That is why the biblical narrative is so uncomfortable. It does not allow us simply to point outward. It invites us to look inward. ## Only God is good Perhaps that is why Jesus was so direct: > “No one is good, except one, who is God.”Mark 10:18 This statement does not lead us to despair. It leads us to humility. Because we no longer need to prove that we are the good ones in the story. We can acknowledge that we need grace as much as anyone else. Perhaps the most important question is not: > “Who are the bad ones?” But: > “Lord, what still needs to be transformed in me?” ## Hope is not in us Biblical hope does not rest on the human capacity to become good by oneself. Jesus said: > “Without me you can do nothing.”John 15:5 And he also affirmed: > “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”John 6:44 Paul, for his part, wrote: > “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure.”Philippians 2:13 See how everything connects. If the human heart is inclined to evil, then it is not enough merely to change parties, religion, group or speech. Something deeper is needed. God needs to work in us. Even in the willing. Even in the doing. That is why the gospel does not invite us to take God's place. It invites us to acknowledge the Lord. Only God is truly good. When we put ourselves in the place of absolute judges, we repeat the ancient temptation of Eden. ## The Lord is the Spirit There is a very profound biblical phrase: > “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”2 Corinthians 3:17 Perhaps a large part of humanity still does not know the Lord as he defines himself. We were taught all our lives to be lords. Lords of ourselves. Lords of our truth. Lords of our narrative. Lords of good and evil. That is why we resist any lordship. Even the lordship of the Spirit. But true freedom, according to Paul, is not in the absence of lordship. True freedom is where the Spirit of the Lord governs. This changes everything. Because the Lord does not reveal himself as a tyrant. He reveals himself as goodness. ## Show me your glory Perhaps all this leads us back to Moses. He asked: > “I ask you to show me your glory.”Exodus 33:18 And God answered: > “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you.”Exodus 33:19 This is extraordinary. When Moses asks to see the glory, God speaks of his goodness. Perhaps because the true glory of God is not the power that dominates, but the goodness that is revealed. And perhaps it is precisely this goodness that leads us to repentance. > “Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's goodness leads you to repentance?”Romans 2:4 It is not our goodness that saves us. It is God's goodness that finds us, draws us, confronts us and transforms us. ## Stepping down from the throne Perhaps the world needs fewer people trying to prove they are the good ones in the story. And more people humble enough to say: > “Lord, have mercy on me.” Because only God is truly good. And only the Spirit can form in us what we cannot produce in ourselves. Human narratives often put us at the center. The gospel invites us to leave the center. Human narratives teach us to divide the world between good and bad. The gospel reveals that all of us need grace. Human narratives encourage us to judge. The gospel calls us to know the Lord. **Perhaps knowing the Lord is ceasing to try to occupy his place.** Because only God is truly good. And perhaps it is precisely his goodness that keeps leading us, little by little, to repentance, to freedom and to transformation.