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In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus proclaims, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

It is clear from this passage that indeed, the Christian Gospels are good news.

In this article, we'll take a very close look at exactly why that is.

A Deeper Spiritual Undercurrent
Though Luke 4:18-19 talks about the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, and the oppressed, He isn't simply talking about those who are literally so. Concurrently, He is referring to those who are spiritually poor (and lacking faith), spiritually imprisoned (to a life of sin apart from God), and spiritually blinded and oppressed (by the sin of this world).

In this passage, He tells us that He has come as God in the Flesh (John 10:30) to rescue us from our poor spiritual condition that was brought upon the world subsequent to the Fall in the Garden of Eden. But rescue us from what?

What is the Definition of Good and Bad?
It is amazing that even in our day and age of science and technology, faith in the world is as strong as ever. Yet generally speaking, most religious systems rely on salvation through personal goodness. In other words, good people go to Heaven and bad people go to Hell.

But what happens to good people who on occasion slip up and do bad things? Does that make them a bad person, even for a moment? What about bad people who on occasion do good things? Does that make them a good person, just for a second? Thus it seems the definition of good and bad are somewhat subjective. So what to think?

The Imperfection of Self
When it comes down to it, we are all imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. Nobody wants to admit their faults, or that they're wrong, or that they're not living up to the standards of a Holy God. Yet that is exactly our plight in this thing we call life; if it were not so, there would be no laws, no strife, no war, no arguing, no abuse, and a peace akin to the Garden of Eden.

I'll be the first to admit it. We all fall short. We all say rotten things sometimes. We hold racial and ethnic prejudices; we criticize the less fortunate; we blame the victim; we lack sensitivity and understanding; we are hypocritical; we lie; we compromise our integrity and morals; we justify even the grossest of sins in our lives.

We are, as human beings, imperfect. And as imperfect

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