Learning the Gospel Pt. 1 - the fallen human nature

[joseph]

The Fallen Human Nature

The most common misunderstanding about the fallen human nature is
thinking in terms of wrong things that people do, instead of a
condition that people have. This quantitative view sees sin as
individual acts that people commit and then “ranks” people (and
ourselves) according to how many or how bad their sins are. In this
view, Hitler was a bad sinner, Mother Theresa was a minor sinner, if
one at all.

This is not to down play the heinous wrong acts that evil people have
committed, at all. But when sin is viewed quantitatively in terms of
outward behavior instead of a universal human condition, the solution
is simply to reduce the quantity and try to improve our ranking.
That’s one reason a lot of us don’t like to talk about our sin. First,
it makes us uncomfortable (we know about it already), second, we don’t
want to lower our ranking.

The major problem with this view of sin is in the remedy. If we think
the problem with sin is how many or how bad, then the solution is do
fewer and smaller. Or, even worse, if we think a “good” Christian is
one who does fewer sins, then we try our hardest to fit that image,
even if it means working ourselves into exhaustion or putting on a
front.

The cultural remedies are just as troubling. Transcendental meditation
offers a way to escape the reality of our self and our world by
lifting our conscious thought out of ourselves and onto something more
pleasant and positive. Philosophies offer explanations and solutions
that usually focus on fixing the problem through therapy and self
discipline. And then there’s the catch all religious explanation that
people are inherently good and, “god loves everybody just the way we
are,” but since nobody’s perfect, just do the best you can.

This view of sin and human nature totally misses the real problem and,
worse yet, the real solution. The bible makes it clear that all humans
possess a fallen (sinful) nature. This is a universal condition common
to all people. As the book of Romans says: “As it is written: "There
is no one righteous, not even one;” but unlike us and the culture, the
bible doesn’t try to hide this truth or play it down, but rather
offers a complete and reliable solution, it’s called the gospel.

The remedy (the gospel) is as real as the problem (fallen human
nature).

Rom 3:23-25 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that
came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his blood.

The problem of the fallen human nature is real and the forgiveness and
righteousness of Christ (the gospel) are just as real. Any comments or
questions? Stay tuned as we learn more about this wonderful gospel.