A Series of Questions (I)
It is no surprise that the most important question we will ever be asked is, “Who is Jesus Christ to you?” This question will have eternal applications. This question has so much weight to it, that we should never quickly skip it by and address other important life questions. Nevertheless, today my goal is to start on a three-part series discussing three questions that all people need to answer outside of the all-important “Who is Jesus Christ to you?” This first week I want to address “Is man naturally good or naturally evil?”
I must confess, in my younger years I took this question for granted and just naturally assumed it was dependent on the individual in question. For one person they were naturally good and for someone else they were evil. This question would become gradually more complicated with challenges in school regarding absolute answers to questions. Who was to say that “naturally good” and “naturally evil” was even correctly being defined within the question? Nevertheless, as I grew up it was even more complicated with the actions of some being considered good with evil intentions and some actions evil with good intentions. History has proven to us that sometimes evil men can produce good results, while good men can at times produce evil results. However, today we need to settle this question.
“Is man naturally good or naturally evil?”
There is no short answer. Many today, especially in the Western world, demand a quick answer to life’s challenges, to have immediate gratification. Unfortunately, this is not possible when we must evaluate the reality of the situation. So, I would ask this question again, “Is man naturally good or naturally evil?” This question must be answered for three specific reasons.
1. It will guide our understanding of how we interact with the world on an individual basis.
2. It will guide our understanding on how the world interacts with us.
3. It will guide our understanding on how we need to interact with the world at large.
For those who have ever taken a philosophy class, you might know that a question of this magnitude cannot be simply answered but is actually answered by a series of questions. These questions I have already stated in my introduction. The first is, does this question hold to each person the same way? We know Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” giving us the answer that all individuals are and should be weighed with the same measurements. People can disagree with this measuring line all they want; however, it still does not change the very fact that our measurements are solely based on what God counts as good and evil. To reject His measurement will be as successful as stating you reject gravity and jump off a cliff and expect gravity to allow you to pass simply because you reject it. We know that Jesus Christ died for everyone, no matter what they had done, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Thus clarifying that our question of “Is man naturally good or naturally evil?” can be applied to all men, no matter the changing factors of the individual’s life. The answer of “Is man naturally good or naturally evil?” will answer for all men no matter what.
Our next question to address with answering “Is man naturally good or naturally evil?” comes into play with the idea of good or evil. What is good and what is evil? Who gets to decide? For this we must understand what I like to call, The Law of Limitation.
The Law of Limitation: A person, object, or anything else to which is limited in any way cannot be considered deity. All things that were not and now are, who have been created, are in fact bound to this law.
To be able to orchestrate what is good and what is evil, you must be capable of being outside of it in order to deliberate and substantiate the delicacies of such measurement. Thus, only one person can be declared as capable of knowing what is good and what is evil, simply put God Jesus Christ in the flesh. Anyone else who might claim such power is fooling themselves. Many in fact have attempted to declare that they could create such measurements of good and evil, they pride themselves in human enlightenment. This type of thinking can better be identified as Humanism. In their own words they claim, “Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good.”[1] Unfortunately, they fail at answering this question as much as they fail at answering our primary question of “Is man naturally good or naturally evil?”
What they fail to recognize is the Law of Limitation. Man has attempted to break free of such a law going back to Adam and Eve in the garden wanting to break free from their limitation of knowledge. They wanted to know what was good and evil and thusly, creating the circumstances to which has led to the arena we now face ourselves in. If this Law of Limitation is the case, and only one person has the correct measurements, we are held to only abiding by what they have measured and defined. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2. We see God has joyously measured and defined what we are to call good and evil. Proverbs 2:1-12 states,
“My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
3 For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 Guarding the paths of justice,
And He preserves the way of His godly ones.
9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice
And equity and every good course.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart
And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 Discretion will guard you,
Understanding will watch over you,
12 To deliver you from the way of evil,”
We see that we can in fact define what is good and what is evil, how we are to act and how we are to not act. Any idea of relativism can be cast aside as total obscurity when discussing absolutes which influence the entirety of man. We have already come to the conclusion that our answer is answering for all men while our idea of good and evil is answered for all men by the only person who is outside of all limitation, to which that answer is God. Our final question to help orchestrate answering our main question, “Is man naturally good or naturally evil?” Simply put, good men do evil things and evil men do good things. In the Bible the book of Job identifies a method of philosophy that many fail to recognize as being a Biblical practice. Many call Aristotle as being the first to largely coin the practice of using natural observation to identify truths found in the world. However, in the book of Job we find the practice being well used. Job 40:15-21 states,
“Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you;
He eats grass like an ox.
16 “Behold now, his strength in his loins
And his power in the muscles of his belly.
17 “He bends his tail like a cedar;
The sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18 “His bones are tubes of bronze;
His limbs are like bars of iron.
19 “He is the first of the ways of God;
Let his maker bring near his sword.
20 “Surely the mountains bring him food,
And all the beasts of the field play there.
21 “Under the lotus plants he lies down,
In the covert of the reeds and the marsh.
22 “The lotus plants cover him with shade;
The willows of the brook surround him.
23 “If a river rages, he is not alarmed;
He is confident, though the Jordan rushes to his mouth.
This practice is also confirmed in the New Testament with Jesus calling attention to the trees, birds, and flowers as a statement to man to not worry. Thusly, we can examine in history and see that many things that were meant for something else, came out entirely different. In Genesis we can see that Joseph’s brothers meant evil and God meant their scheming for good. While if we fast forward to WWII, we can see a horrible war allowed the rescuing of millions of innocent lives and the creation of the Jewish nation, Israel, as prophesied in Isaiah 66:8, “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.”
Based on this, we can assume that men can bring about good events and evil events based on what God allows. His allowance is based solely on how He has defined within His purview. Only now can we finally be able to answer our first question.
“Is man naturally good or naturally evil?”
As Christians, we need to understand the answer to this question has implications to our very actions and circumstances to where we are now. If we can see that this question can be verified as being applicable to all men, in totality of good vs evil and the intricacies of the intentions of men, we finally can come to grips with our question. To this point this answer would not fully have ripened unless we understood the conditions this this question had to be answered. Our answer can be found in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” We second this answer from Jesus Christ’s own words in the book of Matthew, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Matthew 15:9.
You might be asking yourself, why does this matter? If man is inherently evil, we need to understand we are in even more need of a God than we might have previously thought. Secondly, in our human interactions we must take into consideration the laws, governance, and leadership we put into place based on such knowledge. Governance cannot be assumed as having the answers to keeping man in perfect check, for what is governance rather than a gathering of inherently evil men. With November 3rd coming in the United States, but also with other believers across the world in their own nations, we must consider how we construct our government and legal structure to properly reflect man naturally being evil. If considered correctly, our only choice is the pursuit of smaller governance and the limitation of men being able to act against one another in the form of government oversight.
We must be willing to see the results of man and not the worlds defined intentions as the measurements of who we elect. Here at Mill House Ministries, we will not endorse any candidate for office. However, we will fervently endorse the principles found in the Holy Word of God. As Christians, we need to not take elections lightly and identify that we are living at a time like no other at which nations all around the globe find themselves at a crossroads. One way leads to limited government and principles established in the Bible, the other more government established in errancy that man is inherently good.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming
JL
[1] American Humanist Association, Definition of Humanism Page.