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Vital
Issues: Is Man Good or Bad? By Joel Joyce
Most people would agree that at least some people are
bad: chronic criminals residing in Jackson State Prison,
ruthless Colombian drug lords, and inner city gang
leaders. But what about the productive members of
society, law abiding citizens, family people who respect
the rights of others and the authority of the law? Where
do they fall on the spectrum between good and bad? If we
asked this question in a random poll, people would give
a range of answers. Some would say that man is basically
good, except for a few deranged people like those
mentioned; others would say that man is mostly good, but
there is also a little bit of evil in all of us; still
others would assert that man is neutral—family and
social influences determine his inclination toward
goodness or evil. A few people might even believe that
man’s natural propensity is toward evil.
This question may seem to be philosophical and not
really relevant to you as a nurse, homemaker, salesman,
or engineer. But how you answer this question will
determine how you approach God and his salvation. If you
feel you are good, you will offer your goodness to God
as reason for Him to accept you into Heaven. However, if
you realize you are not good enough for Heaven and that
your inherent evil deserves Hell, then you will approach
God pleading for His mercy.
Before answering this ancient question lets define
good and bad. The Bible equates goodness with obeying
God’s moral laws; badness is falling short of these.
Jesus summed up God’s law in this statement,
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind… and love
your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39). God
judges us not only by what we do, but by what we think—our
motives and attitudes. Jesus taught that if we hate our
brother, then in God’s mind we have committed murder
in our hearts. If a man looks at a women to lust after
her he has committed adultery in his heart (Matthew
5:28). We may never have actually murdered or committed
adultery, but if we have thought about committing these
things we have broken God’s law. With goodness and
badness defined, let’s ask the question again in a
slightly different way: Is man’s natural bent to love
God and to put the interest of his neighbor on the same
level as his own? Or, is he basically selfish and
self-centered?
In answering this question let me first appeal to
your common sense. Why do we make laws? Are they not to
protect ourselves from each other or to prevent us from
taking advantage of each other? If each of us lived by
the "Golden Rule" and loved his neighbor as
himself, what need would we have for laws? There would
be no theft, no murder, no divorce, or no racial
discrimination. What need would there even be for a
police force or army? Yet our modern societies are more
regulated than any societies in history. Some may argue
we have too many laws, but I shudder to think of what
our country would be like if there were no laws and no
authority to enforce them.
Do we have to teach our children to be selfish with
their toys? Do we have to teach them to make fun of the
boy down the street with the big ears? Do they only
learn laziness by example? Do they need lessons in
lying? Certainly a poor example by parents and a lack of
restraint will accentuate these tendencies, but virtues
like sharing, truthfulness, obedience, and kindness must
be taught. As adults, this bad behavior doesn’t
disappear; it just becomes refined. We know it is
socially unacceptable to make fun of people so we do it
behind their backs. Selfishness merely takes on a new
face. Babies are aborted so life-styles are not cramped.
Marriages break up because, "I am not getting what
I want out of it." Lying is okay as long as it
promotes our interest and doesn’t hurt anybody.
Common sense clearly shows that since people must be
trained and restrained, they cannot be inherently good.
What does the Bible teach about the nature of man?
"No one seeks God. All have turned away… there is
no one who does good, no not one" (Romans 3:11-12).
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us
has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6).
"There is none good but one, that is, God"
(Mark 10:18). "All of us lived at one time among
them, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts" (Ephesians
2:3). The Bible’s clear teaching on the nature of man
is that he is born with a sinful nature. In his heart he
makes himself the most important person in the universe
and gives God second place or no place at all.
These alarming statements from God’s word may seem
to overstate the sinfulness of man. But that is simply
because we are so accustomed to comparing ourselves with
each other. Since we can always find someone worse than
ourselves, we think that we have some good in us. But
God does not grade on a curve. If we fail to meet His
standard, we are unfit for Heaven.
What hope can we have of Heaven? How can we have a
right relationship with a holy God? Through the death of
Christ, God has provided a way in which our guilt as
sinners can be removed and replaced with a righteous
standing in His sight: "God made Him [Christ] who
had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Christ, who is righteous, took the punishment of our sin
upon Himself, so that we who are unrighteous may receive
a righteous standing in God’s sight. How do we receive
this right standing? Not by prayers, baptism, church
attendance, or even good works, but through faith in
Jesus Christ. "But now a righteousness from God,
apart from the law, has been made known… This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus
Christ" (Romans 3:21-22).
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