As it is written:
"There is none righteous,
no not one; there is none
who understands; There is
none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
they have together become
unprofitable; there is none
who does good, no not one.
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
Romans 3:10-12; 18
The study on Islam showed that man can twist their thinking in such a manner as to develop religions that suit their "fancy." Not only in religions that are not "Christian" but also within those Churches, religions that claim to be "Christian" do we find theologies that defy Scripture. A major flaw in the thinking of man is their thinking about man, in their regards as to who and what is man. The Bible teaches that man is fallen but many Christians have overlooked this fact and given to man an attribute that does not agree with Scripture; that is that man in inherently good. Some have just minimized this problem in regards to man even while the acknowledge that the world is full of violence and wickedness and that man tends toward the sensual and selfish. History avoids to us the truth in this matter, men have been and are cruel, dishonest, jealous, and violent. These who make out that man is "good" admit that we act contrary to what we know is true, even if we know better. This is true, we cannot deny these facts, they are obvious; but the question that is unanswered is why do so many Christians believe in the goodness of man, their human nature? The theology of Arminianism has such a belief, man due to his "goodness" in his nature can come to such a place in his mind so that he chooses to be saved. This is contrary to Scripture, read John chapter six. This is where much of the problem in regards to the nature of man lies: there are those who will admit to the facts, but will also deny the source of those facts.
How does such a man rationalize these failures or these problems? He does so by simple rationalization, they fail to get to the heart of the matter. Why? Pride, human pride that refuses to face the truth. Isn't is so nice to think that man can by himself choose God? That man did not then fall completely in the garden so that there is just enough goodness in him that he can through his own rationalization come to a place to decide for himself to be saved. If so, then why did God place death upon man for his failure? Why do such a horrible thing as for man to die due to sin when there is at least some good left in him; then sin was not a complete loss, but this is contrary to the opening Scripture by Paul. One way for cultural Christians to rationalize this problem in the nature of man is to assign this failure, that man is basically good, yet fails, is due to the power of temptation. Yes, temptation is a problem for man: "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38). We must not overstate our goodness so that we absolve ourselves from temptation: "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1Corinthians 10:12-13). We have no excuse, it is up to us to do what is necessary to fend off temptation. Yet, can we do this? No! Not of ourselves, for it is God who "make the way of escape" and not you or I, and God did not say that He would take that temptation away, only that "you may be able to bear it." Sin and evil is not the exception as some believe, it is the rule.
What does the Bible teach? Certainly not the picture that some have painted to make the Bible be more digestible to their way of thinking, for it teaches that man is a fallen creature. Man has fallen from a place of his innocence and has degraded his own nature. Man is depraved in his thinking, prone toward evil, not good. Sin has impacted his core of thinking. We can see evil in such religious groups such as Islam, but also even in Christianity when the Church became a partner with government. As the city states became nation states, the Church in its attempt to wield its influence and control aligned with political leaders so that they did what they thought was right to keep, what they had come to believe, their influence and control, even when they thought they were doing the will of God. Many Churches today under the guise of doing the will of God do many things that are not Scriptural. Man, when he refuses the plain, clear, teaching of the Bible then will do the most blasphemy against a Holy God. We do this ourselves individually when we allow temptation to rule over us and do not allow God to "Make a way of escape." To many do not want to admit to the veracity of the truths of Scripture, they set aside the truth. Why? Milton in his Paradise Lost in book 1, lines 91-92 says: "Into what depth thou seest, from what height fallen!"
Let us take a moment to examine the human mind. It has such capabilities so that it has the power to invent, reason, make judgments, remember the past, make decisions in the present and plan for the future. Man has the ability to discern (animals do not have these capabilities, although some would assign human traits to them), for man not only understands an object, he can admire it, even reflect on it as something that is of beauty and moral excellence. Our emotions allow us the ability to fear, and to hope, to experience sorrow, empathize, and to love. Our will can be exercised to to hard tasks, and to exert patience so that we can stay the course. Interestingly, man can monitor his thoughts and desires of the heart and use reason to regulate our passions. Does this all not make man an amazing creature? Yes! We have marvelous attributes.
All this is good but we know that this is not the way things are when we step back and take a look as to how these powers are used. Just look at human history. Look how Islam will speak of peace while bombing and killing innocent people, even others who are Muslims. All we can see ins confusion that human desires have become twisted. All we can see as overriding attributes misused is anger, envy, hatred, and revenge. We have become slaves to our lower natures and seem unable to do good.
Yes, history confirms these tragedies of human nature. We are so quick to condemn the ancients and even those today who are doing horrendous acts of violence, but we have a hard time passing judgments on our own actions. We can see that there is a lack of natural affections, even so that man and woman have left the natural to become lovers of the same sex so that they might find some sort of love, a happiness that they cannot find in the natural. There is severe unnatural cruelty, just look at the news and see how many murders, rapes, etc. there are being committed even as I write. It is everywhere, decency has been thrown out the window, just look at most TV shows and see the freedom to throw off decency and promote that which God has condemned. Sinful desires seem to be the rule of man as the degrade their bodies with one another and with the cruelty that a husband, or a wife, might inflict upon the other.
This picture I painted is only to paint the truth and not to hide behind a belief that somehow man is good. He is not, and God will on the Last Day throw into Gehenna those who are not of His family. They will not choose God unless it fits their desires, they will not choose God properly because they can't even though everything points that God exists, and is good. With such a confusion about the nature of man within the Church, to those Christians that have sat under teachings that allow for man to somehow be inherently good, and even in Churches that don't teach this theology, there is a need for man to come to know that he is the result of faulty nature. We must come to understand this for it is important and at the very foundation of our belief. Salvation is part and parcel of this knowledge, and our understanding of eternity. Take the time to read and meditate on these things, and make the necessary changes, for only those who will do will come to Authentic Biblical Faith and leave cultural Christianity.
For those who live
according to the flesh
set their minds on the things
of the flesh, but those who
live according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace.
Romans 7:5-6
God is Our Help In Times of Temptation
Richard L. Crumb
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