The Christian faith has always insisted that the flaw in human nature is more basic than any fault in man’s political or social institutions.
–Bruce Shelley
Sorry to burst your bubble if you were not aware… but we are not basically good.
Now it is certainly possible that when we compare ourselves to someone else who acts “worse” than we do, then we might “feel” like we are pretty good.
But if every thought that we had each day were broadcast to everyone around us, we would be mortified, embarrassed, and totally ashamed. Our inner sinful thoughts definitely teach us that we are not “good at heart” no matter how much we want to convince ourselves.
The Bible tells us that our righteousness is as filth to God because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Though He created the first two humans in goodness, He also gave them a choice, and they chose to rebel against Him and damaged the perfection. We now find that we are all born with a propensity for sin.
Therefore the quote above rings true. Though there are problems in each society and culture, and though we keep trying to fix these problems, our complaints about the political and social institutions often are focused in the wrong place, because these institutions are not the root issue. The root issue is that human nature is bent toward sin. And until that main problem is fixed, many other sub-problems will show up.
But if that is the case, then the problem seems too big. How do you change the entire human race? Fortunately, God has an answer for us: One person at a time. Your role is not to change the entire human race, but your task is to take the good news gospel message of Jesus who can come in and fix the root problem in each person’s life and you are to share that message with another person. And if you will be faithful to do that, you will begin to see the root problem eradicated in one person at a time, which will change the people around you – your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your co-workers. And as you encourage your entire local church family to do the same, then the neighborhood where your church family meets will change, and the community will change, and society will change.
But it all must begin with us banishing the idea that people are pretty much “good at heart” and understanding that all people are sinners in need of transformation. Only when we recognize this truth will we be ready to do something about the root problem. Again:
The Christian faith has always insisted that the flaw in human nature is more basic than any fault in man’s political or social institutions.
–Bruce Shelley