In French history class I met two ideas: “Man
is born free, but is everywhere in chains” as well as the concept of the “Noble
Savage.” The latter came from John Dryden's play: The Conquest of Granada (1672) As the idea gained traction in
Europe, the earl of Shaftesbury wrote: Inquiry
Concerning Virtue (1699), suggesting that our moral sense is inborn and
based on feelings, rather than taught by religion. It was a short walk to
believing any tribe not yet debased by civilization as being innately noble.
Thus the first idea derived power by
suggesting that the real problem of the ordinary person was not internal. Rather the poor or the victimized were
chained by wrong society systems. Remove the “chains” and all people will
revert to their internal state of goodness.
Thus the liberal concept of “right” government was born. The
left-leaning thinker presupposes that the ordinary citizen’s heart is mostly
pure and unselfish. No need to spend time reforming the individual. It’s the country’s
laws that are wrong.
These folks shudder at the Bible’s view
of inbred sin. The liberal mind can’t believe that toddlers are innately spiteful,
selfish and cruel. To them a book like William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” has the wrong world view. So let’s experiment.
Fill a room with 5 three year olds and 12 toys. Place an adult in charge who
believes ardently that, left to themselves, the kids will spend 3 hours in
happy, contented play. When the first fight over a toy happens charge the adult
to just smile and observe. The hope is that very soon the children’s inborn,
peaceful, unselfishness will resolve the conflict. Yeah right!
Bible readers are not surprised at the
conflict. The text says that foolishness is in the child’s heart and that
correction is required. Our Book says a child must be trained in righteous ways.
In the opening pages of the Bible tell that brother on brother murder was one
of the first events of civilization’s history.
How then does one explain that most of us
feel ourselves to be basically good on the inside, with just a few nasty “external”
traits? The Bible speaks to that as
well. It calls the epicenter of our
conscious being “desperately wicked,” but also “deceitful above all things.” Here’s the bitter pill: thinking yourself to
be essentially noble and good may be the biggest lie you ever swallowed. Nevertheless
we are also still capable of unselfish actions at times.
An old song asks if there is no thorough
cure from the “thralldom of indwelling sin.” Thankfully there is a remedy. It starts with
the rueful agreeing that the Bible, rather than your feelings, is the accurate
mirror of the soul. That includes the willingness to take the concept of sin seriously.
Sin is conscious rebellion against the known will of God. You discover His will
by a diligent study of the scriptures.
After that you soon realize that the next
steps to internal goodness are the confession of your sins and the request for
God’s forgiveness. It’s as practical as just owning your guilt and praying a
simple prayer for pardon. No fancy words. No poetic utterance. No mantras. Just
speak it as simply as you can.
Not much further to go. The next phase is
also a prayer. Having believed that God, Who promised to forgive, has done so,
you may ask Him to come into your life. Think of it as opening your front door
and handing Him the house keys. Now give Him permission to clean any rooms you
were not aware needed doing.
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