The Maverick Philosopher (blog linked to the right) pointed me toward this article at the New English Review on the evil of humanity. A particularly poignant quote:
I would once have taken the opening sentence of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments for a truism:
"How selfish soever man may be supposed, there is evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it."
But now I no longer think it is even a truth, let alone a truism. I would be more inclined to write:"How good soever man may be supposed, there is evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the suffering of others… etc., etc."
However, at the same time, I read this post at Signs of the Times (also linked on the right). Another poignant quote:
The enemy...is evil with its expansive kingdom...with [its] disposition inclined toward the domination of others and the exaltation of the self, barely able to see what is true and good. (emphasis added)
Dr. Dalrymple is moved by a shattered world to believe that man is evil. That the existence of evil is the existence of man and man is evil given flesh, that there is no natural good in him, despite what we might like to think of him. In other words, man is essentially inseparable from evil. (Here we must note that "essentially" is derived from the word "essence," meaning the core reality of a being.)
Thankfully, Matt over at the Crux Project knows something else. Man is not evil. Evil is the enemy of man, the thing that we have been at war with since the dawn of time. Further, he notes that evil is aware of "what is true and good." This recalls to mind a passage from the book of James: You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! (James 2:19, ESV) Demons recognize good. They recognize the truth of one God, and they shudder. They shudder because judgment is coming and they live in open rebellion, by choice. They shudder because they hate truth; they hate what is good.
But man does not hate what is good and what is true. Man is fallen, and to be fallen, there had to be a point from which he fell. Man has a natural state that is free from evil, free from all its deceptions. I believe in man's total depravity. But this is not his essential nature. Man was not made this way. The modern man is born into it, but man is not merely the physical body which goes through birth and death. Man is soul, man is spirit. And though the soul comes with the body, though the spirit enters into sin with the body, we know that eternally, man is not like this. He has fallen from grace into it.
So we turn to the cross. Jesus was 100% man and 100% God. If he led a sinless life, he did not do it simply as God. He did it frought with all the temptations and weariness of man as well. There is something essential in Christ that is also essential in us. If humanity is de facto evil, then Christ would have been as well. But this is not the case. Man is de jure evil--by the Law. The Law is there to convict us of our wrong. We disobeyed once God's command, and therefore we are evil. It is not a matter of fact; it is a matter of consequence.
We continually subsist in this state by our actions, by our choice. Our actions are contrarian, and they force evil upon us. But without these choices made, we are not evil. Unfortunately, having made the choice once, we continue to make it over and over again. Thankfully, we can see what is good and true: that 2000 years ago, on a small hill overlooking the city of Jerusalem, one man, one God, surrendered His blameless life on a cross, and by His choice, we are de jure made whole again.
We live in a fallen world. We are evil, disgusting creatures. Thankfully, we are not necessarily so. This can be separated from our nature by the blood of Christ.
Indeed it is true: "When our depravity meets His divinity, it is a beautiful collision." ~David Crowder
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