The football world cup gives a good illustration of the human capacity to believe things to be true on rather flimsy ground.
About 4-6 years ago, I realised that the 2-yearly hype in the news media about how England could this time "go all the way", could well get to the final if they played well, etc., was not based upon reality.
Look at the facts. England reaching the semi-final of a major tournament is an event likely to happen, ooh, every 20 years or so. And if we're talking about what England can do without home advantage, then the facts are rather stark and simple. England have only ever reached one major semi-final. One semi-final.... let that sink in and remember it the next time a tournament comes round and you read the hype in the newspapers.....
The obvious natural limit for England based on their ability is about the quarter final. To go beyond that will need a lot to go well, including factors beyond our control (good draws, other big teams having howlers on the day, etc.). There are clearly around 10 teams in the world who are at least as good or significantly better than England. We'd like to think we're similar in standard to (for example!) Germany, but the facts of many years (i.e. not just based on a fluke here or there) say that they are a footballing powerhouse on the world scene, and we are a football powerhouse within the British isles.
Sorry if that sounds unpatriotic. My real point was to point out the difference between what English football supporters can persuade themselves to believe, and what the reality is, as an example of what human beings do all the time.
Aiming for the top is one thing, and is not to be discouraged.
But thinking that you are near the top when plainly you're not, is self-delusion. Telling yourself that you're far better than you are, year after year, is silly and pointless: and yet a fact of human existence as moral beings. Isn't it?
So let me ask the question, if we turn from football performance to moral performance - because I think I see a parallel. Is man actually what he thinks he is? Are we as "good" as we like to persuade ourselves we are? Or in God's eyes, is it rather the case that we actually fall far short of his right standards, and fully deserve his anger and judgment as the Bible says? And all this, notwithstanding our ability to tell ourselves that "we're pretty good - no-one can blame us for not being perfect", etc.? Our ability to consistently delude ourselves about ourselves is surely one of the many good proofs that man is a fallen creature, who needs redeeming.
Well, perhaps you'll think the parallel is a bit flimsy. I might agree - this is a blog after all, not a university thesis. But even so, does not the human capacity for consistent, long-term self-deception need some explanation?
Showing posts with label The Fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Fall. Show all posts
Monday, 28 June 2010
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Human depravity
In fact it wasn't the ordinary day at the office finishing me off last week - it was "atypical pneumonia"! Thankfully the antibiotics seem to be doing exactly what they're meant to; four doses so far and I feel so much better.
This weekend, God-willing, I'll be preaching on Mark 7:1-23. This is the passage in which Jesus exposes the great difference between Pharisaical religion and true religion. Defilement does not come from outside - what you can touch or eat - it comes fundamentally from within, inside the heart.
Why is there so much wickedness in the world, and why is it so widespread? Because there are fallen people in the world, and they carry within them the root of every possible evil. Where do the horrors we can read of in the daily papers come from? From your and my wrong desires, placed in the situation and with the opportunity to express themselves.
Yesterday I read of a 17-year old, well liked and respected high school student who..... hired the school drug dealer for $1,000 to kill his mother. Which the school drug dealer did, stabbing her over 40 times after the door was left open to let him in. The reason was because she insisted he do his chores and observe the curfews she imposed. Tellingly, there were lots of comments on the website from his friends, who could not bring themselves to believe it. "I really feel there's something not quite right here" was the kind of comment - he was such a nice guy, surely nice people can't have this kind of thing in them.... and yet they really can, and do.
Christianity can afford to be uniquely frank about the real corruption of humanity, because it actually has the solution for it. Man-made religions, with all their rules which are supposed to make us righteous in God's sight, have to deny the truth. The fall of man, total depravity, the captivity (not freedom) of the human will to sin - all these things the philosophers and religionists of this world hate and try to scoff at. And yet the realities of the daily paper and our own inner struggles with appalling evils remain: stubborn facts that won't go away.
And yet they do go away, where the power of Christ's death is known and received. Christianity has the radical solution that the Son of God took the whole penalty of our wrong upon himself and paid off the whole lot. It says that he rose from the dead, and sends God the Holy Spirit to purge and make new creations out of those whom he saves. He comes himself by his Spirit to live in them, and little by little that corruption can be put to death. It is a solution every bit as radical as the problem. Man is immensely wicked to the very core - yet Jesus died for people who are immensely wicked to the very core.
You won't find this teaching of human depravity in man-made, Pharisaical religion - because such religion has no solution for it. Human "good works" cannot make up for such an enormous deficit. But the fact that such depravity is very real is in itself a great evidence that Christianity is true - because it can look the reality in the face, admit it all, and then say "and here is the answer".
This weekend, God-willing, I'll be preaching on Mark 7:1-23. This is the passage in which Jesus exposes the great difference between Pharisaical religion and true religion. Defilement does not come from outside - what you can touch or eat - it comes fundamentally from within, inside the heart.
Why is there so much wickedness in the world, and why is it so widespread? Because there are fallen people in the world, and they carry within them the root of every possible evil. Where do the horrors we can read of in the daily papers come from? From your and my wrong desires, placed in the situation and with the opportunity to express themselves.
Yesterday I read of a 17-year old, well liked and respected high school student who..... hired the school drug dealer for $1,000 to kill his mother. Which the school drug dealer did, stabbing her over 40 times after the door was left open to let him in. The reason was because she insisted he do his chores and observe the curfews she imposed. Tellingly, there were lots of comments on the website from his friends, who could not bring themselves to believe it. "I really feel there's something not quite right here" was the kind of comment - he was such a nice guy, surely nice people can't have this kind of thing in them.... and yet they really can, and do.
Christianity can afford to be uniquely frank about the real corruption of humanity, because it actually has the solution for it. Man-made religions, with all their rules which are supposed to make us righteous in God's sight, have to deny the truth. The fall of man, total depravity, the captivity (not freedom) of the human will to sin - all these things the philosophers and religionists of this world hate and try to scoff at. And yet the realities of the daily paper and our own inner struggles with appalling evils remain: stubborn facts that won't go away.
And yet they do go away, where the power of Christ's death is known and received. Christianity has the radical solution that the Son of God took the whole penalty of our wrong upon himself and paid off the whole lot. It says that he rose from the dead, and sends God the Holy Spirit to purge and make new creations out of those whom he saves. He comes himself by his Spirit to live in them, and little by little that corruption can be put to death. It is a solution every bit as radical as the problem. Man is immensely wicked to the very core - yet Jesus died for people who are immensely wicked to the very core.
You won't find this teaching of human depravity in man-made, Pharisaical religion - because such religion has no solution for it. Human "good works" cannot make up for such an enormous deficit. But the fact that such depravity is very real is in itself a great evidence that Christianity is true - because it can look the reality in the face, admit it all, and then say "and here is the answer".
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
The reason for natural evil
On the BBC news website right now, one of the most read stories is on the question "Why does God allow natural disasters?".
In it, a philosopher surveys various options and possible answers. Amongst which, he somehow neglects any mention of any option that involves the Christian doctrine of the Fall. As in, the answer on pages 1, 2 and 3 of the Bible - the book that shaped the foundations of our civilisation. Sigh. Why we want to consider that option anyway? Typical BBC.... line up a panel of "different views", but make sure that the Judeo-Christian one is either not heard or represented by someone who is stitched up as the fruit-cake (in this case the former). Though perhaps now ignorance of Biblical thinking is so widespread that it was not intentional this time - who knows?
Why does God allow natural disasters? Because man rebelled against him, and God's curse on mankind included a curse on the creation. All men sinned when Adam did, because he had been appointed our federal head. This entails that we cannot say that natural disasters come upon people who are more evil than others. They can come upon all mankind, because all mankind was "in Adam".
The good news is that Christ's redemptive work is also cosmic in its scope - and those who are "in Christ" by a covenant not only have to suffer the effects of Adam's ruinous choice, but also receive all the benefits of Christ's perfect righteousness in his life and death. Thus the Bible promises us that when he winds it all up, there will be a curse no more.
Natural disasters are a confirmation that all is not well in the world. People inevitably ask "why does God allow..." because natural disasters have the inevitable effect of making us think of our Maker. They are a huge red flag that there's a big problem between us and him. In that sense, they can have a positive effect - as long as we look in the right place for the answers; not in philosophy, but in the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
In it, a philosopher surveys various options and possible answers. Amongst which, he somehow neglects any mention of any option that involves the Christian doctrine of the Fall. As in, the answer on pages 1, 2 and 3 of the Bible - the book that shaped the foundations of our civilisation. Sigh. Why we want to consider that option anyway? Typical BBC.... line up a panel of "different views", but make sure that the Judeo-Christian one is either not heard or represented by someone who is stitched up as the fruit-cake (in this case the former). Though perhaps now ignorance of Biblical thinking is so widespread that it was not intentional this time - who knows?
Why does God allow natural disasters? Because man rebelled against him, and God's curse on mankind included a curse on the creation. All men sinned when Adam did, because he had been appointed our federal head. This entails that we cannot say that natural disasters come upon people who are more evil than others. They can come upon all mankind, because all mankind was "in Adam".
The good news is that Christ's redemptive work is also cosmic in its scope - and those who are "in Christ" by a covenant not only have to suffer the effects of Adam's ruinous choice, but also receive all the benefits of Christ's perfect righteousness in his life and death. Thus the Bible promises us that when he winds it all up, there will be a curse no more.
Natural disasters are a confirmation that all is not well in the world. People inevitably ask "why does God allow..." because natural disasters have the inevitable effect of making us think of our Maker. They are a huge red flag that there's a big problem between us and him. In that sense, they can have a positive effect - as long as we look in the right place for the answers; not in philosophy, but in the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
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