The Condition of Man

The Condition of Man

“What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”

                                                                                                            Psalms 8:4 (NKJV)

If you look up the word man in the dictionary, you might find a long list of definitions and/or uses of the word. According to mirriam-webster.com, who also has various definitions, two uses for the word are:

“an individual human” and “the human race: Humankind”  

For the sake of this writing, I will be using the word, almost exclusively, in the latter sense, humankind. If you search humankind or man on a search engine, you will find some interesting thoughts and writings; I almost got led down a rabbit hole. I guess there are as many opinions on this subject as there are people who have ever lived, all varying to one degree or another, but I digress.

When discussing humankind, one can look at the subject through the perspectives of religion, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, history or others. I will be looking at this from a Judeo-Christian worldview, primarily in the sense of man or humankind as he/she relates to God. Let me begin by posing the following questions:  

  

     Is man good?

     Is man evil?

     Is he both?

     Is he neither?

Depending on who you ask, regardless of religious/non-religious views, you will get an opinion, even if that opinion is “I don’t know” or “can anyone really say?”  I suppose, for many, their opinion would be based on history or personal experience. If you asked a Jewish survivor of a concentration camp during World War II, they might say man is evil. To a child growing up in an abusive home, they might likely feel the same. But to a child growing up in a loving home, they would most likely think man is good. A soldier who has experienced combat might say some are good, some are evil, and some are both. A Buddhist would probably say both good and evil (the concept of yin and yang).

In a police a lineup they bring a group of people, who fit the description of the perpetrator, into a room and line them up against a wall and then have witnesses pick which one they saw commit the crime. Imagine now a lineup where the first person is a Catholic priest, the second a protestant minister, the third a school teacher, the forth a scientist, the fifth a postal worker, the sixth a homeless person,  the seventh a man in a Nazi uniform, and the eighth a politician. You have to pick which ones are good and which are bad. Most likely, your personal bias will dictate which ones you think are bad or good.

Now imagine a lineup of a murderer, a rapist, a thief, a sex trafficker, a bank robber, a counterfeiter, a kidnapper, and a guy caught speeding. 

Which are good? 

Which are bad? 

Which are worse?

The fact is, all are guilty or bad because they have broken the law.

  

What is the Christian perspective?

Now imagine God sitting on His judgement seat. People are led in to determine whether they are guilty or innocent. Who should God allow into heaven and who should He cast into hell?

I will leave you to ponder this and form your opinion later…  

Even between those who profess to be Christians there is some disagreement on who is good and who is not. I think it best to look at what Scripture has to say. 

Isaiah, in the book that bears his name, writes, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa. 64:6).

The Bible commonly refers to sin. Sin is any act that violates God or His law.

The Apostle Paul, writing in the book of Romans, states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

Further in the book of Romans, Paul describes a warring of two natures, the Spirit of God that indwells him and his sinful nature. He discusses how with his mind he knows what is right and seeks to do it but his sinful nature, what he calls his flesh, has a strong hold of him and causes him to sin (Rom. 7:13-25) and then states, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (v. 24-a) He follows that with, “I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25). Lastly, he concludes with, “So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (25-b).

Here we have a man who exhibited true faith and lived a holy (set apart) life, arguably better than most, admitting that the best he can do is live a life of conflict.  Paul is saying that man is evil by nature but good in as much as he strives to live a holy life. We must understand that the only good that we are or have is the presence of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. I strongly encourage everyone to read Romans, chapters 3 and 7, as Paul lays out his argument in regard to man’s struggle and that only through faith in Jesus Christ can man be reconciled to God.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed to the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified[i] freely by His grace through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God sent forth as a propitiation[ii] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26

    

Back to the question, who should God allow into heaven and who should He cast into hell?

In sum, the condition of man is he is not good, he is evil. But when he submits to Jesus Christ, he is made good or righteous because of Jesus’ goodness and righteousness. Will you trust Him today?

   

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

Psalms 8:3-5

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Bible passages taken from the New King James Version.

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[i] Justified; to be found innocent or not guilty of breaking the law.

[ii] Propitiation: God’s wrath has been turned away from guilty man and the penalty for our sin paid by Christ Jesus on the cross.

What Is Your Worth?

Lately I have been reading numerous posts on Facebook describing how during this Covid-19 scare, it is those who lack college that are the most valuable members of society. The farmer, grocery store worker, truck driver, sanitation worker, etc. are allowed to work during this crisis because they are considered “key essential” personnel and thus, the ones who are of real value to a society.

This is true, they are of great value, and I would say that they have been overlooked for quite some time but for those who say this, have they not considered that doctors and nurses, both of which require a college degree, are extremely important during this crisis? They are being exposed to infected, sick people daily.

What about biologists, chemists, and others who are working to find a cure? What about the professors who taught them how to do this? There are government officials who are trying to maintain order and making policy for the good of all, are they of no real value? There are certainly many others of great value and I don’t mean to ignore any, but I think my point is made; there are those, both with a college degree and without, who make a difference in our daily lives, especially during a health crisis such as we are dealing with today.

What gives a person worth?

Does what we do, how we benefit others, determine our worth or is it something else? Does the amount of money we make increase our value? Does simply having a college degree give us greater worth? Perhaps we could change the wording to more accurately express what we mean or should mean. I thought the term “key essential,” in this case, was accurate but after reading other people’s opinions on this, I’m not so sure.

What gives a person worth?

From a biblical perspective, what gives you and me worth is God. Go to Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the first chapter, and we find God saying, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26, NKJV). The next verse states, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27, NKJV).

If you read carefully, you will discover that out of all creation, only man was created Imago Dei, in the image of God. This does not mean that we bare His physical appearance. It means that we are self-aware, we know good from evil, we have the ability to use reason and logic, etc. I would also argue that we have an innate sense that God exists; I believe He planted this in us to guide us to seek Him. This would explain why man has always had gods. We know there is something out there that is responsible for this world, for rain, the sun, harvest, life, death, and so on.

Great thinkers throughout time have sought to answer the questions of origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. I have written about this before (see blog posts from March 23, 2015; Jan 4, 2015) so I will not elaborate much here but to say, from my studies, only the God of the Bible gives us clear answers to these questions:

Origen – As we saw earlier from Genesis, chapter one, we were created by God and for God.

Meaning or purpose – Our purpose is to worship God and live in communion with Him.

Morality – God gave us instructions in the Bible. To live morally glorifies God and blesses man.

Destiny – Heaven or hell. God gives us the choice but on His terms.     

What gives a person worth?

Wealth? 

While having an abundance of money can be nice, it can also cause many problems. It can change us for better or worse. It can bring bad people into our lives because they seek to gain from our wealth; some can be family members and relationships can be destroyed. Some may think too highly of themselves and try to lord over others, including family. The Bible warns about greed, haughtiness, and wrong thinking (1 Tim. 6:10). It has quite a lot to say about wealth and wise is he who seeks knowledge in the matter. There is nothing wrong with wealth if it is used for good but it does not give us worth, at least not true worth.

Status/Power? 

God is a God of order and he gives some authority to rule over others to maintain order. The Scriptures tell us that God sets rulers and deposes rulers (Dan. 2:21) and, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil… (Romans 13:1-3, NKJV). What it does not say is that those in authority are any better, they are simply placed in a position to carry out God’s plan for their life but He can end that at any time.

Education? 

The Bible, especially in the writings of King Solomon, speaks to the issue of knowledge and education. Solomon, considered by many to be the wisest man to ever live, said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7, NKJV). I think there is a misconception today about education. On the one hand, some argue that formal education, college/university, makes you superior. Perhaps this is most prevalent in the military and corporate world. 

Most CEO’s are college graduates but not all. Take Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), and Richard Branson (Virgin records, airlines, etc.) for example. Gates and Zuckerberg dropped out of college and Branson never graduated from high school. Would anyone argue their intelligence? At the same time, to my knowledge, none of these practice any religious faith. While they may be intelligent, by human standards, they are not by God's standard.  

In the military, officers are college graduates but there are also thousands of enlisted personnel who have degrees. I feel it is safe to say, formal education does not make you superior, but I do believe it can be helpful, sometimes necessary. Would you allow a person to operate on you who never went to medical school?  

   

What gives a person worth?

One thing we all share in common, rich or poor, educated or not, ruler or slave, we will all surely die and stand before the Lord one day. Will He judge us based on any of these criteria? No! He will judge us based on whether we received His gift of eternal life, bought and paid for through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Our salvation is based on nothing more nor less, but our rewards will be based on what we did with what we were given.

Remember the parable of the man who left his three servants’ money to invest while he was gone? One received five talents, another two, and the third got one talent. When he returned, the one who had been given five had doubled his master’s money; the man with two had done the same. The one who had been given one talent, probably because he was never a good worker anyway, had buried his in the ground and did nothing. Even if he had put it in the bank, the talent would have drawn interest, but he was so lazy that he would not even do that, he simply did not care (Mat. 25:14-30).

What has God given you? Did you go to college? Graduate high school? Get your GED? Do you work in a bank, a gas station, hardware store? Are you an accountant, a fireman, a doctor, or a lawyer? Do you repair appliances, do home repair, or work in sanitation?

I would say that whatever you do, whatever your education, do it as unto the Lord and not men (Col. 3:23). Seek His approval and pleasure and do not judge others as better or lesser than yourself. Is God not the ruler and judge over all?

Friend, if you are struggling with a sense of superiority or inferiority, give it to God and ask Him to show you how to please Him and be content wherever you are in life. Some of the happiest people I have known had almost nothing but they had peace, contentment, and joy in the Lord. I desire this more than anything this world has to offer. 

May God bless you as you seek Him~     

Are Christian Young People Dumber Than Their Secular Peers?

I don’t think so. If they are, I suspect it is not that they lack intelligence, rather they are left without answers, even meaningful dialogue, from their parents and the adults in their lives, including pastors and youth leaders. I personally don’t believe they are dumb or ignorant, perhaps just uninformed, or ignored.

A problem I see is too many adults in their lives seem to discourage the asking of questions. I call this laziness and/or apathy. It’s the “I don’t have time for this, just believe because I said so,” or, “ask the pastor” approach. Imagine, parents discouraging questions, you know, the ones who ask, “when will you be home?” “Who were you with?” “Will his/her parents be home?” and so forth.

I must inject, if a question is important enough to ask, doesn’t it mean the subject matter is important to the questioner? If the questioner is important to you, shouldn’t the subject matter likewise be important to you?

So why, when your child has a question about God, the church, politics, etc., do you not gladly say, “Great question! Have a seat and let’s talk about it.” Do you see where I’m going with this? If it’s important to them, it should be important to you. If it’s important to you, you will want to talk about it.

Another argument that I hear frequently that drives me crazy is, “my/our young people don’t understand …” Listen people, they understand a lot more than we realize. They are asking questions, at least most of them. I think the problem is more, who do they feel comfortable talking too. As a parent, who do you want teaching your child? As a Christian parent, this is an even more meaningful question. I promise you, if you are not willing to engage with your child and encourage discussion, the secular world is waiting to zap any belief in God out of them!

If you asked your boss a question about your job and they blew you off by saying, “Just do it because I told you too,” how would you feel? Chances are, you’ve experienced this, I have. What do we do? A good employee will do it, as long as it’s not illegal, unethical, or against company policy but they will most likely not be passionate about their work. I had a boss tell me once, “Just do it and if you still have a question, ask me later.” I understand that sometimes there simply isn’t time to address questions but it made me feel irrelevant. He had time, he just didn’t want to address my question.

So if parents and those in the church aren’t addressing the questions of our youth, who is?

Well, there’s good news and bad news…                                                                            The bad news is: teachers, professors, friends, various news agencies, and people on the internet that do not share your views. Even if your young person isn’t really asking a lot of questions, they are being influenced by those who are willing to take the time to push their agenda and influence them. Just like with adults, time equals caring.

The good news: there are parents and those who work in the church willing to have meaningful conversations but I see less of them every year. Millions of young people, whether brought up in a religious home or those who come from secular homes, are looking for answers. Many groups have been popping up over the last few years and do a remarkable job of giving facts to some of the hardest questions young people are asking. Ravi Zacharias, of RZIM, speaks at colleges around the world. Both Christians and non-Christians alike flock to hear him speak and ask their questions. There are many apologists, like Zacharias, that speak at colleges and youth groups around the world.

Dennis Prager, while not a Christian apologist, also speaks at colleges and any other platform available to address political concerns. Millions of young people watch his youtube videos and attend his speaking engagements. Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk also speak and answer questions concerning politics from a conservative point of view. There are many more, too many to list here.      

The following is from an email I received from PragerU and starts with a quote from the New York Times:

    

As you know, the left has seized the media, Hollywood, and public education, but PragerU is reaching teens and college students right where they are — online.
“Last year PragerU videos racked up more than one billion views. The Prager empire now has a fleet of 6,500 high school and college student promoters, known as the PragerForce, who host on-campus meetings and gather at least once a year for conventions. And this year, the company is expanding its scope.” - New York Times                                                                                             Even the largest media outlets cannot ignore the impact of PragerU!

PragerU is effectively reaching millions of young people every day. Our videos are an antidote to the left-wing narrative that has been dominating the culture. Teens and college students across the country are embracing American values and sharing these ideas with their peers. Our subscribers and our supporter base are growing exponentially.

Do you still believe young people aren’t talking and asking questions? I’m not exactly a teen, in fact, my kids are no longer teens either, but I love watching PragerU videos. They are about five minutes long and host a wide variety of speakers on topics relevant to today.

While these organizations are doing a wonderful job, there are those who wish to silence them. The ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, and others are relentless, and I fear one day they will succeed in crushing free speech once and for all.

I cannot express strongly enough how important this is. Parents, grand-parents, aunts, uncles, pastors, youth pastors, whoever is reading this, please, I beg you, get informed and stay informed. This generation and those that follow will be voting, running for office, and making decisions that impact the road we are to travel. Do you really want to leave it up to the left to shape our future?

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