The Nature of Man

     What is the nature of man? Is man inherently good or evil, and can he bring himself to a position of being fully good or not? These are the questions that try men's souls. If man is good on his own, then by his own wit and ability to reason, he can create a society that is perfect and a utopia. Such has been the topic of many a novel and motion picture, however, none come to pass in the movies or in reality. Because there is inconsistencies with "man being good' and what the Bible has to say about it.

      In Romans it talks about man being fully depraved, since man is depraved we cannot trust the systems that are not foundation-ally built on something higher than himself. Such as a domestic system, if the idea of marriage doesn't come from God, then the covenant is said unto what? There is no higher thing you are bringing into the picture, and since we are only basing it out of ourselves, and since we can change our minds, it logically follows that man cannot be his own standard. This is the problem with culture, since we have gone out into an age..a "new age" we now believe that the only standard necessary to be measured against is what we create for ourselves.

      In a world where we cannot be held accountable to anything except ourselves, then any kind of moral justification is possible. The unborn being slain, or who is to say that a person can't logically get to the point where any person with tan skin is not experiencing the utmost pleasurable quality of life and therefore doesn't deserve to be alive.

     We don't like to believe in the most extreme examples but that is the logical implication. If I say that tan is not good, and what is say is the standard I go by, then it is ok that tan is not good. Since I am "good" then what I say is therefore good. The logical incoherency is irrelevant when you are only justifying right and wrong and what is good and bad simply by the standard you create.

     This is the post-modern world that we now live in, where according to polluck the artist everything is irrational and by chance, and a hodge podge of religions can make up my moral code. Whatever the group with the loudest voice determines what rights are for individuals, and the one with the most say so can determine what society looks like. Be warned and vigilant, this is the culture we live in.

More to life than this

 The more I see how culture in America has been shaped and formed in the United States, it truly begins to make me sick how much Christians are backing down. I don't mean Christ isn't still working, or that Christians aren't still doing what they can and helping others "come to Christ" but that's where we tend to stop.

     I think our culture as a whole has forgotten what the meaning of the cross truly is. It isn't simply a tool to a one-time occurrence of living knowing we are going to heaven. The cross was the entirety of the promise of God to the human race, in the old testament. Mankind as a whole has been given more than just a ticket to heaven, but a  season pass to healing, restoration and renewal.
 
    The most incredible aspect to it all isn't that you have accepted Christ and now don't have to worry about working for a spot in the afterlife, but that you accept the reality that God is providentially and relentlessly pursuing your life. It is the same as having the person you look up to the most in life, or even a famous person coming to you and saying, I want to live life with you. You are my greatest joy, and I have laid my life down for you, now walk with me.

     I don't suppose using a celebrity of human figure is quite appropriate, but it gives us the idea of how significant it really is. Truly the more I think I have things figured out, God allows another layer, or wall to come down and let me grow through that. Almost like molting as an insect, You see yourself only as your flesh, as you allow it to come off, although it is a struggle it is freeing and you have grown through it. The great thing is though, is that we will always have another layer that will eventually be ready to come off, because we never stop growing.

     Every moment we surrender over our wills to His, our life becomes something more than living day to day paying bills purposeless. Life isn't about just making it until Christ returns, but a perpetual conflict filled tool God uses to grow and shape us for His will and Glory. The world isn't secular and Christian it is all God's whether it is not filled with His light or not. That is our purpose here though, To reclaim any territory in the enemies clutches, as Kuyper says.


"there is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over, does not cry, Mine!"

     Let us not get lost in the mentality that our lives are our own for there is nothing in this world we truly can govern and control that our Christ has not already owned and seen. Healing, and restoration is God's desire for our lives and our hearts. He does not send troubles our way to test us, He is like a father watching their child suffer. His greatest desire is to see us want Him, above all things, and admit we need him.

     Why fight what is for our own good, I pray we do not.

Salvation in Christ

We as man have spent most of our days seeking and pursuing truth and life. Everyone wants to be accepted, everyone wants to be loved. These are universal truths among all peoples and among all cultures.

Humanity has spent so much time seeking truth, especially regarding religion, that it is easy to forget why we began to look in the first place. When it comes down to it, all men feel that there is something missing, an emptiness that cannot be filled no matter what we try to fill it with. I think it is safe to say that when we attempt to fill it, it may feel good for a while but brings us right back to where we started, and that is seeking to fill that hole.

Truly I think Christ is the only thing that can fill such a whole that has been laid inside of us. It only makes sense that man is incapable of filling it himself since he is created and not complete in himself. It takes a soft heart and an open mind to be able to accept it, but Christ in Christianity is the only example of self-sacrifice in an act of service to bring all of man to a position of holiness so that he may be close to his creator. No other religion in the world teaches that man is fallen and can’t do anything to save himself, but simply has to rely on a just, loving God.

Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

 It seems indefinitely difficult to wrap our minds around becoming in touch with God once we realize that we have a sin barrier between us but there is hope.

John 14:6 says

“For I am the way the truth and the life and none come to the Father except through me”

If we choose to accept the one who has accepted all the suffering and pain of the world so that we know God which truly is life, then there is salvation in that. It is not difficult and requires no works or acts for us to be saved. It simply requires a hint of faith.

Romans 10:9

“If anyone believes in their heart that Jesus is Lord and confesses with their mouth that He rose from the dead, they will be saved”

If you believe and confess the verse above, you are a child of the living God and a part of the kingdom of Christ. If you have any desire to know more or learn more about this, leave a comment.