Humanity Is Not Getting Better

You might suppose that this post is a response to all the turmoil in the world at the moment. I must admit, I find it curious that people can look at the increased oppression, greed, violence, and general depravity in our world and still believe that humanity is essentially good and getting better. Talk about not facing the facts! The only reason for this is that to face reality forces people to contemplate the existence and activity of God.

I stress this point many times in my preaching. In order to understand the world, you have to understand human nature, and human nature apart from Jesus is sinful and selfish. The result is a sinful and selfish word, a world we humans have created by our own self-centered choices. Humanity is broken and badly in need of fixing.

The real impetus for this post is my continued scanning of my old papers. One was an analysis of Augustine's views on free will in man. This was a curious paper; it is not research into what others say about Augustine, but an analysis of his own writings, primarily Grace and Free Will. As I edited the scan (OCR software is much better than it used to be, but is hardly infallible, especially when professors write all over your paper!), I found that in my conclusion I state the reality of human nature in pretty much the same terms I currently use. I hadn't recalled that this was part of what I believed and stated strongly in my seminary days.

Reading about Augustine's teaching, it also reminded me that the human condition has not changed much in the last 1600 years. The ways we choose to indulge ourselves may be different, but the human heart is the same. We continue to serve self over God, and to try to find ways to push God out of the practical sphere of our lives. We might give Him some due on Sunday morning, but then it's back to a distant heaven from which He does not disturb us.

Augustine pointed out that free will simply gives us the ability to choose and follow our own nature. For those who do not know Jesus, this means even their best efforts are driven by selfish desires. Augustine even argued that good works done without God are done only to provide an advantage for the sinner. Without Jesus, we have no hope and no way to improve as humans.

As Christians, our will can now follow our regenerate nature, but we struggle with our old, sinful nature still. We have a genuine free choice to be natural, but two natures that fight against each other for control. Discipleship is the process of learning to follow our new nature by the power of the Holy Spirit, and slowly pulling free from the old self.

Maybe I do overstate the case a bit in my title. Humanity is not getting better by itself, but by the grace of God, through the sacrifice of Jesus, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit humanity has the potential to become more like God created it to be.