Have you ever thought, “Why do we have to lock our doors at night? Why do we have locks on our car doors? Why do we have to enter into contracts with another party to ensure obligations are fulfilled? Why do we have a police force? Why do we have a military? Why do we have nuclear weapons?” And the list goes on.
The reason we have all of these protective measures is because something is wrong within all of us. Man is prone to do evil (Matt. 7:11). The theologian would call it the “sinful nature” (Gal.5:19). Even the late radical Fabian socialist, H.G. Wells, described it as, “Man having a ‘blank’ inside of him.” The central point is that the believer and unbeliever recognize there is something wrong internally with man. However, although both can come to the conclusion that something is internally wrong with the human being, their solutions differ because both approach the issue from vastly different worldviews.
When we think the issue is not “sin” related (which would infer the practical existence of God), people believe the solution is education. If we become educated enough on the issues that plague society we can eventually evolve into a global utopia. Although education may be of assistance, education does not have the power to transform a rebellious heart. Indeed, additional education may even make man more crafty in his/her devious activities.
Yet, when we approach the issue from a biblical perspective we begin to understand something about our humanity. Our nature is fallen. We are prone to do evil (Jer. 17:9). And the only solution is a regenerate heart (2 Cor. 5:17) that is bent to war against one’s own sin (Matt. 5:28-30; 18:9) and to delight in the One (Psa. 37:4) who has given us a new nature and saved us from condemnation.
When we as a people decide to chart this course as a opposed to following the current path that we are on, we then will position ourselves to see local, regional, national, and potentially, global transformation. Until then, we are deceiving ourselves if we think we are going to see any lasting change.
