I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the nature of man. For many of you reading this, we are on the same page when I say "human nature". But when it comes to "sin nature", well, that’s a different story.
I understand to talk about man’s sin nature means an acceptance of God Almighty, and that He created Adam and Eve. I also understand that it means an acceptance of the notion that Adam did wrong and that he genetically passed that DNA along to all his descendants… that is you and me.
Now before you tune me out let’s play with this idea for just a minute. You see, to talk about "human nature" from a Christian perspective, means you have to acknowledge a creator who made us with desires. Stay with me here. God created man with the desire to eat and drink. God created man with the desire for sex. It is natural for young men and women to desire sex just like eating and drinking. It is a God given desire!
Now, let’s bring sin into the picture. When human nature becomes polluted with sin, it is awful. It takes the beautiful desires God has given to us, and perverts them. Eating becomes gluttony or anorexia, drinking becomes alcoholism and sexuality becomes… well you name it… from prostitution to wife swapping.
These are just three easy and obvious areas of life that can be pointed out. The area that is troubling me the most these days is the part of "human nature" that wants to hear good news. I hate negative news. You hate negative news. Especially that piece of information that points out my mistakes. Worse yet is that piece of information that makes me wrong.
I hate being wrong. I hate being told that I am doing wrong. I hate being told that what I believe is wrong. I believe it is a God given desire to want to be right. It is a great feeling to be right, to get the right answers, to do right, to believe right, to know your right!
O.K…. now tag that part of human nature with sin. What do you get? You get people who would change the truth to be right. You see, in the quest to be right, truth is a measuring stick by which all are measured. Sin nature says, "If you don’t measure up to truth, then change the truth to measure up to you."
But truth, God’s truth, is a measuring stick that is made of petrified timber. It is an unchanging standard of measurement. No matter what a person does to try and change it, the truth, God’s truth, is still the same. I have seen people try to ignore it, rationalize it, change the way to use it, or people who just plain old don’t believe it.
I want you to know that I am speaking of people who call themselves "believers" of the truth. This is the cause of my distress. How can you call yourself a believer and not accept the truth, God’s truth. The answer to that question is found in a human nature that is tainted with sin.
The Front Porch is an editorial page...a place to publish my writing... a place to sit, relax and contemplate the deeper things of life. So, grab a cup of coffee, sit for a spell and lets chat about the real issues...things that matter.
5 comments:
So what is God's truth? Is it above being "changed" to fit convience or justification? Sure, I certainly believe that there is ultimate Truth, but how is that Truth interpreted?
We certainly have a history for proclaiming that we've cornered God's truth but then later realized...oops...let's revist that.
What is our capacity to understand Truth (with a capital T)? And then, how do we relate God's Word into our lives to make it Truth that is unchangeable and absolute?
Hi Eric,
I agreee with you... A question that comes to my mind is that of a ritual that man has put into "TRUTH" and then makes it doctrine and it becomes what we start to believe as "Truth". I know that I will raise some controversy as I question the "Ritual" of infant baptism, but it is something that has been bothering me for some time now. HOw do we make something that was intsituted by man to become "Truth" for us today?
Fred
Jason,
you certainly pose excellent questions. However, my concern isn't about "the Truth" this time around. My concern is about the "nature" interpreting "the Truth". As I read your questions, I think I hear your heart as a person intent on finding the real "Truth". My Bible teaches me that with that kind of "nature" real "Truth" will be found.
Pastor Eric
Hi Fred,
another excellent question. This is going to be a hard "blanket statement" to swallow. However, when we do anything to alter "Truth" it is done for our own self-serving reasons. That is the course of sinful, human nature, and it can become a course that is hard or impossible to return from. (e.g. infant baptism)
Now, the question becomes, "Do we wrestle against the current to turn back the tide... or go with the flow?"
Pastor Eric
Welcome back Eric
Good preaching!
Discussion:
A loving God who is Truth, presents humanity with truths that transcend time for the purpose of salvation. Any person who pursues God with the intention of finding Truth and walks in the light that he is given will find truth necessary for salvation and relevant to his present culture.
It is true that we are merely human and will make mistakes even concerning the truth of God. However, I believe that the Bible teaches that God will show us truth if we are willing to walk in it and that he will give us wisdom if we ask.
I also believe that (t)ruth is culturally relavant whereas (T)ruth transcends time. For example, before the medical profession enlightened us that tobacco was hazardous to our health, many holiness preachers and grandmothers smoked and chewed. Now, the holiness church is adament that tobacco is sinful. Does that mean that the old time preachers were sinners? I don't think so. There was a time when dances were family oriented social events hosted by the church. Now that dancing has become primariy for the purpose of flaunting sexuality and a precursor for promoscuity, the holiness church generally does not condone much less host dances. Does that mean that all dancing is sin. I don't think so. Dancing is mentioned several times in the Bible as a means of worship.
I think that it is wise to remember that God looks on the heart. What are we doing and why are we doing it? Sin is a distortion of the good things that God has given. Just because the Bible does not speak to a specific modern day topic does not mean that it is not sin, nor does it mean that God condons it. It simply means that we need to check the attitude of our heart with the principles of Biblical Truth.
As for baptizing babies, we should ask, "What is the purpose?" If we do it for the purpose of ensuring the child's salvation, then we deny the Truth that man, including babies and children, are given a choice to accept or deny Christ of their own free will. We are also denying the power and will of God to keep that child under his prevenient grace until the time that the child understands the difference between right and wrong and the relevance and consequences of his choices. On the other hand, if we baptize a baby because the parents are committing themselves to rearing the child in the ways of God and the baptism is a symbolic gesture of the grace that keeps that baby under the blood of Jesus until the age of accountability, what is the harm in the symbolism. Is not baptism merely a symbol of being washed by the blood of Jesus anyway?
My grandfather, an "old fashioned" holliness preacher included a beautiful sprinkling ceremony during a baby/child dedication upon the parents' request. He acknowledged that this did not save the child, but symbolized the hope that the child would accept the Lord as a result of the parents' commitment to rear him in the ways of God. He used three roses for the ceremony. The white rose symbolized the innocence of the child's life. The pink (I think) rose symbolized the parental love and commitment to bring the child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The red rose, which was dipped in water and sprinkled over the baby, was symbolic of the blood of Jesus that kept the child under grace until that child reached an age where he could make a choice by will to accept the Lord.
Where is your heart? What is your purpose? Truth be told, God knows it all.
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