Musing – Are we basically good people?

Hebraic Musing – Are we basically good people?

“I'm OK – You're OK” is a 1969 self-help book by Thomas Anthony Harris that became very popular as a guide for solving life’s problems.  Like almost all the religions of the world the premise of the book holds that man is basically good.  That is an appealing assertion; but is it true?  People would all like to believe they are basically good and admit they do bad things occasionally. 

But, are people really basically good?   Consider: 

·      Shortly after God created man – “The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Gen. 6:5-6  NIV   And after Noah came out of the ark, the Lord said “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.”   Gen 8:21

·      Was David in error when he penned Psalm 51:5?   “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

·      Why would the prophet Jeremiah say “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?” Jer. 17:9   

·      And Paul felt the need to quote the OT “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."  Romans 3:10-12    Paul is referencing Ps 14:1b & Ps. 53:1b and other similar passages in the OT which say “…there is no one who does good.”

·      And in Mark 7:20-23, Jesus Himself tells it like it is (in red letters).  “What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"

All other religions claim something like “We are good.  See the good things we do.”  And we even find “Christian” preaching that emphasizes our goodness by featuring our good works – food pantries, etc.   Is that deceptive teaching?  How does it undermine the Gospel, the Good News?

Points to ponder

Is “I’m OK, you’re OK” a Godly assertion?

If “I’m OK, you’re OK”, then why did Jesus have to die on the cross?

 Shalom

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                   August 16, 2016