THE ONLINE SEMINAR
How to Have the Living Water of Peace, Hope,
and Purpose that Jesus Promised Us
Session Four: Our Nature
Part 2
Many people have heard about the best-selling book, The Diary of Anne Frank. It was written by a 15-year old Jewish girl during the Holocaust in Amsterdam, Holland in World War II. Today, Anne’s diary has been published in 60 languages and was a Pulitzer Prize winning play and an Academy Award winning movie.
During WWII, Anne Frank hid from the Nazis for two years with her parents and several other people in a hidden part of a house on one of Amsterdam’s canals. (The Dutch people called these hidden parts “behind houses,” or “houses behind.”) But on August 4, 1944, Anne’s group was betrayed by a Dutch acquaintance and they were all captured. Anne died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany just a few days before the war ended and her camp was liberated. Her father was the sole survivor of the house behind, and he published her diary after the war.
Here’s the point. On July 15, 1944, just before the Gestapo broke into Anne’s hideout and dragged her away to die a horrible and shameful death, she wrote these words in her diary:
“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Think about that a minute. Anne was innocent of any crime and was trying desperately to survive an unfair and unjust death. Worse, while her group lived in the hidden rooms of the behind house, they bickered among themselves and stole food from one other at night. The group was finally betrayed by one of its own countrymen and, except for the father, all of its members died ghastly deaths in Nazi concentration camps, the victims of vicious genocide.
Yet, despite the fear, suffering, stress, and betrayal that young Anne experienced in her short life, she believed that people are “good” (unselfish, kind, and forgiving) in their innermost beings. How could she have believed that, given the experiences of her few tragic years?
In Their Innermost Beings?
At some point in our lives, each of us needs to answer a basic question about ourselves and the people around us. That question is this: Are people good (unselfish, kind, and forgiving) in their innermost beings? Or, are people bad (self-centered, unkind, and unforgiving) in their innermost beings? The answer should be easy. But it isn’t.
One reason the answer isn’t easy is because schools, colleges, and the media often teach that people are born good. (That may be why poor Ann Frank believed it.) Another reason the answer isn’t easy is because people often think they should be optimistic about life – and it’s optimistic to believe that people are born good. (That could also be why Ann died clinging to that belief.)
However, it’s more logical to base our understanding of human nature on what we’ve actually seen, heard, and experienced in our lives – not on rumors, TV shows, films, magazines, or what other people have told us.
For example, one popular theory says that all people are originally born good – but then they turn bad when they’re “deprived.” That is, people turn self-centered, unkind, and unforgiving if they don’t attend good schools, hang out with good people, eat good food, and read good books. But what evidence do we have that attending good schools, hanging with good people, eating good food, and reading good books prevents self-centered, unkind, and unforgiving behavior in people?
Is it logical to say that all of the students attending good schools, associating with good people, eating good food, and reading good books don’t have any self-centered, unkind, and unforgiving behavior? No, it’s obviously not logical to say that. Besides, if even one student in one good school has even one episode of self-centered, unkind, and unforgiving behavior, the theory is invalid. (And since many students in good schools do have bad behavior, the theory is invalid.)
Another popular theory says that all people are originally born good – but then they turn bad when they grow up and enter “bad” society. But that’s double-talk. Because if all people are born good, where did bad society come from? The whole theory is illogical. Moreover, if even one child grows up and enters “bad”society without turning bad, the theory is invalid. (And since many children from many different backgrounds grow up and become productive citizens in “bad” society, the theory is invalid.)
Here’s the point of all this. The true test of any theory about human nature is simple: All we need to do is ask ourselves whether the theory matches our real-life experiences. If we really want to understand human nature, we need to ask ourselves questions such as these: Why do babies cry, throw temper tantrums, dump their food on the floor, and steal one other’s toys? Why do children start bullying one another as young as kindergarten age?
Then, as children grow up, why do they gossip about one other, steal one another’s lunch money, fight on the school bus, and end up cheating on exams, playing hooky, smoking, drinking, reading pornography, and abusing drugs and sex? Do these typical, everyday behaviors prove that children are born “good” (unselfish, kind, and forgiving)? Or do these typical, everyday behaviors prove something else about human nature?
Consider these issues: Why are prostitution, pornography, drug smuggling, gambling, and organized crime multi-billion dollar industries? Why is the divorce rate over 50 percent in some parts of the U.S.? Why are the rates of spousal abuse and child abuse so high? Why are movies, TV programs, books, and magazines so depressingly vulgar?
We could continue asking such questions. But we already know the answers – and the answers aren’t that people are born “good.” So let’s change the subject and ask a new question.
Here’s our new question: Is it possible that people who believe humans are born “good” are actually claiming that they themselves were born “good”? If so, isn’t that more proof that people are self-centered in their deepest being? Isn’t that proof that people are knowingly blind to the real-life evidence of war, crime, cruelty, and vulgarity all around us? The truth is that people aren’t born good. The truth is that people are born bad (though our own selfishness denies it). Now – to see more facts that prove this core truth about human nature, let’s look more closely at what the early Christians said about the problem.
As we know, the early Christians (such as Paul) wrote in an extinct form of ancient Greek, and the Greek word they used for human nature is sarx (pronounced “sarks’,” to rhyme with “sharks'”). The word sarx literally means “flesh” and refers to the tissue of our bodies. But to the early Christians, sarx meant more than our bodily tissue. They used it to refer to human nature and, more importantly, they used it to mean that our innermost nature is egotistical, stubborn, argumentative, and greedy: In other words, our innermost nature is selfish and is the source of selfish behavior in us.
In Part 1 of this session, we saw a confession by the apostle Paul. In that confession, Paul said there was nothing good in his “flesh.” He said his “flesh” was sin living in him. (“Sin” is an early Christian word meaning any behavior that’s unloving, unforgiving, and hurtful to God, others, and ourselves.)
Paul often wrote about our innermost nature (our sarx), and he always referred to it as our “sinful” nature.[2. Adapted from Romans, chapter 8, verse 3; and Colossians, chapter 2, verse 11.] He wrote that we can’t please God when we’re controlled by our “sinful” nature.[3. Adapted from Romans, chapter 8, verse 8.] He wrote that our “sinful” nature is a slave to sin.[4. Adapted from Romans, chapter 7, verse 25.] And he wrote that when our mind is controlled by our “sinful” nature, we’re Spiritually dead.[5. Adapted from Romans, chapter 8, verse 6.]
More, it’s important to realize that Paul’s ideas weren’t unusual in the ancient world. People have known that our innermost nature is selfish as long as there have been people. Indeed, all the major religions of the world teach it, and clear-thinking people worldwide agree.
So now, as promised at the end of Part 1 of this session on “Our Nature,” we’re ready to look at the third circle on our Spiritual growth diagram. Our diagram is now complete and looks like this:
Growth: Our Spirit, Mind, and Selfish Nature
Next, in Part 3 of “Our Nature,” let’s continue being bold and honest about our core nature. To do that, let’s go deeper into the world’s most ancient writings about it, including more of what the early Christian taught about it. However, let’s start by looking at one of the most ancient condemnations of human nature ever written. Let’s turn to Part 3 and read that ancient indictment now.
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