A book on the shelves of my library was written by a man deeply offended that there is a theology that includes a belief in human depravity – an inherent fault (negative) in the nature of mankind. His motivation for writing related to his love and sympathy for his infant child, a child he saw as innocent and pure in the world. This child, gift of God, cannot be anything but good. The man mistook cuteness, innocence and immaturity for ultimate approval. The cute lion cub will later choke the fawn. The energetic little alligator will later swallow a wildebeest. We are always concerned about the person or beast that will later prove the nature and potential of any creature. Hitler was a cute baby with potential. We are wasting time in justifying the child in innocence, when what he or she becomes in self-realization is what counts. All of creation is fallen (not perfect to God). Even so, there is a kind of decency that gives us pause in perceiving all persons as sinners. We need to be reminded that the depravity concept is laundered in nature’s society.
How many persons deliberately exceed the legal limits of speed? The excess leads to murder of thousands of persons. How many shave the corners of honesty in their time commitments to their employers? The degree that they do is the degree of effectiveness in thievery that they do. How many understate their income on income taxes? Or, how many gain a benefit from some program, governmental or private, by learning how to use (betray) the system? These too are thieves. How many seek advantage over others from cutting in line to misrepresenting either themselves or others to personal advantage? This engages several sins, known as selfishness. How many speak abusively to spouse, children, or others – so harshly that the receiver is wounded in ways more severe perhaps than if they were physically attacked? What of uncontrolled anger, a play upon fear and disregard for others? How many commit infidelity, either in conduct or thought and conversation? This is the distortion of God’s meaning for genuine love and commitment, a distortion that leads to breaks in human and spiritual relationships, in sorrowful neglected children, in social breakdown, in personal defeat. What about prejudice for racial differences, for gender differences, for age differences, for national differences? These are not only matters of ignorance, but of criticism (judgmentalism) of God for making skin colors, for making men and women, for permitting varied languages and cultures. To find God faulty is among the worst of sins. The lists for lies, for neglect, for cruelty, for infidelity to mankind and God are endless. (Five years after this page was first written, the malfeasance of business leaders of the world threatens nations and companies with bankruptcy. What will my next editing find?)
Space limits our recital. We may ask ourselves about our own imperfections, what we sometimes call peccadillos. Even the word peccadillo comes from a word for sin. It should not take too long in dealing with words like honesty, faithfulness, generosity, love, fidelity, example, duty, selflessness, attitude, and a few score other affirmations to realize how fallen we are, and from which condition correction is needed. All must be guided by faith (to righteousness), hope (immortality), and love (selfless life orientation with Christ and the nature of God). Christ accomplished that objective for us, to live a life that reflects the character traits of God. The main affirmatives are love, holiness, peace, joy, service, and what are commonly called, in Scripture, as the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. That positive context, a combination of divine elements, becomes the life and character of Christians living in the knowledge of Christian faith and Scripture – and that is a knowledge that leads us to God. How could life be better than that? *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020