“And yet here we are, children of the Renaissance run amuck. Emerging from Michelangelo’s hopeful marble – only to discover that our hearts are stone to the core.”

Premise challenged:
That mankind is basically good.

Truth presented in scripture:
That mankind is completely lost apart from divine intervention.

Corruption is all around us. Men oppress men. Women are abused and abuse. Children are violated. Political leaders and rulers confiscate money. Religious zealots kill our soldiers. There is evil in our world.

The Good News itself is based upon violence. For the Father to deliver His own Son to be killed in order to satisfy the requirement of His eternal Law is a sobering act. This is why Jesus said that we are “forcing” our way into the Kingdom (Luke 6:16). The Good News brings us to a place where we cannot go by mere human effort.

Yours and my spiritual awakening has become available through the initiative of God. It would be wonderful if I could trace my goodness back to anything inside of me. But this concept is vacant from scripture.

Try as I might, any human self-reformation will in the end, fall short. To admit my part in the violence done to His Son is the gateway to eternal life. To rest in His finished work is to find a Kingdom heart.

What do YOU think?
Is mankind basically good or completely lost?
How confident are you in human solutions to spiritual problems?
In what ways are you awake spiritually? Asleep?