Chapter Nine – The Origin of Human Nature
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Human troubles and evils are prophesied to grow far worse in this age. Appalling violence, terrorism, and war are escalating as unbridled human nature hurtles further out of control. After a recent school shooting where many lay slaughtered, a parent remarked, “I don’t understand this world anymore.”
You can understand both this world and the cause of its troubles. Understanding human nature is the key.
All human beings possess human nature. The selfishness, rottenness, violence, and terrible evils that spring from human nature have plagued the world for thousands of years. Recall that John said, “The whole world lies in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). The cause of this condition lies directly at the feet of evil human nature.
Every “expert” has a different opinion about what human nature is and where it comes from. Yet, none understand the answers to these questions or the question of why human nature exists. This is because they reject the SOURCE to understanding the answers to all of life’s greatest questions.
Consider the paradox! Think of all the wonderful things the human MIND is capable of producing. As we have discussed, its ingenuity and inventiveness are practically limitless. Yet it cannot solve the most basic of life’s great problems—poverty, ignorance, immorality, crime, war, and misery.
All of these problems—and many more—are by-products of unbridled human nature!
Contents
No “Better Nature”
Many theologians and religionists teach that all humans are endowed with a “better nature” hiding inside, waiting to be “tapped” and used. This is not true. The Bible says no such thing! Yet, millions subscribe to it.
This teaching comes from the long-held pagan doctrine of the duality of body and soul. It states that all people have a pure, pristine soul locked in an evil body that serves as a prison house until death, when the soul is freed. This idea is an attempt to explain the root of human nature without examining the truth of what God says.
No “Original Sin”
Millions more believe the unbiblical doctrine of “original sin.” While Adam and Eve certainly did sin, the Bible teaches nothing about any “original sin” committed by them, which is passed on, generation by generation, to every person. The term is found nowhere in scripture and is a fiction—a myth!—of men.
Recall Romans 3:23 stated, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Every human being has sinned on his own account! All are responsible for and guilty of their own sins—not those of Adam and Eve or anyone else!
The sin of Adam and Eve did bring the following consequences: (1) It cut mankind off from the Tree of Life and (2) brought the death penalty on all human beings (Gen. 2:17; Heb. 9:27;Rom. 6:23).
What Christ Taught
In Mark 7:1-37, Christ addressed those who thought they could be “defiled” by dirt that they might ingest through eating food with unwashed hands. The Pharisees went to great extremes, washing their hands over and over to avoid being “defiled,” and they asked Christ why His disciples did not do the same. Of course, Christ knew that accidentally ingesting a little bit of dirt on unwashed hands does not spiritually defile anyone.
His answer explained what DOES defile human beings: “And He said, That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).
First, accept that Christ made the statement—and that it has to be true! This, in itself, is a staggering revelation. But we saw that Jeremiah added more: “The HEART is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). Of course, most do notunderstand this about themselves, though they often readily see it in others. Further, we saw that Paul, under God’s inspiration, recorded, “The carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7).
These are truly incredible statements about the mind of every human being. But how did this torrent of evil thoughts, which pours from all people, come to exist in them in the first place? How did it get there?
Does God infuse human nature into tiny babies at birth? Does an all-wise, all-powerful, loving God take innocent little children and turn them toward terrible evil from the moment they are born? And, if God does not put this nature there, then where does it come from? Again, what is its origin?
Human Nature in Adam at Creation?
Let’s ask: was Adam given human nature by God from the moment he was created? Genesis 1:26-27 records man’s creation by God. Gen 1:28 then states, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply …” (Gen. 1:28).
If God had instilled evil, selfish, sinful human nature into Adam and Eve at the moment of their creation, it could hardly be described as “blessing” them. If this were the case, it would be better described as “cursing” them!
Now read Gen. 1:31: “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). Think about what this scripture is saying. In one sense, it is a stunning statement about human nature. Human nature is not “very good”—it is VERY EVIL! Yet, God called His creation “very good”!
One other Old Testament passage offers insight into God’s final product at the end of the Creation week. Solomon wrote this in Ec 7:29: “… this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” God created men in an “upright” condition, but men (“they”) turned to various “inventions” of human nature.
If God “blessed” Adam and Eve, said that what He had done in making them was “very good,” and originally created them “upright,” then deceit (Jer. 17:9), hostility toward God’s Law, hate, selfishness, pride, vanity, lust, and all the other evils of human nature (Mark 7:20-23) could not yet have been present. There is no evidence of rebellion against God or His Way in this account. Therefore, it describes Adam and Eve prior to their encounter with Satan.
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