Deutero Q

It is amazing to me how many churchgoers believe in a "god" of their own imagination, a sentimental deity who overlooks sin and ushers everyone into His Kingdom.

In this regard, I think of a conversation I had with a churchgoing person who mentioned that she works with Muslims and atheists who are, in her words, "good people." With much emotion in her voice, she declared that people are good by nature and that God will find room for everyone in His Kingdom, even those who refuse to trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation.

One might expect such a view from an unchurched person, but this lady is very actively involved in her congregation. Her sincere--but deluded--beliefs caused me to wonder what people are being taught (or are not being taught!) in churches today.

Are people basically good? Will God save everyone, giving free Kingdom passes to atheist and devil worshipper alike? From the Bible's point of view, the answer is a categorical "no." Scripture clearly teaches that people are not inherently good; we are sinners by choice and by nature. In this regard, many theologians speak of the doctrine of original sin, which refers to the state of sin that characterizes all human beings as a result of Adam's sin.

King David spoke of being sinful from the time of conception. "Surely I was sinful at birth," he said, "sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5). Likewise, in Psalm 58:3 we read, "Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies." Jeremiah gave a stark description of the human condition when he said in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Paul spoke of the sinful human condition in Ephesians 2:1-3 when he referred to people as spiritually dead apart from Christ. In fact, he said sinful human beings "were by nature objects of [God's wrath]." One should not take lightly the phrase "by nature." Paul made this statement because all human beings come into the world in a state of sin, having inherited the sinful condition that characterized fallen Adam.

The second chapter of Ephesians makes clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that people are not basically good but are sinful by nature and objects of God's wrath apart from Jesus Christ. This point of view is neither politically correct nor popular. It certainly does not square with many people's conception of God. But what should we expect from those who ignore God's self-revelation in Holy Scripture? When we disregard or distort the Bible, how easy it is to create our own god!

John Calvin noted how people often conjure up gods of their own making. "Just as waters boil up from a vast, full spring," Calvin said, "so does an immense crowd of gods flow forth from the human mind, while each one, in wandering about with too much license, wrongly invents this or that about God himself."

When thinking about God and/or human nature, it is critically important to be informed by His self-revelation in Scripture. And God's scriptural revelation is clear: human beings are sinners by nature and by choice and are, apart from God's saving grace in Jesus Christ, objects of His wrath.