WHAT’S WRONG
Perhaps we can agree that the
world and the mass of humanity inhabiting this planet are not as perfect as
they could possibly be. In this world, something usually goes wrong. So any
rational thinking person is bound to ask the question: “What is wrong with the
world?”
Mike Starkey, Vicar of the
Holy Trinity, Twickenham, London, sharply observed that there are generally
four major schools of thought which try to offer answers to this question.
The first school of thought is
the world view of secular psychology. Things go wrong in this world, according
to this view, because of the psychological aberration found in man and from
which he suffers low self-esteem or lack of acceptance, or a host of sexual and mental hang ups. Man lacks some sort of
psychological wholeness which might be mitigated, not cured, by psycho-therapy. This point
of view seems to tell us that we are some kind of a nut and the world goes
nuts. Hardly any comfort there.
The second world view is the
belief system of the geo-political and social movements which views what is
wrong with the world as something institutional and communal wherein society
becomes abusive, power is held by special class of people and individual
freedom is largely interfered with and rights are violated or unevenly applied. And so
their political and social activism is geared towards political and social
change and demand for more freedom, less restraints, and political rights.
Sadly these movements have been around for too long, and despite their noise,
miserably fail and are failing to make this world right.
The third answer to what’s
wrong with the world is offered by the increasingly popular Eastern and New Age
Philosophy and spirituality and Eastern mysticism. For this group, what’s wrong
with the world is ignorance, maybe, lack of so called enlightenment. Offering
esoteric concepts they believe that man should delve into and understand hidden
mystical truths such as the illusory nature of the material world and the
belief that man has divine qualities. This is reflected in the teachings of
Hinduism, Buddhism and Scientology. There’s a lot of mumbo jumbo here which
could drive one crazy. It might give some comfort, though, to the practitioner
who is still confused.
The fourth and to which I am
partial and I’m not ashamed to stand with it, is the Judeo-Christian doctrine
of Sin. The Biblical view of what’s wrong with the world is simply and plainly
man’s sinfulness. Sin is described in the Bible as transgression of the law of
God (1 John 3:4) and rebellion against God (Deut.9:7, Joshua 1:18)
The Bible explains the reason
for the trouble. Humanity is sinful, not just in theory or in practice but by
nature. Sin is part of the very fiber of our being. The Bible speaks of “sinful
flesh” in Romans 8:3. It’s our “earthly nature” that produces the list of sins
in Colossians 3:5. And Romans 6:6 speaks of “the body ruled by sin.” The
flesh-and-blood existence we lead on this earth is shaped by our sinful,
corrupt nature.
The sin nature is universal in
humanity. All of us have a sinful nature, and it affects every part of us. This
is the doctrine of total depravity, and it is biblical. All of us have gone
astray (Isaiah 53:6). Paul admits that “the trouble is with me, for I am all
too human, a slave to sin” (Romans 7:14). Paul was in his “sinful nature a
slave to the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). Solomon concurs: “Indeed, there is no
one on earth who is righteous, / no one who does what is right and never sins”
(Ecclesiastes 7:20). The apostle John perhaps puts it most bluntly: “If we
claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1
John 1:8).
Even children have a sin
nature. David rues the fact that he was born with sin already at work within
him: “Surely I was sinful at birth, / sinful from the time my mother conceived
me” (Psalm 51:5). Elsewhere, David states, “Even from birth the wicked go
astray; / from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies” (Psalm 58:3).
Where did the sin nature come
from? Scripture says that God created humans good and without a sinful nature:
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). However, Genesis 3 records the
disobedience of Adam and Eve. By that one action, sin entered into their
nature. They were immediately stricken with a sense of shame and unfitness, and
they hid from God’s presence (Genesis 3:8). When they had children, Adam’s
image and likeness was passed along to his offspring (Genesis 5:3). The sin
nature manifested itself early in the genealogy: the very first child born to
Adam and Eve, Cain, became the very first murderer (Genesis 4:8).
From generation to generation,
the sin nature was passed down to all of humanity: “Sin entered the world through
one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people,
because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). This verse also presents the unsettling
truth that the sin nature leads inexorably to death (see also Romans 6:23 and
Ephesians 2:1).
Other consequences of the sin
nature are hostility toward God and ignorance of His truth. Paul says, “The
mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law,
nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God”
(Romans 8:7–8). Also, “the person without the Spirit does not accept the things
that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot
understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1
Corinthians 2:14).
There is only one Person in
the history of the world who did not have a sin nature: Jesus Christ. His
virgin birth allowed Him to enter our world while bypassing the curse passed
down from Adam. Jesus then lived a sinless life of absolute perfection. He was
“the Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14) who “had no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
This allowed Jesus to be sacrificed on the cross as our perfect substitute, “a
lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19). John Calvin puts it in
perspective: “For certainly, Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was
to ruin.”
It is through Christ that we
are born again. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). When we are born of Adam, we inherit
his sin nature; but when we are born again in Christ, we inherit a new nature:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has
gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The doctrine of sin is no
longer a popular subject in most of the Christian Churches today. According to
Starkey, “Little surprise then that the doctrine of sin has been all but
dropped from the vocabulary of many churches and appears only rarely in general
conversation. The whole idea feels archaic intolerant and morbid. For most
young adults today, the only real “sin” is being intolerant of other’s
lifestyle choices.
