Why are Americans shocked at the bad behavior of our soldiers in Iraq. Most Americans believe that we are basically ‘good.’ Therefore, it comes as a surprise when we discover our own people participating in ‘bad’ or even ‘evil’ behavior. But this view of mankind as ‘good’ does not come from a biblical worldview. The Puritans, and one would argue, our founding fathers, believed in the depravity of man. That is, man has a bent toward evil. The prophet Jeremiah said;
“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17
The Bible clearly teaches that the worldly man has a bias against good;
“…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,” Romans 8
The founding fathers of our American Republic took this understanding of man’s nature as the basis for a unique form of government that used ‘checks and balances’ to prevent the concentration of power in one man or even one party. In contrast, communist governments and even socialistic governments allow for the eventual ‘perfection’ of mankind.
But the history of the world will contradict any such idealistic nonsense! President Wilson and the United League of Nations was founded on such a foolish understanding. They thought that WW1 was the war to end all wars!
The Bible teaches that mankind will always hate God and His laws, but for an internal ‘change’ of the heart! This supernatural ‘change of heart’ is what enables us to “… hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5
