Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site trwatf.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!decvax!genrad!grkermi!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!trwatf!root From: root@trwatf.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion,net.religion.christian Subject: Re: Evidences for Religion Message-ID: <976@trwatf.UUCP> Date: Mon, 10-Jun-85 15:40:33 EDT Article-I.D.: trwatf.976 Posted: Mon Jun 10 15:40:33 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 12-Jun-85 20:17:15 EDT References: <2006@decwrl.UUCP> <749@rayssd.UUCP> <323@scgvaxd.UUCP> Reply-To: root@trwatf.UUCP (Lord Frith) Organization: TRW Advanced Technology Facility, Merrifield VA. Lines: 57 Xref: watmath net.religion:7104 net.religion.christian:778 In article <340@scgvaxd.UUCP> dan@scgvaxd.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) writes: > > Man: A Paradox > > Allow me to clarify the biblical position of the nature of man. Man is > a paradox, on one hand noble, on the other hand depraved. I wouldn't call this a paradox. Man has it in him to do both good and evil. That's not a paradox. That's called reality. > This paradox has led to two contrasting but erroneous views of man.... > This paradox is evident throughout man's history. Man builds up cities, > bombs them to bits, then proceeds to rebuild them out of the rubble. > Man makes undreamed-of scientific advances, then makes a science out of > destroying life. Views? Nope. Observations. > The Biblical view is perfectly consistent with what we observe of man's > behavior. Created in the image of God, man is creative, intelligent, > noble, and has a sense of morality. As a fallen creature, man ignores > his sense of morality, uses his creativity and intelligence to exploit > himself and nature, and misdirects his nobility resulting in pride, > prejudice, and power struggle... > > Here's a little test to see if man is inherently good or evil. Raise up > a child, give him no instruction as he grows, and observe his behavior. > You will see that no one ever had to teach a child to misbehave! Which only tells us that the set of things considered to be "good" is smaller and more restrictive than the set of things considered to be "wrong." Is man inherently evil? Does evil overwhelm good without some higher guiding hand (be it God, social order, what have you)? Well that might make a good experiment on some isolated and remote world. Hmmmmmmm, a world called "Earth" perhaps. This also brings into question the definitions of "good" and "evil." Are the terms "good" and "evil" simply labels placed on certain social and personal behavior and modes of thought or what? There's more here than meets the eye. > Through Christ, man's governing disposition can be changed. The raging > tiger in man's heart can be overcome by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, > who came to earth as the Lamb of God. He can conquer and control man's > fallen nature. Ick... this is almost as bad as MY poetry. Labeling things as "paradoxes" and "enigmas" and "mysteries" of the universe is really saying nothing. Words like this simply gild the issue. -- UUCP: ...{decvax,ihnp4,allegra}!seismo!trwatf!root - Lord Frith ARPA: trwatf!root@SEISMO "Give a man a horse... and he thinks he's enormous"