We are all fundamentally "off" on some level. Every single one of us. Some of us more deeply than others. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we can say that our own level of depravity is definitely greater than what we show on the outside. We may not be a serial killer, but how many of us have never had thoughts that could get you arrested had they led to actions. Our consciences bear witness to the fact that we know what we ought to do but yet we don't do it. There is a sort of moral law that is indeed written on our hearts. It accuses us when we do the wrong thing and fills us with guilt. How are we to escape the cycle?
"They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right." Romans 2:15
Parents mistreat their children. Their children grow up to mistreat others. The planet is falling down all around us. No one can get along. Everyone is out for self. The universal struggle.
Now evolutionists would have you to believe that we just evolved and the violence and depravity we experience are a result of our instincts to kill. The strong survive and the weak perish. But I believe it goes deeper than that.
What type of animal if left unloved by it's parents, grows up with a need for affection so deep that he seeks to fill it by any means necessary? I've never seen an animal trying to hit up the local bar or score some drugs on the corner. There is something fundamentally and inexplicably different about us people. No. We are a beast of another kind entirely.
We have these emotional needs. We have this psyche, this "us" that has needs- not just physical- emotional needs. We desire belonging, protection, acceptance, love, mercy as well as goodness. We want justice and peace, yet inside we are bent towards doing only what will satisfy our deepest needs. We hurt others in the process of trying to numb our own emotional pains.
This may seem like a long rant from a strange place, but I want to tie the loose ends up by saying I think the reason we humans are so messed up, so needy, so desperate for, SOMETHING, that we can't seem to find- that we know is missing from our lives and we will look everywhere to find it, is because we are indeed missing something. If we truly were created by God and for God - to be in relationship with him, it makes sense that we would feel lost when we weren't connected to him.
A relationship with God provides so much. Protection, whether in this life or the next, unending love and acceptance, belonging, grace and mercy, friendship, truth- all the things we need.
Now at this point, some people might go to the place of Freudian thought in thinking that God is only a psychological projection. We human beings created God because we needed him.
I disagree for several reasons, but first of all, saying that we created God because we needed him doesn't explain why we have that need in the first place. Why can't humans find that thing we are looking for? Why are we so appalled at the rape and murder of innocent? Why do we long for justice? Why do we have a sense of right and wrong that accuses us when we stray?
These are deep questions and ones that are worth pondering.
This leads me to what I believe to be the solution. A relationship with the one who made us, made possible by Jesus Christ. Only in Jesus is a remedy given for the evil that we find ourselves firmly entrenched in. You have to understand a bit of Christian theology here. And I don't claim to be the smartest little mini theologian, but hey, this is my blog, so here goes..
According to the Bible, God created humans for fellowship with him and to enjoy the Earth. Humans also were given free will so they could actually have a relationship with God based on true love. However, humans used their free will in an attempt to better themselves (don't we all) and it resulted in the Earth changing. Their relationship to God changed too. They had made the choice to do things their way and so God allowed them the freedom. From that point on, all humans have been allowed the choice. To follow God, to know him, to actually love him, or to reject him and do their own thing. However, doing our own thing almost always leads us away from God and into a destruction of our own making. We stain our lives with sin. Sin is going against what God says is right.
Our lives are stained, our hearts are stained by the sin of ourselves and others. It burdens us with guilt. We are afraid of the world we live in. People wound us. We cry out..
"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" Romans 7:24
And as I look at the news, I sit and think. Who can deliver us from this evil?
"Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Romans 7:25
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10
"He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God." Romans 4:25
This, in my opinion, is the only answer.
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