We're Broken So We Need Fixin Series

Tonight we are going to talk about another reason why some people are not interested in the God of the Bible.

The second element of any worldview is the way it explains the human dilemma. Why is there war and suffering, disease and death? "Why?" This one word question has been the motivation behind many arguements, theories and speculations throughout the years trying to explain what is wrong in our world today. There are two basic worldviews that create a need for dealing with this topic and that is the utopianism view and the Biblical view. Let me explain what the utopian view is first then what the Biblical view asserts.

The Utopian view says humans are intrinsically good and that under the right social conditions, their good nature will emerge. We have seen this philosophy at work in many different ways through the years. It was and is believed that we are the products of the environment. The reason for poverty, ignorance, crime and other undesirable social conditions is because we have yet to create a better environment. One does this by improving education, enhancing economic conditions, and reengineering social structures. Given the right conditions, utopianism believe human perfectibility has no limits. This is the answer utopianism gives for why there is evil.

We saw this in the Great Society of the 1960’s where politicians were converted into thinking that what would take to help solve poverty and crime would be a well-designed, well-funded government program. Unfortunately history tells us that that wasn’t the answer. The utopianism of the Great Society offered no real answer to the dilemma of moral breakdown because it redefined moral maladies as technical problems that could be solved by bureaucrats. Instead of treating human beings as moral agents who must be addressed in the language of duty and responsibility, the Great Society treated them as objects to be shaped and manipulated.

What has been the result of this philosophy? Our children today are taught above all else, to like themselves. Grammar errors go uncorrected for fear the read X mark will damage the student’s self-esteem. The reason for our wrong behavior is not because we made a wrong choice but because we are products of a bad environment. Our behavior is caused by our view of life or view of our parents. There is no longer personal responsibility. Adults who once gave firm and unequivocal moral direction—parents, teachers, even pastors—have been indoctrinated with the idea that the way to ensure healthy children is not to tell them what’s right and wrong but to let them discover their own values. And that is exactly what they are doing!

ILLUSTRATION: In Oakland, California, a teen with a knife chases a woman down the street, while a crowd gathers and chants, “Kill her, Kill her!” like spectators at a sporting event. Someone in the crowd finally trips the frightened woman, giving her assailant a chance to stab her to death. (Naples Daily News August 15, 1993)

In Dartmouth, Massachusetts, three boys surround a ninth-grade classmate and stab him to death. Afterward they laugh and trade high fives, like basketball players celebrating a slam dunk. (Boston Herald, Sept. 25, 1994)

In New Jersey, Brian Peterson takes his girlfriend, Amy Grossberg, across the state line to a Delaware hotel room, where she gives birth. They kill the newborn and dump him in the trash. (Washington Post, Nov. 19, 1996)

These are not just the kids from the rough neighborhoods and broken homes. These are people who come from great homes, have two cars in the garage, loving parents, and a great education. Every possible explanation is debated except the explanation of sin. The blame must be pointed to everything and everyone else but me. And so, we are reaping the terrible consequences of this worldview.

The Biblical view says that we were all created in the image of God. We were created not to be robots but to be people who have been given the ability to make a free choice. We were created not to think and react instinctively like animals but given the ability to make rational choices on our own. In Genesis 3 is says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.” ‘You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”