Deliver us from Evil - Anthropology of evil

Deliver Us From

Anthropology and

Do you want God to rid the world of evil?

What if He starts with you?

Is Humankind

―As far as I know we just don't have any

intrinsic instincts for evil.‖

– Abraham Maslow

―The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but

the product of heredity and environment, or as the Nazi liked

to say ‗of blood and soil‘. I am absolutely convinced that the gas

chambers of Auschwitz were ultimately prepared not in some

ministry of defense in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of Nihilistic scientists and

philosophers.‖ - Victor Franko

Old Testament Survey on Moral Evil

"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.‖

(Genesis 6:5)

― The fool has said in his heart, ―There is no God.‖ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who

understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.‖

(Psalm 14:1-3)

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.‖(Psalm 51:5)

"Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.‖

(Ecclesiastes 7:20)

―I do not find that…evil is inherent

in human nature‖– Carl Rogers

New Testament Survey on Moral Evil

―For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.‖

(Matthew 15:19)

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,‖(Romans 3:23)

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned‖

(Romans 5:12)

"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.‖(1 John 1:8)

Did Jesus Think Mankind was Evil?

―Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ―For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who

knocks it will be opened. ―Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? ―Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake,

will he? ―If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to

your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! ‖

(Matthew 7:7–11)

―If each one of us is born without a sinful nature, how do we account for the universality of sin? If four billion people were born with no

inclination to sin, with no corruption to their nature, we

would reasonably expect that at least some of them would refrain from falling. . . . But if everybody

does it, without exception, then we begin to wonder why.‖

- R. C. Sproul

―The doctrine of original sin is the only empirically verifiable

doctrine of the Christian faith.‖

- Reinhold Niebuhr

What does it mean to be

―The words ‗image‘, ‗appearance‘, and ‗outwardly‘ are crucial to

understanding the morality of the evil. While they seem to lack any

motivation to be good, they intensely desire to appear good. Their ‗goodness‘ is on a level of

pretense. It is, in effect, a lie. This is why they are the ‗people of the

lie‘.‖ - M. Scott PeckPeople of the Lie

Is Evil a Genetic Defect?

John Wayne Gacy was put to death by lethal injection in the early morning hours of May 10,

1994 for the rape and murder of 33 young men and boys, 29 of whom he buried in the crawl space

beneath his own Chicago home between the years of 1972 and 1978. After his death, he was

delivered into the hands of Dr. Helen Morrison to perform a very unique autopsy. Dr. Morrison had

previously interviewed Gacy, along with many other serial killers, in an attempt to isolate personality

traits that were common among such ruthless murderers. Now at the request of Gacy‘s family,

Dr. Morrison was going to remove the brain of the notorious serial killer in hopes of discovering some

sort of physical abnormality that would provide answers for why Gacy destroyed so many innocent

lives.

"He is a serial killer when he is a fetus,

even as soon as sperm meets egg to create the genes of a new

person‖Dr. Helen Morrison

Is Evil a Genetic Defect?

What were the results of Dr. Helen Morrison‘s examination of the brain

of John Wayne Gacy?

Simply that he had a normal male brain.

No defects.

No abnormalities.

No excuses.

―One of the most disturbing facts that came out in the Eichmann trial was that a psychiatrist examined him and pronounced him perfectly sane.

We equate sanity with a sense of justice, with humaneness, with

prudence, with the capacity to love and understand other people. . . . And now it begins to dawn on us

that it is precisely the sane ones who are the most dangerous.‖

-Thomas Merton

Total or “Radical” Depravity

Diaphtheirō: ―To cause someone to become perverse or depraved,

as a type of moral destruction—‗to deprave, to pervert, to ruin, to

cause the moral ruin of‖

Total depravity doesn‘t mean we are as evil as we can be, but rather we are as bad off as we could be. Depravity effects ever aspect of us. ―Radical depravity‖ may be a better term. ‗Radix‘ is Latin and

equates to ‗Root‘, which describes our depravity. It is at our core.

Spiritual Death

―And you were dead in your trespasses

and sins,‖(Ephesians 2:1)

Physical Death

―Therefore, just as through one man sin

entered into the world, and death

through sin, and so death spread to all

men, because all sinned‖

(Romans 5:12)

Eternal Death

"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the

lake of fire. "And if anyone‘s name was not

found written in the book of life, he was

thrown into the lake of fire.‖

(Revelation 20:14-15)

Radical Depravity Effects

―We are the wild animal.‖ - G. K. Chesterton

How Did We Become

A Monster’s Conclusion

In Mary Shelley‘s (who was not a Christian) book Frankenstein is the doctor who creates a perfectly benign and peaceful being. The more the

creation observes human behavior, the more it begins to mimic human behavior and starts to become evil. The creation confronts the doctor and tells him that when he was brought into this world, he didn‘t understand why

people needed government and controls and police, but as he observed people and read history, he turned away in horror at what man was capable

of. People could be kind, but also evil. Why both – where does that capacity come from? The creation concludes this: you were created in the

image of a perfect being, and you‘ve fallen away from it.

―That children generally lie and steal and cheat is routinely observable.

The fact that sometimes they grow up to become truly honest adults is

what seems the more remarkable. Laziness is more the rule than

diligence. If we seriously think about it, it probably makes more sense to assume this is a naturally evil world

that has somehow been mysteriously ‗contaminated‘ by goodness, rather

than the other way around.‖ - M. Scott PeckPeople of the Lie

Rousseau’s Conclusion

Jean Jacques Rousseau was an 18th

century philosopher, writer, and composer of Romanticism. His

political philosophy heavily influenced the French Revolution.

He believed that mankind was naturally good; his terms for each

person born was an ‗innocent savage‘. Rousseau claimed it was society that

corrupted people.

What is the problem with that thinking? What are societies

composed of? People…

Man Created in God’s Good Image

"Then God said, ―Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule

over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and

over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.‖ God

created man in His own image, in the image of God He created

him; male and female He created them.―

(Genesis 1:26-27)

Man Falls in the Garden of Eden

―The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ―From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you

eat from it you will surely die.‖ ‖ (Genesis 2:16–17)

―When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she

gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ‖ (Genesis 3:6)

The primal sin in humanity consisted in putting the knowledge

of good and evil before the knowledge of God.Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Fallen Man begets Fallen Man

―When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his

own likeness, according to his image, and named

him Seth. ‖ (Genesis 5:3)

Fallen Man begets Fallen Man

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in

sin my mother conceived me.‖

(Psalm 51:5)

Moral Evil Begins its Journey

―So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the

fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their

fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for

his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, ―Why are you

angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ―If you do well, will not your countenance be

lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you,

but you must master it.‖ Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his

brother and killed him. ‖ (Genesis 4:3–8)

www.confidentchristians.org

Why Won’t God get Rid of Moral


―[Let‘s say] you‘ve been rock climbing and have sustained injuries to your knee. You mention it to a physician

friend, who predicts the pain will leave of its own accord. Meanwhile, he says, there‘s nothing he can do, short of

amputating your leg above the knee to remove the pain, Now the pain in your knee is an evil state of affairs. And it is

within the power of your friend to eliminate this evil. Does his failure to do so mean that he is not a good person? Of course not; for he could eliminate

this evil only by bringing about another, much worse evil.‖- Alvin Plantinga


―It is entirely possible that a good person fail to eliminate an evil state of affairs that he

knows about and can eliminate. This would take place, if, as in the present

example, he couldn‘t eliminate the evil without bringing about

a greater evil.‖- Alvin Plantinga


―Such is the generosity of God‘s goodness that He has not

refrained from creating even that creature which He foreknew

would not only sin, but remain in the will to sin. As a runaway horse is better than a stone which does

not run away because it lacks self-movement and sense perception, so the creature is more excellent which sins by free will than that

which does not sin only because it has no free will.‖

- Augustine


The Worlds God Could Have Made

1. No creation at all2. Created a world where there was no good or evil3. Created a world where we would only choose good and not evil4. Created this world – a possibility of choosing evil

This world may not be the best possible world; it may be the best way to get to the best possible world


―If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously

committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to

separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil

cuts through the heart of every human being. And who wants to destroy a piece of

his own heart?‖- AlexanderSolzhenitsyn


What is the cure for human


Step 1: Be Born Again

―Jesus answered and said to him, ―Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.‖ Nicodemus said to Him, ―How can a man be born when he is old?

He cannot enter a second time into his mother‘s womb and be born, can he?‖ Jesus answered, ―Truly, truly, I say to you, unless

one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ―That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ―Do not be amazed that I

said to you, ‗You must be born again.‘ ―The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes

from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.‖‖

(John 3:3–8)


―True religion, in great part, consists in

holy affections.‖-Jonathan Edwards

The real miracle of the new birth is not that a person does different things, but that they

want to do different things.


Can Sin now vs. Can’t Sin now

―For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do,

I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin

which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I

see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? ‖ (Romans 7:14–24)

VS.

―No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. ‖ (1 John 3:9)


Step 2: The Glorified New Body

―So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is

also a spiritual body. ‖ (1 Corinthians 15:42–44)

―Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. ‖ (1 Corinthians 15:49)

―Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like

Him, because we will see Him just as He is. ‖ (1 John 3:2)


Step 3: The New Heavens and Earth

―But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will

pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with

intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. ‖

(2 Peter 3:10)

―And He who sits on the throne said, ―Behold, I am making all things

new.‖ And He said, ―Write, for these words are faithful and true.‖ ‖

(Revelation 21:5)


Conclusions

• If God were to wipe evil completely off the map, He would have to remove us as well

• To remove evil would be to remove human choice and freedom

• Being evil means we are radically depraved; it goes to the core of our being

• The cure for moral evil is to be born again by the Spirit of God, receive a glorified new body, and be free of the corrupted world


Anthropology and