Human Depravity and American Government

Quote from "Time for Truth" by Os Guinness - “Few understand that the United States, because of the convictions of its founders, is a nation with a realistic view of evil embedded in its constitutional checks and balances.”

Human Depravity and American Government

“The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”- Malcolm Muggeridge

"Few understand that the United States, because of the convictions of its founders, is a nation with a realistic view of evil embedded in its constitutional checks and balances."- Os Guinness

It seems that both parties in America are increasingly attempting to execute their policies without the objective moral foundations and boundaries of God's character or the truth of man's sinfulness. The "separation of Church and state" has been misunderstood, and that misunderstanding has necessarily led to this result. Both parties' policies will, when unrestrained by the recognition of these two realities, result in the abuse of citizens and the destruction of the nation. The only difference in the abuse and destruction will be the direction from which the they come.

"Like the physical universe, the moral universe is governed by unforgiving laws that we do not have the power to alter."- Frank Turek and Norman Geisler

Each party seems to operate on the idea that they are "God's gift" to this nation and cannot do or think any wrong. The lack of humility and lack of willingness to have intellectual discussions about policies in our nation's leaders is quite frustrating and even maddening. America's three-branch system was designed as a "check and balance" on such attitudes of those in power, for if there is no recognized moral authority above the government, then those in power will determine what is right and what is wrong for those they govern or dictate.

No matter which party "wins" in November, the American people cannot allow that party to undermine, override, or dismantle the checks and balances that exist in our governmental system. If we allow either party to do so, the depravity in the hearts of those in power will make itself known in painful ways.

For more please check out these posts and books:

4 Ways Atheism Undermines the Scientific Enterprise

Introduction- 4 Ways Atheism Undermines the Scientific Enterprise

Have you ever wondered if atheism is compatible with science? Not many have. In today's culture it is commonly assumed that they are best of buddies. Many people even believe that science has done away with God and provides powerful evidence for the truth of atheism. A couple years ago I posted an article that describes six ways that atheism defeats science as a knowledge discipline, thus anyone who accepts that science can give us knowledge about reality must reject atheism as true. Today I want to discuss the more practical side of science and provide four more ways that science and atheism are incompatible.

Before I start though, I want to make a couple things clear: First, I am referring to atheism as a claim about reality not merely a belief: the affirmative claim "God does not exist in reality." Second, since I am not merely talking about a belief but a reality (one's beliefs can be false), I affirm that one can certainly believe that God does not exist in reality and still be quite successful as a scientist and do great work. My claim here is very narrow, and it involves the dually claimed realities that God does not exist and that science is not as chaotic as it is about to be described.

Introduction- Big Bang Cosmology And The Christian

"Don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."- James 4:4 NIV

James 4:4 warns Christians to not become a "friend of the world" because the world is God's enemy. What does that mean, though? The other day someone told me that I was in violation of that verse because I believed the "atheistic theory" of the big bang and used it as evidence that God exists. Did James mean to communicate that Christians cannot recognize when an unbeliever or group of unbelievers have a correct view of some aspect of reality? Or did he intend to communicate something else? Before I get to the specific accusation, let's examine what actually concerns James in his letter.

Being The World's Friends and Enemies of God

When we read all of James' letter, we see the answer. Consider James 1:14-15:

"...each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."- (NIV)

James is talking about having the same evil desires as the world- not necessarily believing the same way about some feature of reality. James is emphasizing that we must be committed to truth not feelings or desires. If an unbeliever believes something that is true about reality that we also believe is true about reality, James does not condemn our agreement. In fact, agreement about reality may be used as a springboard for evangelism (1 Peter 3:15) and bringing the unbeliever to Christ. Enemies of God do not intentionally point others to Christ. Enemies of God do not condemn evil desires. Condemning evil desires and pointing others to Christ are necessary steps in presenting the Gospel. Enemies of God have no such interest.

It is not that having agreement with unbelievers regarding true beliefs about reality that makes us "friends of the world" in the sense that James is speaking. It is having agreement with them regarding sinful desires that makes us "friends of the world" and thus enemies of God. We certainly could allow our sinful desires to manipulate the truth into justifying sin (which will always be logically fallacious, by the way), but is that what has happened with Christians who have accepted big bang cosmology?