The human condition...

Blog #3

It’s been a number of weeks now since I last posted.  I’ve been quite busy doing work for my theology course, including the relationship of Christianity and Platonism, the nature of the church and the kingdom and investigation into issues surrounding the letters included in the New Testament.  I’m not really sure what issue to address next. For the time being though, I think I’ll address perspectives on what is commonly referred to as, ‘the human condition’.

When we look at humanity we can learn a great deal about ourselves, our social conventions, our cultural diversity and our rich plethora of common experience. But how does this relate to how we view the world?  What can we discern about ourselves?

I’m convinced on reflection that there is something drastically wrong, something unsettling. As if we’re not aligned with how we should be. You will probably have heard that ‘nobodies perfect’.  Is this true and what does this mean?

When I look at the world I see a great many things, and a great many of these great many things are not good.  Our society is infected with greed and hatred.  Our politics, democratic as it is, is riddled with corruption. A brief look at the twentieth century highlights humanities troubles.  It passes over the earth in a big fluorescent yellow.  When we look at the page of history, the vast majority of it is coloured in this yellow highlighter that symbolises all those evil things that have happened and still happen in our world.

It seems quite natural then, that we should be enraged at the world, at our fellow human beings.  We should be shocked.  But it seems strange that this shock is not always immediately recognised.  Perhaps, with all these terrible things happening day in and day out humanity has become desensitised to its problem. We have become apathetic towards those things that disgust us most because of their sheer quantity. All we need do is turn on the news.  Another murder, another greedy banker, another corrupt politician. We would be right then in wanting to do something about it. We, being perfect should be able to do something about this. Shouldn’t we?

 But we’re not perfect.  How can we lecture humanity on its failings if we ourselves are a part of that failure, when we ourselves have failed, then such an act would be an exercise in hypocrisy.  We are slaves to a term which may seem in some way offensive.  We are slaves to sin.  How can we speak to the world about how it is held captive to evil, how can we rescue the world when we ourselves are locked in chains. We need a rescuer. We need a saviour.

 If then, we cannot save ourselves how then can we be rescued.  We can only be rescued by one who has no sin, who has not failed and who is not also locked in the chains. And this unlike any other philosophy or religion is where Christianity offers hope.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Charles Wesley

When people speak of Christianity as ‘good news’ this is why.  Jesus came to save us from this terrible predicament.  He came to earth to revive humanity from its drunken stupor.  Put aside what you think of the church for a moment.  Put aside your opinion of Christians in general for they themselves are also mere human beings. Christianity at its heart is good news.  It offers hope where there is no other hope.  It speaks life to us trapped in death and speaks wonders to us about ourselves and about God.

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)