I was born that way too: The nature of Man

It's the most basic of all human excuses. I was born that way is the catch all excuse for the worst parts of who we are. We hear it most in these modern times by the LGBT community usually followed by, “God doesn't make mistakes.” It is not new for this particular community. It has been used by all of us at one time or the other to justify our sins, and to appease our conscience's. We often excuse ourselves and others by refering to our birth and or the way we were raised. It is true that almost everything about who we are is related to heredity and environment, but it is also true that neither can be appropriately blamed on God. In fact God both desires and stands ready to change both. This is actually the only are of life in which most every one agrees on the same principle. If you ask a college educated psycologist, he will say that it is “Family Inference”. The Theologian will call it a “Generational Curse”. (Ex. 20:5) If you ask an old farmer he'll say, “ The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.” We have to make note that Ezekiel 18:20 makes it clear that it is not punishment for our fathers sins, but neither our parents bear punishment for our sins. It is in fact the sins themselves that we have a tendency to pick up.

Sin is an inherited trait:

We are children of sinfully flawed parents and they were the children of such, and so the story goes. The story in fact goes back to Adam. Adam, the first man, was created in a state of sinless perfection. Adam is the father of all living and so We through the generations inherited His traits. He is the human agent for all living. When Adam fell into sin by eating the forbidden fruit, His state of being changed. His physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state was immediately affected by His sin. He had a nature to sin. That sin nature was then passed down through the generations. David said,”I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother concieved me..” Sin and all that goes with it is in the DNA of mankind. Epesians 2:3 declares, “We all lived among them at one time in the cravings of our flesh, indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.” Paul Put it this way, “ Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death by sin, so also death was passed to all men, because all have sinned.” If we reiterate that “we were born that way” it is actually true, but what is missing from the statement and where many err, is that God did not make us this way. I remember a young boy seeing the child's T-shirts that proclaimed, “ I know I'm special cause God don't make no junk.” That is a cute statement and has some merit. We hear so many times “God doesn't make mistakes.” That is true but we are not born the way we are because God makes mistakes. We are born the way we are because Adam made a mistake. We were all “born that way because of sin.

Sin is influenced by by environment:

Parents hold an awesome responsibility in the life of the child, into adulthood. When we bring that beautiful little baby home in all of it's innocence, we need also to understand that a sinful nature exists inside this bundle of joy. We won't need to teach our children to do wrong, they easily figure that out all by themselves. A child left undisciplined will be a holy terror as an adult. We have already established that our children tend to take on the worst of our characteristics. The child raised in an abusive relationship, is much more likely to become abusive. The alcoholic is more likely to raise the same in their children. The nature to sin is the way we were born, but the exact behaviors that it manifests are learned traits.( Ex. 20:5 Deut.4:9, 11:19, Prov. 22:6, Ephesians 6:4) The bad news is that we cannot bet a pass by blaming Mom and Dad. The bad news is that We were born that way and Mom and Dad were not perfect in teaching us, but then we grow up. We grow up to be responsible for our own actions. The responsibility is in the idea that this is who we are but we do not have to stay that way. We are seeing so much in modern society about the homosexual agenda, and we are told to believe that they were born with those un-natural desires. While I disagree with that entire premise, let's pretend for a moment that it is correct. That still does not give an acceptable excuse. There is a huge difference in being born with sinful desires, which we all have in one way or another, and the behavior of acting upon them. Hebrews 12:1 probably explains it best when it says, “ ...Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us...” Satan attacks us at the very core of who we are. There are some sins that He would never temp me too, and the same goes for all, because there are simply things that we simply do not like, and have no desire for. He won't waste His time on those things. He tempts us with the very things we desire the most.

The Good and Bad News:

You were born with a nature to sin and without the power of Christ activated in your life you are a slave to sin. You and I have the curse of death on us because it is our choice to act out sinful desires. The bad news in the coming of Christ to conquer sin is that we are left without an excuse. The Good news is that He did conquer sin. Every Sin that Adam faced and fell to in the garden, Jesus faced and overcame in the desert. (Genesis 3, Matthew 4) Our birth was flawed and so He told Nicodemus that We needed a new birth, In John 3. Our up bringing was flawed so He challenged us learn of Him, in Matt. 11:29. Jesus came to free us from the sinful people we are, and to heal us from those sinful desires. He offers to us forgiveness, but He requires repentance. (Luke 13:3-5) He leaves the decision with us. The choice is ours, and so are the consequences. Roman 1:20 explain that we are without excuse. The question is not were you born that way, the question is what will you do about it.  

Christianity and the Current Political Climate

To say that the entire world has gone crazy is the understatement of a life time. We have come to expect insanity from certain parts of the world, and even certain parts of our own country. Liberals, atheists, socialists, and even worse have propagated an amoral society for better than fifty years now. It would appear that at least for a season they have won the fight. While I loathe our current government administration, I do agree with President Obama when He said that America is no longer a Christian nation. As a majority we have lost sight of where we came from. Christian business owners are sued for not wanting to endorse homosexual marriage by providing their services. Bruce Jenner is hailed as a hero and the epitome of what courage is. He is a “hero” while men like Chris Kyle are held in disdain by the very government they fought to serve. Planned Parenthood is allowed to traffic in aborted body parts, while the folks who are brave enough to expose their murderous debauchery are charged with criminal activity. Edward Snowden is called treasonous for blowing the whistle on serious government overreach and yet our own officials (past and present) are allowed to get away with alleged acts of criminal behavior, and any attempt to get to the truth is blocked by party politics. Our government has for most of the Obama administration been embroiled in controversies and scandals that make Watergate look like a Sunday school picnic. Racism was on it's way to the death it deserves, until this current administration began to divide us with it's over the top responses to crisis situations. As we just witnessed in Oregon among other incidents of the recent past, those who are supposed to protect and serve us, have been militarized against us. Meanwhile we cannot seam to protect ourselves from terrorism because our government refuses to call it what it is. Any reference to Islam in a negative light is met with accusations of racism. Let's be clear about some things. We are in a holy war, and Islam is not a religion of peace. The Koran teaches evangelism by force, and that infidels should be killed. Those moderate Muslims (so called) are no better or different than liberal Christians. They simply do not take their own scripture seriously. As loathsome and detestable as terrorists are, we cannot defeat them until we first respect the fact that they are only living out what their belief system demands of them.

Christianity has been under attack from the outside from it's inception, however the greatest challenge of recent days is the attacks from within. When I refer to the Christian community I must do so lightly. Without judging a particular persons salvation experience, it is also fair to say that a large amount of those professing Christianity do not take the truth of Scripture seriously. When Larry King questioned Joel Osteen about salvation He waffled saying that he believed that Jesus was the way, but that He could not judge others hearts. He finally said, “Jesus is my way.” When Proposed the same manner of questioning from Oprah Winfrey He clearly said that Jesus was the way to God, but that their were many paths to Jesus. Later He even had Her in His church and home, knowing the entire time that she embraces pantheism. T.D. Jakes has said that there are many paths to God, and recently He has come out in support of gay marriage. So, what is being propagated from many pulpits is that we can be anything we want to be, and we can do anything we want to do and still go to heaven. All this is cloaked in the idea of nonjudgmental love and acceptance. It is staged so that those of us who accept the truth of Scripture, can easily be tagged, as UN-loving bigots. We must remember that Satan's oldest and best trick is to disguise evil for something good. In the Garden He extolled the virtues of the fruit, and covered it with half truth's. It would seem to me that to know of impending doom and not warn a person of it would be the most UN-loving thing we can do. The truth may be uncomfortable but it is the most compassionate thing we can say.

What then are Bible believing Christians to do? How are we to do what Christ has called us to do?

There are few things to remember on our journey through this life. The first is that Government and it's authority has been established by God for our own good. Jesus answered [Pilate], “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:11) Paul Said, “There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1b) We should wherever We can find a clear conscience submit to the authorities above us, however We are always to place our relationship with Christ first. When being tried for preaching the Gospel Peter declared, “ We ought to obey God rather than men....” (Acts 5:29) Simply put when we see a law that is burdensome and unfair we should make every reasonable attempt to submit unless it requires us to take part in something that is in direct contradiction to Scripture. We must continue to preach and teach the concepts of genuine faith, confession, repentance, Heaven and Hell, whether society and the government likes it or not. We cannot condone nor participate in abortion, gay marriage, and the like, whether society and the government like it or not. We are commanded to pray for those in authority so that we may live peaceful lives. (I Tim. 2:2) This gives us the idea that being Christian may not always be peaceful. In fact Jesus told His disciples to sell there cloaks and buy swords. (Luke 22:36) The second thing to remember is the most exciting to me. All this is necessary to usher in the coming of our Lord. Contrary to popular opinion Jesus did not come the first time to bring peace. He was not a uniter, but a divider. ( Matthew 10:34) His coming in the rapture will divide lost humanity from His children. (Matt. 24:40) In Luke 21 Jesus describes a grim picture of the world prior to His coming. We must keep in mind that in II Cor. 2 Paul describes a great apostasy must happen prior to the coming of the Lord. Take heart that while the world goes crazy, we are just preparing to go home. 

So, you think your going to Heaven just the way you are !!

     Is everyone we would talk to saved and going to heaven, or is the church missing the boat on salvation? I have never seen the Gospel message as watered down as it has become in this modern era. In an effort to reach out to the world with the love of Christ, We have somehow lost sight of the fact that he is also a righteous judge, who has set a very high standard for His children. We've traded in “unless you repent...” (Luke 13:3) for Facebook Christianity. Now we can post and share about how much we love Jesus and post selfies taken at the bar all at the same time. A person now can pretty much do whatever they want and proclaim, “Judge not...” (Matt.7:1) We are then to be absolved from all responsibility and accepted as believers in Christ. Salvation certainly does not automatically and instantly yield perfection. In fact we can find ourselves in some pretty horrible situations when we allow ourselves to drift away from Christ. We do not get up from the alter of salvation to never sin again, but We do receive a new nature in which we hate our sin and seek to change behaviors. Can you remember a time when we were ashamed of our sin and even the sin in the lives of those close to us? An illegitimate child was once a shame on the parents and their families, now the unmarried couple while still unmarried brings the baby for dedication to the Lord. In a recent Facebook post I saw a woman was sharing a post declaring her undying loyalty to Christ, and yet I know that this woman hasn't been in any local church in almost a year. The following statement is taken from a recent article on Facebook: “ Love People... when are we going to stop always talking about a person and how they are? When are we going to take a look at the messes in our own lives instead of the messes in everyone else's? Lead the example of a Christ filled life... To lead someone to the Lord is to just Love them no matter of the mess in their life... Love them right where they are, right how they are. The Lord don't say clean up then come to me... He says come to me and I will clean you up!!!” Everything in this article is true but it leaves out the concept of repentance of sin. It is true that Christ accepts us as we are but it is conditioned on us being repentant for the way we are. He can clean us up only if we repent recognizing that we need cleaning up. We have been sold the idea that to love someone means to fully accept any lifestyle they choose to live, and nothing could be farther from the truth. Would you warn a friend of impending danger? Would you stand idle while they got bit by a deadly snake? Would you not tell them the bridge is out before they drive off the cliff? If you would watch out for your loved ones physical condition then why would you not warn them of the coming destruction of the soul in Hell? We are afraid of offending them. We fear pushing them away. So, we are content to just focus on the one sided truth of love and acceptance to the exclusion of responsibility and repentance. Without repentance we can never experience the awesome power of forgiveness. Unless and until we come to a complete realization that we are miserable, helpless, deviant sinners who are unable to please God in ourselves we can never experience salvation.

     So then, what does separate sinners lost without Christ and those of us who though sinners have received Him for salvation. Paul said in Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus....” This confession is much much more than the simply believing that most are preaching in pulpits today. James said that even the devils believe and they tremble. Make no mistake it takes much more than belief. Confession is admitting that Christ is right. It is seeing ourselves the same way He sees us. It is admitting sin. It is an admission of Guilt. To confess Christ is the public pronouncement that Christ is right in His assessment of Me—I did it, I am guilty. He goes on to say that we must believe that God raised Him from the dead. It is the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross which purchases our salvation and His resurrection secures our eternal life. The telling difference between lost humanity and a Christian is the motivation of the heart. Paul goes on to say that, “with the heart man believes and this results in righteousness.” A lost person sins and can find happiness in it, they might even be delusional enough to think they are OK in the eyes of God, because it is their nature. The nature of a lost person is depraved and evil. When a Christian sins they are convicted almost immediately and hurt within themselves because they have betrayed their own heart. Their heart has been made new and seeks to please God. When a person having the new nature of Christ in them sins, they struggle within themselves. That convicting struggle continues until We confess it to God in repentance. Hear Me very clear. If you can flaunt and make light of the sin in your life it is a good indicator that you are not saved. A genuinely saved person does sin, and left unchecked can lead us in paths that even some unbelievers would not dare go, but we can never be happy in it. Church affiliation, moral conduct, baptism, nor anything else of the sort saves, nor does it keep your salvation. It is only in a personal faith relationship with Jesus Christ that we gain salvation. That faith relationship effects continual change in the lives of the believer, as we seek to forsake sin in our lives.

     If you would see the Sin that separates you from Christ and would come to Him for salvation it is very simple, yet very serious. In your own words simply acknowledge your sin to Christ, asking Him for forgiveness, and salvation. Repent (turn away from) of sin through the power of His forgiveness.