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Humanity . How should you see yourself and others? How does God see you and others?. 4 Views of Human Origin . Atheistic Evolution: the race evolved through millions of years by strictly natural and physical means. Theistic Evolution: God used the process of evolution to produce humanity.
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Humanity How should you see yourself and others? How does God see you and others?
4 Views of Human Origin • Atheistic Evolution: the race evolved through millions of years by strictly natural and physical means. • Theistic Evolution: God used the process of evolution to produce humanity. • Progressive Creationism: God made the world through a series of creative interventions over a period of millions of years. • Special Creationism: God created the world in six 24 hour days. • Persuasion level or opinion level.
What is Our Basic Human Nature? • We are born basically good with a thin veneer of bad. • We are born basically neutral and made good or bad by conditioning. • We are born basically bad with a thin veneer of good. • The Biblical view: Originally created totally good, but because of the Fall, now born hopelessly fallen.
The Fall Man sinned by disobeying God; thus he was alienated from his Creator. That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation. Man’s nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. • What is sin 1. Ignorance 2. Illusion 3. Incomplete evolution 4. Independence or selfishness 5. Lack of conformity to God’s perfect character 6. Lawlessness: desire to transgress restriction Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of god in act, attitude, or nature.
The Fall has formed a barrier • Because of God’s perfectly pure righteousness, He cannot be in intimate fellowship with anyone who is contaminated with the filth of sin. Isaiah 64:6, 59:1-2; Romans 3:19-20; and James 2:10. • The real question is not, “How can a loving God send anyone to hell?” Rather, from God’s perspective, “How can a righteous God allow any sinner into heaven?” • To simply embrace sinful people in an unaltered condition would be to compromise His own nature—He’d cease to be God. • God’s absolute holiness + our sin=offense to God’s nature. God’s justice demands penalty=spiritual and physical death.
Slavery to Satan and Sin and Sin nature • Slavery to Satan and Sin:1 John 5:19; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 6:17,20; John 8:33,34 • Everyone who does not know Christ has a hopeless addiction; is a slave to sin. • Sin Nature: Ephesians 2:3, Jeremiah 17:9, Mark 7:20-23. Our tendency from birth toward wrong in thought, word, and deed. • Participation in sin weakens our perception of it. • We are not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners. Born with a sin nature.
Spiritual Death • Colossians 2:13, Ephesians 2:1, Romans 5:12 • Spiritual death is just as real, though not just as obvious as physical death. • It means we are separated form God who is the source of all life. • The result of these 4 barriers is that we are totally unable to please God. • Total depravity • We are not worthless-We are made in God’s image • The corruption of sin that extends to all parts of men such that there is nothing with in man that can give him merit in Gods eye.