At the time that John Calvin was forced out of Geneva by the city council, he was in the midst of preaching through the Bible. On his return three years later, he returned to the pulpit and picked up preaching at the exact spot he had left off. It hasn’t been (quite) three years, but it has been awhile so let me pick up where I left off with the Heidelberg Catechism:
Q. Did God create people so wicked and perverse?
A. No. God created them good and in his own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love him with all their heart, and live with him in eternal happiness for his praise and glory.
Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?
A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners – corrupt from conception on.
Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil?
A. Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God.
This set of questions deal with the sharp reality of the brokenness of this world. I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who stated that the sin – our depravity – is the only scientifically verifiable doctrine. We all recognize that the world is “not the way it is supposed to be (a title of Calvin Seminary president Neal Plantinga’s classic work on sin). We know it globally as we hear of wars and rumors of wars; we know it as we hear of the human destruction caused by earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. We know it personally as well – unfulfilled desires at work, relationships broken and distorted, families torn apart. (Just survey the headlines briefly to get a sense of the brokenness of the world: http://news.bbc.co.uk.) (more…)
