I'm Afraid Your Cynicism Is Justified (December 21, 2003)

My son Ben told me that lately he has become cynical and suspect of human nature. He has seen so much evil, and he is so tired of mean people, and he is sick to death of bad people corrupting and poisoning everything around him.

And I say, good for him. Just as "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," so a cynical appraisal of humanity is the beginning of theological maturity. Until the full force of human depravity knocks you flat on your face, you can't fully appreciate how desperately we need a Savior. Mankind failed, fails, and apart from God's grace will continue to fail till "all the thoughts of his heart are only evil all the time." That is why Jesus had to be born and live and die for us. Not because we were good enough to deserve him, but because we were bad enough to need him.

I have found that the failure to take human depravity into account results in great misery and even disillusionment with the things of God. For that reason I admonish fellow ministers to guard their words so as not to make careless prophecies about how others will respond to our goodness. Here is something I read recently from Pastor Jack Hayford: "Where people see love's vitality, worth and attractiveness, they will inquire into the truth that produces it." Really? They will? I think the best we can say is that some of them might. A multitude saw Jesus' vitality, worth and attractiveness - and crucified him. Look around, and you will see that vicious responses to goodness happen daily. This morning's Chicago Tribune tells the story of a police officer who kindly stopped to help a motorist with a disabled car, and the driver, rather than "inquiring into the truth" that produced the officer's charity, shot and killed him.

Last week I heard Chuck Swindoll on the radio tell us husbands that if we acted in a certain way, "Your wife will LOVE you." I turned off the radio in disgust, knowing that the Bible promises no such thing. I thought of the many men and women I have known who were married to beasts who responded to daily loving-kindness with relentless cruelty. In discussions with my son about the scope of depravity, I showed him a passage in a biography about Jonathan Edwards, America's greatest theologian. Edward's grandmother Elizabeth was pregnant with another man's child when she married her husband Richard in 1667. Though Richard was good to her, and forgave her (even paying the fornication fine himself!), she continued with "fits of perversity...repeated infidelities, rages, threats of violence, including the threat to cut Richard's throat while he was asleep." Later she abandoned the family. I have known too many Elizabeths (and their male counterparts) to bubble about how wonderful people will be if we just learn their "love language" and show them the kindness of Christ. That counsel simply does not acknowledge how nasty and unresponsive some people are.

I was cheered to read this bit of realism from J. R. R. Tolkien (Christian author of The Lord of the Rings) in Christianity Today : "One must face the fact: the power of Evil in the world is not finally resistible by incarnate creatures, however 'good.'" Thank you, Tolkien! That sentiment accords both with my experience and the Bible's clear teaching. Mankind is evil and needs a Restorer, powerless and needs a Savior, hell-bent and needs a Rescuer. The conquest of evil does not come from ourselves, and never can. Don’t trust man. Trust rather in Christ, God Incarnate, our only hope.