The Dueling Truths of Human Nature

The Christian religion is filled with truths which have to be held in tension.  That means Truth A would lead you in one direction, and Truth B would lead you in the opposite direction... but you have to believe both.  As the conservative speaker/columnist Ben Shapiro likes to say, "Two things can be true at once."  

Today I want to look at one instance of this which relates to the status of humanity.  And then we'll think about what happens when we choose one truth over the other.

Truth 1: Human Beings are Great!!

The first one is easier to accept.  It's that human beings are beautiful creatures, have inestimable value, and are subjects of intrinsic dignity.  This is the awe of every parent who beholds his/her newborn baby.  And as it says in Psalm 139:

"You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. [] For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  -  Psalm 139: 1-2,13-16

 This is reinforced by something Jesus says in the Gospel:

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" - Matthew 6:26

Truth 2:  Humans are Severely Compromised

The second truth is the "bad news".

GK Chesterton famously said in his book "Orthodoxy" that Original Sin is the part of Christian theology which can most readily be proved.  All one needs to do is pick up a newspaper or watch the news and the brokenness of mankind will be on full display.

Human beings are compromised in some serious ways.  We're selfish, we want immoderate pleasure, and we desire and do things which are bad for us.  This truth is also discussed in the Psalms:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart."  - Psalm 51:1-6

And we find Saint Paul ruminating on this in his letter to the Romans:

"So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am!" - Romans 7:21-24

One or the Other?

So what happens when you refuse to hold these in tension?  What are the consequences of choosing one or the other?

Choosing Truth 1:  Perfect from the Start

Have you ever encountered a person who says:

"How could [XYZ] be wrong?  People are born desiring [XYZ].  That's how God made them!!"

Well, that's someone who has chosen Truth 1 and rejected Truth 2.  Because if you ONLY believe that human beings are "wonderfully made"... then any tendency or ingrained desire a person has must be good.  This is a common tactic of one Father James Martin, who has made a career of telling this one truth to folks who identify as gay.

The negative consequences here are legion.

The first is that it erases any sin which we've always been tempted toward.  Have you always been tempted toward unchastity?  It cannot be bad, that's how God made you.  Anger?  Gluttony?  Greed? Same deal.  As soon as you say you were born with these desires, acting upon them can no longer be regarded as a sin.

The other problem is what this view does to one's relationship with other, more orthodox Christians.  That is, Christians who believe in Truth 2.  Because if you think God affirms everything you've always felt... then the Christians who assert that you're actually broken can only be seen as evil bullies.  They are, in a sense, blasphemers who say God made a mistake with you.

At least... that's how you're bound to see them if you only take Truth 1.  And before long, such a person will learn to resent other Christians.   Almost the entirety of the "Progressive Christian" channel on Patheos.com could be explained by this error.


Choose Truth 2:  Why Even Bother?

The consequence of choosing only Truth 2... is a really negative view of the human person.  So negative, in fact, that one looses all sense of self-worth and sees every human action as intrinsically hateful to God.   As John Calvin wrote:

"Whatever is in man from intellect to will, from the soul to the flesh, is all defiled and crammed with concupiscence; or, to sum it up briefly, that the whole man is in himself nothing but concupiscence."  - Institutes, Book II, Chapter 1

And... well... that's going to lead to a bunch of negative results too.  Like people leaving Christianity because they think it teaches them to hate themselves.  Or Christians being unable to share their faith because this ideology presents an image of themselves and God which is intolerable.


Choosing Both

With all these in mind, its important for parents and catechists to teach both truths without compromise.  First, that human beings are in possession of great dignity:

"Of all visible creatures only man is 'able to know and love his creator'. He is 'the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake', and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity. 

Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead." - CCC 356,357

... and that human beings are compromised:

"[Original Sin] is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is called 'concupiscence'.

The doctrine of original sin provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free.

Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals". - CCC 405, 407