Are People Good or Bad?
Transcript
Rick Barry: So, the big question we’re gonna talk about today is, are people good or bad?
We’re also gonna talk about whether you’re liberal or conservative, and why, and what those questions all have to do with each other.
But let’s start with how Christianity would answer that big question.
And I get that saying, “How Christianity would answer any question,” is kind of a big claim. Especially THIS question.
People have been working away at this question for thousands of years. If you look back through history, you’ve got secular philosophers, and philosophers from other religions, and philosophers from almost every Christian tradition that say that people are basically good. And you’ve got secular philosophers, and philosophers from other religions, and philosophers from almost every Christian tradition that say that people are basically bad.
For a while, the dominant point of view among the most enthusiastic and energetic Christians in the US was that people were basically good.
About Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr was a seminary professor, political commentator and influential public intellectual for a large portion of the 20th century. His most well-known contribution to Christian thought was the philosophy of "Christian Realism," which he envisioned as a corrective to overly idealistic trends in Christian public witness. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President George W. Bush, and President Barack Obama have all pointed to Reinhold Niebuhr as a major intellectual influence. His brother, Richard Niebuhr, was also a prominent and still-cited theologian.
Then, for the last 70 years or so, thanks in part to the work of Reinhold Neibuhr and his philosophy of “Christian Realism” being taken maybe farther than he meant it to be, the dominant point of view among the most enthusiastic and energetic and vocal Christians in the US has been that people are basically bad.
We saw how dominant this view was a week or two ago, when a pastor in North Carolina who’s pretty prominent in the Reformed Evangelical world Tweeted out that it was important for us all to remember that, “Our fundamental identity is that we are sinners in need of a Savior.”
So, if Christians in a single culture are going back and forth on this question over time, can there really be a “Christian answer” to it?
I understand if you disagree with me, but I think there is. I just think that it’s a tough answer to keep our heads wrapped around most of the time.
Last week, we talked about the Christian story in four chapters: Glorious Creation, Tragic Fall, Sacrificial Redemption, and Total Restoration.
Chapters one and two tell us that the answer to that big question—the answer to whether people are basically good or basically bad—is “yes.”
People are both glorious and fallen at the same time.
Chapter one is just the start of a bigger story, and chapter two is NOT the end of that story.
The thing is, it’s really, really easy for us to treat chapter one and chapter two like they’re ALTERNATIVE stories, instead of treating them like they are both part of the same story.
Most of us are naturally predisposed to either find it easier to live in chapter one or easier to live in chapter two. Either we kinda get, on some level, that the heavens declare the glory of God, or we kinda get, on some level, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
And which one we’re better at actually helps shape our politics. It doesn’t determine our politics all on its own, but it’s definitely a big piece of a bigger puzzle.
Way back when I was just starting out working in campaigns after college, I was talking with a pastor who had been a mentor to me, and he told me something I didn’t know: He had been a Republican speechwriter in the Senate in the 80s, back before he left the Hill to work in ministry.
“If you’re gonna work in this field,” he said, “I’m gonna tell you something that one of my mentors told me: Democrats don’t believe in the fall. Republicans think the fall was a good thing.”
And that’s maybe a funny or self-deprecating way for a Republican to describe his own team, but a Democratic communications strategist-turned-radio-host ended up laying out the same idea in a similar way:
“Being liberal or conservative isn’t a matter of where you stand on any particular issue. Some conservatives are very concerned about global warming. Some liberals oppose abortion. What makes people conservative or liberal is which story they believe at their core about the true nature of humans.
Conservatives view the world as a dangerous and evil place and believe people to be fundamentally selfish. … Liberals view the world as a natural and harmonious place and believe people to be fundamentally good.”
Again, this doesn’t determine your partisan leanings all on its own. But it’s a real part of it.
If you are more inclined to recognize the glory of the world around you, then you’re also more inclined to respond positively to the way progressive craft policy and messaging in the US. And because the world IS glorious, you CAN find evidence to convince yourself that you’re right.
And if you are more inclined to recognize the brokenness of the world around you, you’re also more inclined to respond positively to the way conservatives craft policy and messaging in the US. And because the world IS fallen, YOU can also find evidence to convince yourself that YOU’RE right.
Christianity invites us to inhabit a bigger story than the ones our culture usually tries to tell us—or the ones we usually try to tell ourselves.
Part of the Christian life is learning to actually treat chapters one and two like they’re both woven into the same story. Learning to both celebrate God’s glory as it is reflected in the works of his hands, including the people who bear his image, AND learning to lament the deep, horrific tragedy of the fall…at the same time.
Learning to practice this kind of nuance, learning to get better at holding the truths from chapter one and the truths from chapter two in our hands together instead of just holding one at a time, is going to be a lifelong process.
And it’s a process that’s usually easier to do with other people, but that’s a whole bunch of other videos for a whole bunch of other days.
Reflection
which of these comes more naturally to you? Is it easier for you to see and respond to the glory? Or is it easier for you to see and respond to the fallenness?