The Biblical teaching of human depravity is in direct opposition to the postmodern view so prevalent in the West. Postmodernism teaches that man is the standard of right and wrong, and by logical extension, naturally good. A prerequisite to holding the post-modern view is denying human depravity. We all know that people do bad things, but sin isn’t the post-modern answer. The argument is focused on whether our negative actions are the result of our genetic disposition or the environment in which we develop, effectively removing full responsibility from the offender. Anyone who has taken Psych. 101 knows that nature versus nurture is a contentious arena in psychological circles.

One might debate that a serial killer is genetically predisposed to mass murder, while another theorizes that their inclination to do violence is a corollary of childhood trauma. While this is an interesting conversation it fails to get to the deeper reason of why we’re discussing nature and nurture in the first place. The starting point is neither situational nor genetic analysis. Rather, it is the ontological question of whether mankind is basically good. And there is a great irony involved when people say humanity is naturally good.

To answer that question, one must start with the standard of goodness. Since God is sovereign all standards rest upon Him and His character (Ps. 135:6). God is good, therefore the standard for goodness is God (Ps. 34:8). What He has revealed to be right in His moral law is how we’re told to meet this standard (Deut. 30:16). If goodness is holding to the standards set by God in the law, then perfect obedience is required to be good. If so, to be evil requires any one time breaking of God’s law (James 2:10).

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]