The Question of the Human Condition

"No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us."  ~Oswald Chambers

What is the human condition? 

Is it the desire to do right?  Is it the need to promote self?  Is it an inevitable bent toward evil?  Is it the soiled slate of a purely born life?  When all is stripped from the exterior of human existence, what lies there?

Just a few days ago, a crazed madman burst into a Denver movie theater and let a firestorm of terror and bullets rain down on the unsuspecting crowd.  What ensued reads something like a terror novel smashed onto the pages of reality in what was a senseless and no doubt demonic act.  Though the event itself lasted a short time, the grief and the questions will linger for years.

How could a human do such a thing?  How???

Then, the age-old worldview question becomes painfully relevant.  What is the human condition?

Counter intuitive though it may seem, my belief that man's condition is a naturally fallen one gives me comfort.  Comfort because it reminds me that though humans have great capacity for evil, there is One who interceded on man's behalf and made a way for us to be supernaturally cleansed.  The truth of Jesus Christ and his saving power does not lesson the grief left in the wake of heinous human acts, but it does remind me that there is an all-powerful God who can reach into human chaos and give peace and life and healing.

My prayer tonight is that every grieving soul will not look to empty and fallacious human goodness for relief and balm, but that they will look to the all-loving, supernatural power of Jesus Christ. 

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  ~Matthew 11:28