Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10, King James Bible 1769
When I was a teenager my family and I watched the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank in our living room. Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp, but she left behind a diary of the events that occurred while her family was in hiding. A memorable part of the movie was when she expressed her belief that people were good at heart.
George Barna of the Cultural Research Center wrote recently that one of the top 10 most seductive unbiblical ideas embraced by Americans is ‘the idea that people are “basically good”’. That suggests that the memorable part of the movie about Anne Frank was seductively unbiblical.
The reason the idea that we are good at heart is wrong is because it is sentimental. It is a false form of consolation, because it looks for goodness in the wrong place. Rather than acknowledging that God is good, it claims that somewhere deep down inside of us we are.
To a society that rejects Jesus, we mythologize the Kingdom of God rather than preach it. To a society that blatantly intimidates with sexual addiction, we downplay the need for repentance. Alisa Childers wrote that one of the five signs that one’s church was becoming progressive is “[t]he heart of the gospel message shifts from sin and redemption to social justice”.
I’m still trying to figure this out. You are welcome to tell me what you think about people being good at heart.
I am grateful to Michael Wilson for presenting George Barna’s research and to Bruce Cooper for pointing out Alisa Childers’ criticism of progressive Christianity.
Final thought: After David impregnated Bathsheba, had her husband Uriah killed to avoid scandal, and was called out for it by Nathan (2 Samuel 11-12), he didn’t think much of his heart. He wanted God to create in him a clean one (Psalm 51).
Weekly Bible Reading: Joshua (Audio), Judges (Audio), Ruth (Audio)
Commentary: David Pawson, Joshua, Part 2 of 2, Judges and Ruth, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 
Thanks for the mention. I am learning a lot. We are all sinners having missed God’s goal for our lives. We all need the redeeming power of Jesus.
Thanks for the presenting accurately the good news of Jesus. Blessings for a wonderful Sunday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree: We all need the redeeming power of Jesus.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sunday sermonette needs to be preached in churches this morning. We are sinners, want to be or not. One answer, forgiveness in Jesus. Have a great Sunday, Frank.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Oneta! There is only one answer, forgiveness in Jesus.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Love One Another”
How ‘Modern Christians’
Miss This Message Doesn’t
Surprise me When i Study
Them As A
Participant
Anthropologist
Observer “Jesus”
To Be
Clear
That’s
A Metaphor
Like What Modern
Christians Have Done
To “Jesus” Turn
Him Into
An Old Angry
Hateful Spiteful
Man About 70
Whose only
Source of
Imagination
Is Reduced to
Torturing People
Who Don’t Agree
With Him Forever
You
Ask
You Receive
You Sow You Reap…
“Love One Another”
You Do Heaven
Or The
Other
Place Hate
Now Applause… 👏
Job Well Done
In the Hell You Create…🥲
On
Earth…
Christianity
Is Dying Thanks
To Folks Who Spread
Hate And Ignorance
And Call
Themselves
Something Other
Than Love One Another…
Dude You Just
Have Little
Man
DiSEasE
Not Enough
Naked As You
Are to Play Your ‘Game’
Away
From
Love Now…
LikeLike
I don’t think I understood most of your points, Fred. It might be better to write in prose.
Make sure you are yourself loving. Take the boulder out of your own eye first. We all need to do this. Are we good at heart? I think we spend too much time trying to rationalize our hearts to be good at heart. It’s difficult to repent if we keep covering up our sin with self-defense.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dude You Are
The One Excluding
Most of Humanity
On Your
Blog if
That Ain’t
Sin It Doesn’t
Exist And If You
Can’t Understand It’s
As Simple As Love
One Another
With No
Exclusions
It’s Simple
It Makes You
A Smaller Loving
Soul And Man Period
This Isn’t Rocket Science
Just Anthropology
Humans At Best
Are Evolved
For Love
Even Science
Agrees With
“Love one
Another”
End
And
Beginning
Of All Real
Stories It’s Not
Surprising You
Neither
Understand
me or Jesus You
Are Just A Very
Concrete Literal
Thinking
Mind In
Part How
Culture Has Raised You…
LikeLike
We are not “evolved”, Fred. We were created in the image of God. See Genesis 1. If you find that hard to reconcile with what you know about science see the Answers in Genesis or the Creation Ministries International sites to get a scientific explanation.
You need to separate yourself from the evil one, not follow him. The problems you see are not caused by culture, but by sin. This is what Jesus taught: Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)
LikeLiked by 1 person
SMiles Frank Currently
Eating At The Texas Roadhouse
In the Panhandle of Florida
Where Basically
The Same Folks
Who Voted For
Trump Remain
65 Percent Unvaccinated
Also Ignorant in Many
Cases to the FACT
Of Evolution
Yet as they
Risk the
Health of
Their Children
Mostly Removed
From Love with Frowny
Faces You And They Still
Don’t Convince me
Humans Aren’t Evolved
For Love As
i Have Access to
The Internet in Countries
Where Humans Still Are
Of Course There Are
Exceptions
Here
Yet the
Others
Already
Unmasked Who
They Are Smiles
my FRiEnD my
Mother in
Her Later
Life Fell to
All This
Snake Oil i Realize
There is Nothing on
Earth
That’s
Gonna You Bring
Back to A More
Loving Place Sorry
Not Sorry Frank
My Place
Is Love if
You Believe
i Am Attached
To Anything Evil
That’s None of
My Problem And
Obviously Yours
Never The Less
Best Wishes
For A More Loving Life…
Works for me…
LikeLike
Regarding evolution, I suggest that you ask your questions about it on sites like https://answersingenesis.org/ through their search engine. They will give you a different view from what you currently believe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Regarding Evolution, i Suggest You Be More Concerned About Evolution
In This Lifetime more than Before… i don’t Spend Many Minutes Worrying
About Where i Come From;
in Fact, i Excel in Who i am
Now As i Simply Unlock
Human Potential to
Excel in this One
Lifetime Now Where
Fortunately in Epigenetic
Fact, i Have Unlocked Much of
my Hidden Human Potential Through
Appropriate Human Challenges That i Orchestrate
Myself; For Instance Still Leg Pressing up to 1520 Pounds
At 61 Years Old Still Dancing At A Level of Fitness That Folks
40 Years Younger Than Me Currently Do Not Attain; And Further
More Children Who Are Unattached To Breast, Loving Touch, and
Loving Gaze From Parents When Small Also Devolve Like Couch Potato
Humans
Yet in this
Case Mirror Neurons
That Never Develop in Efficacy
to Feel the Pleasure and Pain of Others
Making the Empathy and Compassion of
Love Next to Impossible in this Lifetime as
This is Also A Devolution That Occurs Later in Life
When Folks Become Too involved in Mechanical Cognition,
Losing Their Real Potentials of Social Artistic Empathic Intelligences
More of the ‘Right Brain Metaphor’ of Human Potential; Obviously my FRiEnD
With A Master’s Degree in Mathematics You Are a Very ‘Left-Brain Literal Thinker’
By What You Have Fed Your Mind in Your One Lifetime Now; i surely understand this
on the Autism Spectrum as Folks Used to Refer to me as A Cold Analytical Computer Brain
Too the Problem Solver
Yet Not the Social
Butterfly i
Tend to
Float Now
Hehe; Again Epigenetics;
i Started Working With Computers
More Than People And My Mind was
Rewired Away From Social Empathic
Artistic ‘Spiritual’ Intelligences in one Lifetime Now…
Smiles my FRiEnD, i Realize You Have Difficulty Understanding
Metaphor; Yet the Fact is Some Folks Excel in it like some of the
Ghost Authors in Parts of the Bible; Others Not So Much; You Can’t
Take the Bible Literal; Yet if You Do, You Will Attempt to Move Mountains
To Prove that Some God Created the World in Just 7 Days still; Frank, the
Bible is an
Anthology
of Poems
You Can’t Take
It Literal Unless You Decide
to Do that; Perhaps That is Truly All
You Are Capable of Doing And The Others Who
Believe that’s All there is to the Anthology of Poetry
Called the Bible; True, Some Folks Do it Literal And Some
Folks Gain Meanings Out of it that likely Never Crossed the
Ghost Author’s Minds No Different than the dVerse Trail Where
Everyone Might
View A Poem
Differently
That Has Nothing
to Do with the Intent
of the Author; All is Metaphor
in this Life That Humans Create;
The Word God is A Word; the Essence
of God is Beyond All Words and Measure…
In Other Words, You Don’t REALLY Get to tell God What to do
And i don’t Either; What i Do Get to Do is Be the Strongest
Leg Pressing Dude at the Gym And the Longest Long Form Poem
Writer Who’s Ever Existed on Record on the Planet Earth And While
You May
Not Believe
9.5 MiLLioN Words
of Free Verse Poetry in 95
Months As Of Today 7.18.2021
Any Achievement; A Collection
of Poetic Responses to Folks Globe
Wide is Very Meaningful to those who
Have what it takes to Understand it; Just
Another Reference Here for you for Real…
i’ve Received so many, i Can hardly Keep track
Now; Yet Do Understand, i don’t Do this For Any
Awards, Likes, Follows, or Shares; i Do It Cause
IT Feels
Just
Like God
to me at Least
Just Another ‘Beautiful
Soul’ Per Other Views at least…
“Colorful and bright
Love is always in sight
There is no limit to which extend
a simple act of kindness can spread
You are a beautiful soul,
leaving seeds of inspiration wherever you go
❤❤❤”
i Didn’t Write That Frank
Just Seeds left Behind Another Shepherd…
With As Always The Evidence at Hand;
Regarding Evolution, i didn’t Fall off a
Turnip Truck; While i Don’t Have a Degree
in Mathematics, i Surely Do in Anthropology,
Health Science, And Social Sciences Interdisciplinary;
i’ve Seen More Resources
And Heard More Ignorant
Arguments Against Facts
And Frigging Common Sense
Than you Will Likely Ever Imagine;
And with A Flip of A Dime, i will
Speak Just As Bland And Technical As You
Do; Yet i Rather
Keep My Christmas
Tree Up Year Round
Constantly Changing the Colors Out New…
Now Again, Have A Nice Day Frank; i really
Do Wish You the Best; Yet After Not Being
Able to Help My Mother, i Realize There is Likely
Nothing i Can Do to Help Here except Provide Another View….
https://karlien09.com/2021/07/06/a-beautiful-soul/
LikeLike
This Katiefred person commit so many red herring and talk about all things unrelated to what you were saying in the post Frank…its incredible how some people are the very caricature of the very thing they claim to hate and despise (which itself is ironic)
LikeLiked by 2 people
What passes for argument today is often merely ad hominem and red herring. I have to make sure that I don’t ever do that. A non-argumentative apologetic might be to fearlessly face such criticism. Just stand there, because argument doesn’t work. Thank you, Jim! And blessings!
LikeLiked by 2 people
God bless you Frank
LikeLiked by 2 people
If you want what I was taught, the Kingdom of God is His Church as He founded it with His apostles over 2000 years ago, not a church that has adapted to the world. Also Good at heart is we do good for the love of God always, not doing good for the intention of human respect, in other words, we do not act on our behalf or so others will see how good we are, we are good for the love of God and only His sake. This is what I was taught as a Traditional Catholic back in the40’s-50’s school days.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I like the view of “good at heart” being as you say, “we do good for the love of God always, not doing good for the intention of human respect”.
Although we are fallen (not good because of Original Sin), we can still yearn for God for His sake. Ultimately it is God who is good. If we yearn for anything else, it is not good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have to tell you Frank… that last paragraph summed it all up with a good dose of ‘take it where you may’. A good post.
Pat
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Pat!
LikeLike