Recent events have caused us to rethink our society.[1] It has been said that “we [our nation] will have to change.” Many solutions have been proposed.

Before the Genesis-flood, God described humanity as such: “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Gen 6:5). “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways” (11, 12). One might find some parallels between this description and they way many individuals currently feel about our society.

After obliterating mankind (save Noah and his family) and in a sense wiping the slate clean for humankind, God said something quite noteworthy: “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” (Gen 8:21)… STILL. And guess what? The rest of human history tells the story.

As we see from the story of Noah, even if society were given a fresh start with a “clean slate,” the inclination of humankind’s heart is still evil. Although societal changes may be great things to pursue and may help improve society, they will never bring the ultimate change we need. We need heart change. We need so much of a change that one might say we need new birth (John 3:1-7). The only real hope this humanity and creation has is a new humanity and new creation found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Notes

[1] In no way am I trying to downplay the tremendous loss in this recent tragedy. It was a horrific evil, we should call it nothing short of that, and we should mourn with those who mourn (Rom 12:15).