Every once in a while I come across people who are prepared to excuse their bad choices on the simple fact that they cannot help themselves. The argumentation runs like this:
I have an urge or a desire for _____
I am a good person
A Good person cannot have bad urges
Therefore, whatever I want is a good thing and I should go for it.
Let us consider each of these statements that lead to the conclusion, as well as some of their variations.
I have an urge or desire for ___
There is no question that we have urges and desires. These are driven from a variety of sources, but typically from perceived or real lacks/hungers that often times may be quite legitimate. A person who is hungry may have a sudden urge to see a cake as he walks past a bakery. A person who is short on cash may have a desire to take a twenty dollar bill he sees on the floor. Some of these urges may be able to be fulfilled in a socially honorable way, and some may not. For those of us who accept that there is a God and that He is a judge, we must consider, whether or not an urge may be proper in society, is it proper under the oversight of a God of judgment.
If we are truly honest with ourselves, often times the perception of a hunger or desire may be misinterpreted as we look at a potential object for its fulfillment. We may look at the cake feeling hungry, and feel that might be a good way to fill it. But what is that we are really hungering for? How does this cake fulfill it? Can we not agree that sometimes a person feeling anxious sometimes will use cake as an excuse, claiming to be hungry, when actually what they are hunger for is comfort? We should at least question whether the urge we are feeling is a true urge or whether it is a cover for a deeper hunger/urge that might be very different.
We can certainly agree that part of our current experience as humans is to hunger: for friendship, love, food, warmth, peace, happiness, or for any number of other things. It is likely that we can all agree that we can have legitimate hunger but find illegitimate ways to fill it. The aforementioned cake will not serve a diabetic as a good or safe choice to fill his hunger. But this leads to the discussion of the next assertion.
I am a good person.
Most of us as human beings like to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. We have a tendency to pick and choose systems of ethics which make ourselves look good, ignore the things in the system that are unflattering, and then favorably compare ourselves to others who seem despicable in order to convince ourselves that we really are in the upper 50% on the great bell curve of goodness in life.
“After all, I have not murdered anybody.”
“I let people do what they want, and don’t judge others.”
“I give to charity regularly.”
“I used to go to church as a kid.”
The list goes on. We pick and choose according to what we think is important, and “wonder of wonders” we find that we are good!
This is a notion to which that Christians are certainly not immune. We conveniently forget that we have a God who saves us from our depravity which had doomed us to Hell. We conveniently forget that we tend to live with 1 John 1:9 as our most frequently used verse.
The question of human goodness, however, abundantly disproven by both scripture and experience. It has been said “The most scientifically proven doctrine of the Bible is the doctrine of human depravity.” Our own experience shows that people fully versed in the scriptures are capable of great wrong. The Bible itself tells us that our hearts are desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Paul writes that if we were capable of being good enough to attain heaven on our own, there would have been no need for Christ to die (Galatians 2:21). This premise is therefore, quite false.
A Good person cannot have bad urges
It follows then, in the mind of such folks that if you believe that are good, and that your goodness is proven, then when you have an urge or a desire, it must be okay. Most people in our culture float in a medium of ethical and moral neutrality, so such issues as goodness or badness of the urges are not really in question.
For such, the only real question is “Is it convenient?” Most will go into a cost/benefits analysis on the question of fulfilling the urge rather than considering “Is this right or wrong.” Their own personal answer to the question of whether or not they are good or bad has rendered moot the question of good or bad urges or choices. It is beyond questioning.
The question for them is, “How much will cost me in economically, or socially, or legally if I fulfill this urge?”
Christians are not immune to thinking which leads to the same kinds of choices. Some will claim the verse 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” as a statement of carte blanche that what we now think and feel surely cannot be influenced by depravity.
We further these ideas when we teach people that “God made you and he makes no mistakes.” This is poor doctrine. It is not livable and excuses many into making horrible decisions. “It feels right, so it must be right.”
I have heard Christians argue that they no longer have illegitimate hungers, and that any desire is okay with God. Therefore, its okay to go out and get it. I have also personally known Christians who imitate the culture we live in and simply go straight to “costs/benefits” analysis. They may not question “Is this the right thing to do.”
We must also return to the item discussed under premise one: Is this urge I am feeling the real urge or is there something driving it down below? Consider the stereotypical middle aged male, who suddenly feels the urge to make a major purchase of a sports car. He makes the purchase without even consulting his wife. He wanted it, he feels he’s earned it, so he gets it. After all, he has always wanted to have a hobby car. He’s a good guy. He’s got the money (i.e. its a somewhat affordable payment).
Was the urge really about fulfilling a lifelong dream? Or was it about his struggles with aging and respect? Was it about finding a new hobby, or was it about control?
We certainly have great reason to question this premise. We can agree that sometimes the presenting urge is much more complicated than we may realize on the surface.
Therefore, whatever I want is a good thing and I should go for it.
A person who, for whatever reason, is convinced that he is morally good (not bankrupt) and that there is no wrong, or he can do no wrong is capable of the worst sorts of evils. A person who believes that what he wants is beyond question will tend to act on those which are in his power and are not inconvenient. He will seek to fulfill those hungers and desires by the means that are at his disposal. If the cost can be minimized, deferred or ignored and their is a benefit to be reaped, he will act on that urge.
People who do great evils often do so knowing that there is a potential cost to be paid, or an ethical system they are violating. They may know its wrong to kidnap and murder, but they do so in the belief that they can get away with it, or hope they won’t. Even people with a defective internal moral guide know that society will punish them for the wrong they commit, so they conceal the act. A child who torments animals will hide the actions from his parents. A man who misuses small children hides the actions from his neighbors. A religious fanatic who believes a god will excuse his murders will still hide his plans from his neighbors. All the while, they are convinced of an unassailable rightness of their actions or motivations. They may not perceive it that way, or state it that way. But fundamentally, at the least they will understand their own superiority justifies the choices which are made in those situations.
I would suggest that, by contrast, we should offer an argument like this:
Old Argument
I have an urge or a desire for _____
I am a good person
A Good person cannot have bad urges
Therefore, whatever I want is a good thing and I should go for it.
New Argument
I experience an urge or a hunger that may be real or a presenting hunger that masks a different need
I have reason, by experience and Scripture, to show that I am not a good person, but rather am moral and ethically bankrupt
My urges and desires may be founded on things that come from my moral and ethical bankruptcy, and are not beyond question.
Therefore, when I have a desire/hunger I should exercise caution on how I go about or whether I ought to fulfill it.
My next Blog entry will address why refuting the “Old Argument” is so important in light of an important cultural change taking place in the Western World.
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