Human Beings Are Not "Born Wretched!" #JesusFollowers

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."

Amazing Grace is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful hymns ever written. And yet, underlying it is an idea that is so toxic to our faith that it needs to be exposed and explored.

We all feel wretched at times -"wretched" meaning vile, despicable or just profoundly unhappy. Whether it's something we did to ourselves or to others, or just a vague feeling of unworthiness, the idea of being "a wretch" resonates with many because it speaks to our humanity, and how we're failing to live up to the best of what we can be.

But, in religious terms, pastors and theologians mean it in a very literal and perhaps very different way than many of us understand it. So, it's worth exploring what they mean.

Nearly 400 years after Jesus preached in Galilee and Jerusalem, a Roman Catholic Bishop named Augustine wrote that it what is not possible for human beings to not sin ("non posse non peccare") That, he said, is our natural condition, and only God, reaching down and doing Good through us, can achieve goodness on the earth.

Soon, the Catholic Church made this rather negative doctrine of humanity their belief, and it was continued by Protestants like Martin Luther and John Calvin when they broke away from Rome a thousand years later.

Now, what's offensive about saying that we are born "broken" beings before encountering Jesus in Baptism, where we are born again, or when, as a baby, this "sin stain" is washed away by sprinkling? 

There's certainly some truth to the idea that before we gain knowledge of Jesus' perfect teachings and example, which show us how God wishes us to live, we have in imperfect path to follow towards God, if we have any at all. But is that the same as saying we are "wretched" or "totally inclined towards all evil," and depraved?

This belief is dangerous because it robs us of both our ultimate accountability to God and free will, and it makes independent action by human being impossible.

This has the effect of making us mere puppets of God, rather than the glorious beings He created us to become. Needless to say, Jesus never taught it, making it unworthy of our belief.

This doctrine allows people to say that we are born hopelessly unable to do any good things in the eyes of God, and that we remain helpless to obey or do Good. They use the excuse that the first man, Adam, fell from God's grace and passed on this curse radical Disobedience to us, his descendants.

But scripture itself contradicts this. Adam's own son is portrayed as fully able to avoid sin, if he had chosen to do so (Gen. 4:6-7.) Prophets throughout the Hebrew scriptures vigorously call out to Jews and non-Jews alike (for example, Jonah and the Ninevites, Jonah 3:10) to turn to God and obey his Righteousness, with no reference to their inherited inability to do Good.

Not once was there ever any statement by them that it was somehow impossible to obey God because of a "curse" or any other reason. In fact, the prophets made it clear that it was imperative for them to do Righteousness, and that they would be judged by God according to their deeds.

Jesus fully echoes this message in his Gospel, which makes no mention of an inability of even children to obey. In fact, Jesus says the innocence and purity children show in their Faith should be emulated by all (Matt. 19:14.)

We possess the God-given moral ability to turn back to God after turning our back on Him, or to do so even if we've never heard the Gospel before. King David turned from his wretched behavior to serve God "with clean hands." The Ninevites turned away from evil. We may, too.