Abraham Kuyper

this is one of those quotes that i read and realize, "this resonates with what I experience"; i saw it in a ken meyers article called "christianity, culture, and common grace":


. . . the unbelieving world excels in many things. Precious treasures have
come down to us from the old heathen civilization. In Plato you find
pages which you devour. Cicero fascinates you and bears you along by
his noble tone and stirs up in you holy sentiments. And if you consider
your own surroundings, that which is reported to you, and that which
you derive from the studies and literary productions of professed infidels,
how much more there is which attracts you, with which you sympathize
and which you admire. It is not exclusively the spark of genius or the
splendor of talent which excites your pleasure in the words and actions
of unbelievers, but it is often their beauty of character, their zeal, their
devotion, their love, their candor, their faithfulness and their sense of honesty. 

Yea, we may not pass it over in silence, not infrequently you
entertain the desire that certain believers might have more of the
attractiveness, and who among us has not himself been put to the blush
occasionally by being confronted with what is called the “virtues of the heathen”? 

--A. Kuyper


(I actually had this type of experience earlier this week, and wrote about it here)

Death, Slavery, Condemnation

Stott on Ephesians 2
Death, slavery and condemnation: these are the three concepts which Paul brings together in order to portray our lost human condition. Is it too pessimistic? Well, we must agree (as he would have done) that this is not the whole truth about mankind. He says nothing here about ‘the image of God’, in which human beings were originally created and which - now grievously damaged - they retain, although he certainly believes it and speaks of our redemption in terms of a re-creation in God’s image (verse 10 and 4:24). He says nothing either about different degrees of human depravity, although again he would have accepted this. For the biblical doctrine of ‘total depravity’ means neither that all humans are equally depraved, nor that nobody is capable of any good, but rather that no part of any human person (mind, emotions, conscience, will, etc.) has remained untainted by the fall. Nevertheless, despite this necessary qualification which affirms the continuing dignity of man on account of the divine image which he has not altogether lost, Paul’s diagnosis remains. 

Outside Christ man is dead because of trespasses and sins, enslaved by the world, the flesh and the devil, and condemned under the wrath of God.

    It is a failure to recognize this gravity of the human condition which explains people’s naive faith in superficial remedies. Universal education is highly desirable. So are just laws administered with justice. Both are pleasing to God who is the Creator and righteous Judge of all mankind. But neither education nor legislation can rescue human beings from spiritual death, captivity or condemnation. A radical disease requires a radical remedy. We shall not on that account give up the quest either for better education or for a more just society. But we shall add to these things a new dimension to which non-Christians are strangers, namely that of evangelism. For God has entrusted to us a message of good news which offers life to the dead, release to the captives and forgiveness to the condemned.         --John Stott

More on Common Grace

The fruits of common grace include the ability to perform what has been

called “civic righteousness,” or justitia civilis, “that which is right in civil or

natural affairs, in distinction from that which is right in religious matters, natural

good works especially in social relations, works that are outwardly and

objectively in harmony with the law of God, though entirely destitute of any

spiritual quality.”

Berkhof is consistent with the Reformed confessions, compare, for

example, the Westminster Confession on “Good Works,” (ch. XVI, paragraph VII):

Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they

may be things which God commands; and of good use both to

themselves and others: yet, because they proceed not from an heart

purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word;

nor to a right end, the glory of God, they are therefore sinful, and cannot

please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God: and yet,

their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.

So works that are “of good use to themselves and to others” are done by

the unregenerate. These works include works in the social and cultural spheres.

--Ken Meyers 

Christianity, Culture, and Common Grace
Ken Myers (.pdf)

Common Grace, what it is?

Question
There are many apparently good-natured non-believers in the world -- the nature of these people seems inconsistent with the idea that all of mankind is in a desperately fallen state. The doctrine of "common grace" seems to explain why the fallen state of man is not always blatantly obvious. Is common grace a biblical doctrine?

Answer
Common grace partly explains why most non-Christians do not appear desperately evil from a human perspective. Another part of this explanation is the doctrine of total depravity itself. Total depravity does not state that people are as wicked as they possibly can be, but rather that they are depraved to some degree in every part of their being. It also states that man is incapable of doing anything to merit salvation, not that he is incapable of doing anything "good" in any sense of the word. For example, even evil people give good gifts to their children (Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:13). Because fallen people are at enmity with God, everything they do is morally tainted -- what they do cannot be completely separated from who they are. For this reason, nothing they do is meritorious in God's eyes, and nothing they do can please him (Rom. 8:5-8). But this does not erase the fact that many things they do in their relationships with other people are good in many respects.

Common grace is the doctrine that God expresses grace towards all mankind, even towards those who hate him and will never be saved. The classic proof text for this doctrine is Matthew 5:44-45 where Jesus stated that God providentially cares for the evil and the good, for the righteous and the unrighteous. It can also be substantiated in certain ways from the doctrine of the Fall and from history in general. After the Fall, God did not execute judgment against mankind as fully as he might have. Instead, he allowed man to live, and even offered man hope of future redemption (Gen. 3:15). Thereafter, God went so far as to give special protection to Cain after Cain had murdered Abel (Gen. 4:15). Examples could be multiplied almost infinitely from history to demonstrate that even the reprobate receive good things from God (compare the principle in Luke 16:25). One good thing that fallen man receives from God in common grace is retention of the image of God (Gen. 9:6: 1 Cor. 11:7). This image gives man honor and authority, and is the basis for at least some of God's protection of man (Gen. 9:6). It is also part of what restrains sin in man. Another gift of common grace that restrains sin is man's God-given conscience (Rom. 2:14-16).

Answer by Ra McLaughlin

Esther Meek:
Many cultural and epistemic productions of unbelievers nevertheless glorify God and advance his purposes in the world. In these God is restraining the inevitable evil of the ungodly by exercising his common grace.

Reference Point Matters

The terrible condition of man's heart will never be recognized by people who assess it only in relation to other men. Romans 14:3 makes plain that depravity is our condition in relation to God primarily, and only secondarily in relation to man. Unless we start here we will never grasp the totality of our natural depravity.

--John Piper

We tend to compare  people to people, and can get a "too generous" assessment, as this old story goes:
 

There were two scandalous brothers who oppressed the people of their town by various means.  One of the brothers died. The surviving brother sought out the pastor the day before the funeral and handed him a check for the amount needed to finish paying for the church's new building.

"I have only one condition," he said. "At his funeral, you must say my brother was a saint." The pastor gave his word and deposited the check.

The next day, at the funeral, the pastor did not hold back. "He was an evil man," he said. "He cheated on his wife and abused his family." He went on in this vein for a small time, and the surviving brother was clearly fuming in his seat.

"But," the pastor concluded, "compared to his brother, he was a saint!"

Victim & Abuser

We are all both complicitous in and molested by the evil of our race. We both discover evil and invent it; we both ratify and extend it. --Cornelius Plantinga

Beneath the Floorboards

(Murder is wrong. Rape is evil. By pointing out this song I'm endorsing neither.)

As we talk about Total Depravity this week... there can be a sad but luring temptation for Christians to think that they are "of a different stock" from the "worst" of sinners. Sufjan Stevens is NOT one of those Christians. He reflects on the life of John Wayne Gacy, Jr. and allows it to shed light on his own sin.


Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy Jr 2005
Sufjan Stevens gives his take on the story of Gacy, who was executed in 1994 for the rape and murder of 33 boys …

His father was a drinker
And his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne's T-shirts
When the swingset hit his head
The neighbors they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things
Rotting fast in their sleep of the dead
Twenty-seven people, even more
They were boys with their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God

Are you one of them?

He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people
With a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss
On the mouth

And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid

--Sufjan Stevens, song: John Wayne Gacy, Jr.