WHY AM I CONSTANTLY STRUGGLING? WHY DO I CONTINUALLY FAIL?
Getting to the bottom of humanity’s deepest problem.
My family is from Northern England. Growing up with English heritage gave me a fascination with medieval folklore. I especially loved the story of Robin of the Hood. Clashing with the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, living in the woods with his band of merry men, stealing from the rich, and giving to the poor. Riveting vigilante justice at it’s best!
Since then, the Robin Hood fable has been retold over and over, but the older I get, the more I have to reconcile with a massive problem.
Robin Hood was a thief.
Robin Hood was a cheat, a liar, and even a murderer.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “That’s okay! The Sheriff of Nottingham was wicked! He was justified!” Really? Are we sure? Because there are poor and oppressed people all over this world. Why don’t we have more Robin Hoods? Why isn’t vigilante justice encouraged and celebrated as a common way of life? Because it’s wrong.
It’s illegal. And it’s immoral based on our inner call that two wrong don’t make a right. And no amount of justice or vigilante justice seems to be able remove this problem from inside of us. We continue to struggle and to fail. We justify our actions and the actions of others based on how we individually see the world.
I realize now that my favourite childhood fable uncovers a hard truth about humanity. I’ve realized that Robin Hood points to our biggest problem. That we’re fallen and imperfect. That we continually miss the mark, and consistently fall short!
We have a sin problem.
Our sin problem started at the Fall, found in Genesis 3:1-24. God created the first two human beings, Adam, and Eve. They were in perfect relationship with God, until they were tempted by Satan, appearing as a serpent, in opposition of God. Then they disobeyed God.
“But the serpent said… ‘You will not surely die…your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
Genesis 3:4-5
Adam and Eve disobeyed, breaking that perfect relationship with God. Their disobedience was the very first sin. And since then, every human being has inherited this disobedient nature. Moreover, humanity chooses to disobey on a daily basis, every time we choose self over God.
This is the root of our struggles and our failures. Most of them are self-inflicted, but also inflicted upon us because other people choose self over God.
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, explained this well.
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners…”
Romans 5:12-19
2 PUSH-BACKS TO HUMANITY’S SIN PROBLEM
Push-Back #1: “I’m a good person or good enough.”
To look at sin in another way, let’s go back to Robin Hood and his skills in archery. There’s an iconic scene where Robin is disguised and enters an archery competition. He makes it to the final round, facing the Sheriff’s best archer.
The Sheriff’s archer strikes a bullseye in his first shot. The crowd applauds as if the winner has been clearly identified. Then Robin steps up, still disguised, shoots, and splits the arrow in the bullseye, proving himself an even greater marksman.
The crowd goes wild! And the jig is up, they see through the disguise, and Robin is on the run once again.
Here’s the problem; it’s still not a perfect shot. If we were to put the shot under the greatest microscopic scrutiny, it wouldn’t ever be “perfect”.
This is like our lives.
Even our best shot will never be a perfect shot. But God is perfection. Human beings are not! Humanity is constantly creating for itself a wider bullseye, convincing ourselves that we’ve made it inside the line, but that’s not perfection.
Once again, Paul writing to the Romans:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23
We all fall short of God’s perfection. We all miss the mark!
Push-Back #2: “Everyone is inherently good.”
“Therefore, we will evolve to a place where morality will rise to the surface.” A belief that is often heard in this statement. “I believe in the good of all human beings.” Sure, it feels good, and might even make a great Instagram post, overlaid a group of friends arm-in-arm. But it’s false.
Evolutionary Theory & Sin
Consider what Time Magazine published in an article titled, “Science and Original Sin”.
“Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of our nature is our natural blindness to it. According to some evolutionary psychologists, we are “designed” by natural selection to conceal selfish motives from ourselves–indeed, to unconsciously build elaborate moral rationales for our selfish behavior. Thus do wars routinely feature two sides convinced that they are in the right.
Even at the level of pettier sins–lust, greed–we are naturally good at making our actions seem just…Hence the human dimension of our animal behavior: it feels so rational and right. Lots of animals are violent, treacherous and nasty, but only one convinces itself that God approves.
By the lights of evolutionary psychology, an essential human weakness is indeed a tendency to be seduced by our seemingly godlike rationality into thinking we can readily know good and evil; our downfall is a lack of philosophical humility, a smug assumption that our “moral” intuitions can be trusted as a guide to true morality.
The difficulty of the exercise lends a kind of credence to what some Christians see as the upshot of their doctrine of original sin: that people are born in need of a salvation gained through repentance.”
Robert Wright: Journalist and Researcher (Science, History, & Religion), and Pulitzer Prize Winner
What’s the point?
We are naturally blind to our own nature, convincing ourselves that we are justified. Therein, creating a godlike existence, doing what is right in our own eyes. The point is that evolution struggles to explain why we’re not inherently good. Instead, the evidence actually shows us that humanity is inherently selfish.
The same problem Adam and Eve had in the very beginning.
What if our problem is sin?
What if humanity really does have a sin problem? What if our sin truly has broken our relationship with God? How do we fix our sin problem? Who can fix our sin problem?
Let’s go back to Wright’s quote:
He said that this struggling to justify sin, “lends a kind of credence to what some Christians see as the upshot of their doctrine of original sin: that people are born in need of a salvation gained through repentance.”
Wright isn’t even a Christian but the evidence is leading him to the right answer. That humanity need salvation. Humanity needs redemption. Humanity needs a repaired relationship with God.
This points to the Gospel.
God’s Gospel plan is centred around His Son, Jesus.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
1 John 1:8-10
Join the Conversation; Share Your Thoughts
- How have you witnessed evidence that humanity might have a sin problem?
- What is the greatest barrier to accepting forgiveness and being brought back into right relationship with God?
