As Christmas approaches, we are inundated with smarmy, maudlin exhortations to believe in ourselves, to do the right thing, to make extra efforts to transform the world through extraordinary effort. This is all fine and good, except that it’s doomed to failure. All this comes from bad theology. When we don’t understand God or his word, we can’t understand ourselves. What his word says is that we are noble, lovable, worth the life of his Son, but ultimately frail, afflicted, and incapable of doing any good thing in and of ourselves. To exert ourselves apart from extrinsic, divine help, we set off on a course that is, sooner or later, going to founder. If you think people are good and capable of success apart from spiritual help, it will affect everything you do. You will ask young children questions and seek to fulfill their every whim. In doing so, you do not create a loving adult, you create a self-centered monster. You will believe the criminal when they say they will reform, and grow lax in the administration of justice that protects the innocent and induces the guilty to repent. You will believe the politician who tells you the fault lies with others and not you, and you will give other peoples’ money away in order to make yourself feel you are progressive and loving. There is no realm of human existence that will not become misguided and ineffectual if you believe the lie that humans are fine as long as they have the right information and are not hindered by retrograde prejudices. The only thing that will save us is better theology that leads to better anthropology: within us lies no good thing, and the only explanation for human history is a Biblical view of Man. So don’t believe the beauty queen or singing contest contestant who tells you, “You can do anything if you believe in yourself.” You may be able to do anything, but it’s not anything good for yourself or others. The key to a right treatment of a problem is a right diagnosis, and that can come only from the One who made us and knows us best. And, remarkably, still loves us.
