One of my favorite things to do on New Years day is to watch the Tournament of Roses parade. This year’s theme was “Our Good Nature” with George Lucas as the grand marshal. A song was written just for this year’s theme. The Tournament of Roses president, Paul Holman, commented on this song, "The special song written just for the Tournament of Roses celebrates 'Our Good Nature' in a truly unique way. The show depicts how the natural beauty of flowers and the good nature of man go hand in hand."
As I listened to this song I immediately recognized the flaw in this theme. The Bible makes it clear that our human nature is not inherently good but evil. The prophet Jeremiah declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV)
When people leave God out of the picture their only hope is to believe that man is inherently good. The solution is to somehow fan into the flames the burning embers of goodness in every person through a better education, a good environment and positive reward system.
But the Scriptures indicate that mankind does not have any burning embers of goodness to fan into flame. Every person left to their own will move into the direction of evil. We are sinners not because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners.
