That is the topic we studied in our bible study last night, here is a link:
Produced by Focus on the Family, it is a fairly good worldview study, looking at the ‘big’ questions. Last night we watched the third segment, that talks about ‘Anthropology’ and tries to answer the question of ‘who is man?’. The segment, taught primarily by Dr. Del Tackett was mostly over the question of evil, if it exists, where is comes from, and how the secular world view has some unsatisfying answers to the question of evil. Pointing out that secular thought (from Rosseau and Maslow) has a basis that man is essentially good (aside: what you say, isn’t that what the Bible says, that we are good? Um well, yes, in our original state, in the natural state, we are fallen, which is different than good… ). Tackett does a good job of tying knots in the secular response of the question of evil, because if man is essentially good, and the source of evil, as some philosophers say, is the cultural institutions, where do institutions become evil, if their sum is made up of ‘essentially good’ parts.
Tackett never really answers the where does evil come from, and more points out that the secular response to the question is unsatisfying. Good, well produced video, that brings up some good worldview discussions in our group. We’re left realizing that man’s default state (currently, not pre-fall) is a corrupt state, that although we still bear the ‘image of God’, we lack the Spirit of God and lack the control over our ‘inherent’ ‘natural’ instincts and in a way the problem of evil, is the problem of being fallen. Or as the Calvinists say, Totally Depraved.
I’m looking forward to next week’s session.