OK, I'm back but I don't know for how long.

Had a woman attend a Bible study I go to one night. That is, she attended for just one night. We had been discussing the sinful nature of man and how only Jesus was perfect. After about an hour, she had a question: "Do you really believe that no one is perfect?" When we rather regretfully stated that that was our belief, when ALL of us stated this, she said, "I don't. I believe everyone is perfect." We were rather dumbfounded and she then added what is probably the most relativistic statement I'd ever heard: "Everyone is perfect for who they are."

I have to admit that I felt like advancing the argument that that statement didn't really mean anything, but I then realized what she meant (unintentional as it may have been). Essentially she was saying that there really is no such thing as perfection. Of course, that's what we were saying also (except for God), but, unfortunately, she didn't see the real meaning in her statement. And that lack of understanding can have serious consequences in one's life. Now, we could say that she really didn't know what she was talking about and we could have argued with her, but then one of the other people made a statement that got us going another direction but on the same tangent.

Basically her statement was, "Of course, everyone is born perfect but the world corrupts them." I then realized that this was a subject that has about as many interpretations as there are people. And it's a really tough one for many of us. This woman was a person who read her Bible extensively, but this was one area she just couldn't come to grips with, because it implied (to her) that some of her unsaved relatives (read that as son), might not make it to heaven.

According to the Bible, man has a sinful nature. Thus, because of his fall, this sinful nature WILL manifest itself. It is easy for us to overlook this nature. When a small child (even a small baby) displays selfishness, we can easily write it off to their age. BUT the selfishness an adult displays is of the exact same nature and can be traced all the way back to those two small babies fighting over a single toy.

You see, the child's selfishness, which develops naturally into the adult's, is simply a symptom of the need for self-preservation. And without it, in the world we have today, few of us would survive. And this need in each of us can easily lead us to do many things we shouldn't do, lead us to think things we shouldn't, to believe things we shouldn't, things we call sin or even evil.

Essentially we are born with aspects to our personality which might be called "evil" is you want to lump all sin under that category. This explains why we must confess our sins before we can be saved. We come pre-packaged with them, the world doesn't engender them in us, it merely emphasizes them, gives them a change to manifest.

Here's an example in my own personality:

I think that killing a person is murder. After many years of pondering on this I've reached that conclusion. And I've come to believe this even of killings in self-defense, defense of one's family, war and capital punishment. Yet, I know that to defend my family or myself, just from harm, not even death, I would kill. I believe in capital punishment and believe that although not all wars are just, some of them are necessary. Now, how can I, a man of modern intelligent, live with such dichotomy in my mind? And in my heart? I think it is because I am a man and have a sinful nature.

Many years ago I asked myself a hypothetical question. I was in my life-philosophy development stage and so I wanted to answer that question with as much truth as I could find within myself. That question was: "Could you kill someone without it bothering you." Now there's an obvious answer that is quick and easy. But I wasn't looking for that kind of answer. I was looking for the truth. And, I have to say, shamefully, for me the answer was yes.

And not in just extreme conditions, but in some that wouldn't be considered so extreme. Like, "If someone offered you a million dollars to kill a total stranger in a fast and easy manner, where you wouldn't get caught and the only price you would pay is mental anguish, would you do it?" I had to admit my answer probably would have been yes. I think that the evil that exists in everyone had within me dulled the blade of my conscience, so it would not cut into the heart as easily as it might. Nowadays I don't ask myself such questions. I don't want to have to consider the answers I might be forced to give.

"Who knows the evil that lurks in the hearts of men" was the lead-in line to an old radio show, and it sure applies. Now maybe you'd say you weren't evil, but I contend it's like the woman said, "You're perfect for who you are" - which also means that "You're evil for who you are." If perfection is relative, so is evil, but whether there's a little in a person or a lot, it's still evil.