Total Depravity

There is a Biblical teaching that humanity is inherently sinful. The idea here is that from birth we are selfish, self-serving individuals and that sin is a part of our nature. Nothing in our modern world proves this point more than the computer virus. Computer viruses are just plain mean. I recently have been a victim of some computer virus activity, and while it has slowed down my productivity, it has strengthened my Christian worldview.

The computer virus is an opportunity for social outcasts with nothing better to do to play a cruel prank on people they don’t even know. They have nothing to gain from messing with me; they just like to be mean. That is because it the root of all people is sin. I don’t have to wonder why people do terrible things, I know. I know that we are all sinful. I don’t wonder if I might be capable of some of the same atrocities because I know. I know that I’m always just a few choices away from doing something terrible because I’m sinful too. And while our society likes to sweep our sin nature under the rug and claim that we’re all basically good, computer viruses prove otherwise. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve just stumbled onto the greatest apologetic of our age.

But the computer virus does not leave us without hope. While all of us share in this unfortunate sin nature, Jesus came to earth and lived without it. He was able to do this because Jesus is God, who doesn’t sin. And this perfect person, who would never think of infecting my computer, lived His perfect life and then died as a perfect sacrifice. In the same way that our sinfulness is a universal problem, so His sacrifice provides universal forgiveness for that sin. Now, because of Jesus, I can have my sin forgiven and start over with a new nature that allows me to (finally) be the kind of person God really wants me to be.