Fundamentally good and still needing saving

Often at church I'll hear something along the lines of "Modern psychology tries to tell us that while we do bad things we are basically good people. However, the Bible tells us that we are sinners." To which I am always yearning to respond "You are saying that as if those statements are in some way contradictory!" See, I most definitely do sin, but I am also the good creation of an amazingly good God. And all the sin I bring into my life cannot change my basic nature as God's good creation. I'm just not that powerful.

I read an article recently which referred to Jane Austen's "Emma," and specifically Knightley's rebuke of Emma.

http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2008/03/24/go-on-agree-with-god/

Emma had just told Miss Bates, in public, that she is a bore. Which, it must be admitted, she is. She will natter on about nothing for ages, leaving everyone else climbing the walls. However, she also has a good heart and precarious financial circumstances and if you are a character in a Jane Austen novel it Does Not Do to let on that Miss Bates drives you up the wall. Emma breaks that social code and Mr. Knightley, appropriately, lets her have it.

However, it seems to me that the writer of this article misses an absolutely essential element of Knightley's rebuke. This author seems to interpret Knightley's rebuke as wholesale condemnation. Nothing could be further from the truth. The end of Knightley's rebuke puts everything into the right context:

"I will tell you truths while I can; satisfied with proving myself your friend by very faithful counsel, and trusting that you will some time or other do me greater justice than you can do now." Emma, Ch. 43.

He is absolutely unsparing about her awful behavior -- because he knows her and loves her and knows she is better than this.

Talking with a friend recently, I was saying that we humans are fundamentally good, although certainly still sinners in need of a savior. He did not understand the concept, but it seems to me an absolutely essential one. We screw up royally -- and yet we remain fundamentally God's good creation. That does not excuse our bad behavior -- if anything it makes our bad behavior all the worse because we are better than this! And it is high time we live up to our God-given good nature.

Knightley is in love with Emma, and that colors everything. He calls her to account because he loves her and knows her current behavior is unworthy of her. We would do well to understand our own conviction of sin in the same light. The Holy Spirit often will call us to account -- always and only because of God's great love for us. We are better than our bad behavior. Time to start acting like it.

What privileges do you have?

Based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University.

(If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.)

Directions: Bold the statements that apply to you.

1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher social class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels. (occasionally -- usually we were visiting relatives)
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 (most but not all).
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parents owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
25. You had your own room as a child.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

I have a lot more bolding than not. I was especially struck by the last one. Ummm ... wow.

How then should I live?