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People follow the inclinations of the of the thoughts of their heart.  Generally our heart thinks of some combination of good and evil.  We then make our choices, whether to follow the good or the evil inclination, or some combination thereof.  But, as long as there is some good within us, there is hope for righteousness.  How does this work?  Consider for example how often you help that homeless person on the corner.  The fact that you did not might be your selfishness or your fear, two inclinations that have their root in evil (to some degree).  However, this does not make you evil per se.  Perhaps you also have some inclination to help at the same time.  That is an inclination rooted in love, empathy, and compassion.  But in the end, you did not help.  Right or wrong, was “every inclination of the thoughts of [your] heart only evil”? No. Christian or not, atheist or not, Genesis 6:5 does not describe you.

What about an ex-drug dealer who hates his life, and is trying something new? A real job, making legitimate money.  However now, his children are going hungry and they might get kicked out on the streets.  It pains him so much, but selling drugs is so easy.  At first he resists, because he is trying to be good, until finally he gives in, because he needs to be good to his kids, too, and cannot bear to see them kicked out of their home because he knows how tough the streets are.  He goes back to selling drugs.  Was every inclination of his heart evil?  No.  Was he obeying God?  Not by a long shot.  But was “every inclination of the thoughts of [his] heart only evil”? Again, No.  Genesis 6:5 would not describe this person.

What then of someone who cares for no one? He kills no one, harms no one.  But, he excessively indulges in physical pleasure, and exchanges pills at parties in order to get high.  He resents his life, what he has, what he doesn’t.  He will either marry to secure his pleasure, or avoid it to do the same.  He doesn’t want to work, and will accept the consequences as they come, humanity be damned.  Now imagine a world full of people like this… slave to pleasure, sex, food, and parties.  According to Jesus, this is the world of Noah’s time…

Luke 17: ^27aPeople were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark.

As described it in Genesis 6:5…

The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

People seem to think there was simply too much sin in the world for God to bare.  Not at all.  Jesus Christ bore more than that on the Cross.  It was not the amount of evil, but the complete absence of goodness that God was dealing with.  The souls that Jesus preached to in Hades (1 Peter 3:19-20) knew of God through the cursed land, and tales of Adam and Cane. But rather than repent, they grew increasingly evil to exclusion of all Goodness except for Noah.  Evil begetting evil… like the rich man in Luke 16:19 and his family.

The world is not like that today.  Granted, there is less and less of God, as people are pushing Him further away.  But, even the people I know who do not choose Christ as their Lord and Savior are not without good inclinations.  They give to the poor, encourage stewardship of the earth, and realize the influence they have on others at work, endeavoring to make it a better place for others.  No, the “unsaved” are not without good inclinations.  They just don’t realize where those inclinations are from, and that following them is righteousness.  They think their goodness comes from believing themselves when frankly they are believing God.  Without that, we would all be mere animals, eating, drinking, and marrying, until the day the Son of God returns.  But while it is not like that today, the potential for such never left.

Genesis 8:21b… “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.”

Adam’s descendants were all dead, but for Noah and his family, and God still said this.  It is why parenting is so important these days.  I have seen it in my own boys… selfishness, lying, wanting what they want when they want it.  It is not because they were growing to be evil people, but because they start with “evil” (i.e., sinful) inclinations.  However, by showing them love, we end up with children with both good inclinations and natural evil ones.  As they grow up, they establish the patterns of their choices, and focus the impact of their inclinations.  But remove God as the basis for understanding goodness, and that goodness will go away over time.  Sometime during that process, God decide will it is enough.  But as He did before the Flood, He will wait first, as the godly and ungodly take their stand.

2 Peter 3:  ⁶By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

 ⁸But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

^ 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 

 ¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

1 Peter 3: ^20b In [the ark], only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And what of the ungodly, the ones who do not follow the good inclinations of their heart?

1 Peter 2:  ²¹It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

For those who die without knowing Christ, I pray for ignorance.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 21st, 2010 at 9:40 am and is filed under Bible Commentary, The Flood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.