After all, we're all basically good people... right, Dr. Sproul?
A majority of professing evangelicals agree with the statement that human beings are basically good, a clear repudiation of the biblical view of human fallenness. The irony here is that while we decry the baleful influence of secular humanism on the culture, we are busy adopting secular humanism’s view of man. It is not so much that the secular culture has negotiated away the doctrine of original sin, as that the evangelical church has done so.I'm an optimist by nature, but theology and real life must meet. It helps us in our dealings with Craigslist, for example.
R. C. Sproul, Willing to Believe: The Controversy over Free Will
(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 20.
We cannot blame the culture's eroding influence on the church if we are unwilling to adopt the Bible's authoritative declarations concerning man, sin, etc. Nor can we blame sinners for acting like sinners in their dealings with us.