Overview and Objectives

The Bible is painfully honest. It shows Jacob, the father of its “chosen people,” to be a deceiver. It describes Moses, the lawgiver, as an insecure, reluctant leader, who, in his first attempt to come to the aid of his own people, killed a man, and then ran for his life to the desert. It portrays David not only as Israel’s most loved king, general, and spiritual leader, but as one who took another man’s wife and then, to cover his own sin, conspired to have her husband killed. At one point, the Scriptures accuse the people of God, the nation of Israel, as being so bad that they made Sodom and Gomorrah look good by comparison (Ezekiel 16:46-52). The Bible represents human nature as hostile to God. It predicts a future full of trouble. It teaches that the road to heaven is narrow and the way to hell is wide. Scripture was clearly not written for those who want simple answers or an easy, optimistic view of religion and human nature.

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to do the following:

• Explain that the Bible can never be accused of cleaning up or white-washing human nature.
• Explain why the Bible’s honesty gives us reason to trust its credibility.
• Explain our tendency to do wrong, even though we might in our hearts really want to do right.

As you proceed through this lesson have the following question in mind.
Have you ever heard someone say that the Bible has changed human nature in some way, positively or negatively? How? What reasons did they give? Did you believe them?