Its all bad

"True nobility is being superior to your former self". Ernest Hemingway.

"God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas Day,
To save a soul from Satan's power, when we were gone astray,
Oh tidings of Comfort and Joy, Comfort and Joy,
Oh tidings of comfort and joy!"

This week I received a message from the World Transformation Movement. Started by Biologist Jeremy Griffiths several decades ago, it sees the real trouble we have as human beings is the inner conflict we carry between instinct and intellect, caused around 200 million years ago when we developed larger brains.

The solution is therefore pretty straightforward - we simply have to accept what kind of creatures we are, keep our darker instincts in check by applying our intellect well and live decent, happy lives until we... die.

That's all folks.

It all sounds fine, if you think the only thing going on here is some accidental biology caused by some accidental chemistry caused by a cosmological hiccup.
Humanity is just the result of its natural circumstances, so let's get over it and move on, right?

It all sounds pretty reasonable if you don't look too closely at the fine print, because once you do, you find that it's not instinct that's the problem any more - it's intellect using that annoying thing often called reason that makes the alarm bells start ringing real loud.

I saw a great example of this yesterday. In a debate with A C Grayling, historian Tom Holland showed how slavery was finally deemed evil not by the likes of Plato or Aristotle, but by Christianity, which looked at the whole matter through both faith and reason and thereby was convinced of its atrocious nature.

That's just the tip of the ice berg. Earlier this week, I watched another fascinating discussion with the brilliant Dr David Berlinski, who has just written a book on the vast subject of human nature (my light reading for Christmas!). He shows that seeking to give a merely biological (evolutionary) answer to the enigma of who and what we are is way too simplistic, and touches on how the Judaeo/Christian perspective on our natures being fallen has a great deal to say.

That's the nub of it.
If we cannot explain away our troubles, what do we do with them? We can seek to bury them, evade them, pretend they're not that relevant, but they don't vanish if we do.

Christmas, we're often reminded, is about light piercing the darkness, but it's done in the most shocking way - God amongst us, as one of us, nursing at a mother's breast, growing into a man who would allow Himself to be brutally executed... for our condition.

If you unwrap one thought this festive season that's spiritual in nature, consider that man - does it surprise or shock you, causing you to reflect on your need for that kind of help?

That's exactly why the gospel, after some 2,000 years, continues to be really good news. The answer to our wickedness, our broken condition, our deaths, lies beyond - outside - of us, and like the best gift ever given, is waiting for us to receive its splendour.

That's the transformation of the season!