What Does the Atomic Bomb Have to Do with Human Nature, Theology and Your Marriage? ... (or Glory, Shame, and Hope)

Genesis one declares that the first humans were created in the image and likeness of God.  That is an unbelievably complex and profound statement.  In Genesis three we are told about the entry of sin into human experience.  In stark and frightening terms the inspired writer informs us that in some sense Adam and Eve died the moment they broke covenant with God by eating from the forbidden tree.  

I believe when these two events (creation and fall) are viewed through the lens of the rest of Holy Scripture we see that now we are fractured image bearers.  We still bear the image and likeness of Almighty God, yet that image has been marred, twisted, contorted into sometimes nightmarish shapes.  Adolph Hitler shows the image of God in inspiring and powerfully leading a nation in a new direction.  But the direction is hellish and demonic!  In the same time period teams of scientist in the United States working on the Manhattan Project brought into fruition nuclear technology.  This technology begins to get into the very building blocks of creation!  The first use of that technology is a bomb.  A bomb that may well have saved the precious lives of many American servicemen yet took the equally precious lives of 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, Japan.  Such tremendous knowledge and learning that yielded a technology with awesomely wonderful and fearful potential.  Created by fractured image bearers.

In each of our lives we are fractured image bearers with wonderful and fearful potential.  We are capable of kindness, unselfishness, deceit, cruelty, generosity, and insensitivity.  And sometimes all of the above in the same day!  

At our best we try to minimize or even eradicate the evil inside of us.  Often we try to hide it from others, and even ourselves.  We use various defense mechanisms to do this.  Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV), “The heart is deceitful above all things,   and desperately sick;   who can understand it?”  

Let me suggest some practical applications of these truths:

#1 We should not be surprised that we (and everyone around us) are a confusing mish mash of excellence and failure.  Sometimes we will shine, but at other times we will fall flat on our faces.

#2 We should not be surprised that marriage takes a lot of work.  Every marriage involves bringing two broken image bearers together with all their mix of glory and fallenness.  AND these broken image bearers were raised by other broken image bearers and live in a world of fallen image bearers.  So why does anyone think “If I just find the right person, marriage will be easy”?  My friend, you and I are so messed up even if we find “the right person” THEY will have to work to make being married to us work!

#3 We are utterly and completely dependent on the grace of God in Christ Jesus for lasting joy and satisfaction in this life (as well as eternal life in the life to come).

#4 Sometimes we need the help of other fractured image bearers, who are trying to humbly lean on God’s grace, to help us deal with the pain, frustration, and confusion of this life.  An objective voice that is led by the Word and the Spirit can be of great help along the way.

Are We Good, Bad or Ugly?

Are people born good or born bad? Or should we choose, “All of the above”? We are all born sinners (see Psalm 51 and Ephesians 2). Yet we also bear the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1). How do we hold these truths in tension with each other?

My understanding of Scripture, the news, and what I hear in my office every day leads me to believe we are all a complex mixture of good and evil. While it is warped and twisted by sin, the image of God is in every single human being. We have intelligence, talent, some measure of compassion and love. Even unbelieving people can do wonderfully kind and generous things. But as the old theologians correctly say, we are totally depraved. This does not mean we are as bad as we possibly can be. It means that every part of our being is touched in some measure by the taint of sin. It further means we can do absolutely nothing that contributes to our salvation outside of the working of God’s grace. Some have chosen to avoid the term "Total Depravity" and have replaced it with options such as "Total Inability", meaning we have no ability to save ourselves or contribute to our salvation.

I am not surprised when a person who does great good is found to have also done great evil. When a successful pastor comes to counseling because he is struggling with addiction to vile pornography I am saddened but not shocked. We are all a tragic mixture of God’s image and abject human weakness.

Salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification cause a work of healing and transformation to begin. Until death or the rapture, however, we are a work in progress. While our salvation is secure, we need to daily crucify the flesh or we may fall to a level of sin that may shock us. It was one said to be a man after God’s own heart (King David) who committed adultery and murder by proxy.

These truths should lead us toward grace towards others and humility regarding ourselves. Each one of us needs to strive to stay close to Christ and to be accountable to a mature Christian friend.