He is risen: A comparative of two disparate world views

 

Due to the Postmodern secularising of society, we are being confronted by two fundamentally opposing world views. The old Christian world view where man is understood to be essentially flawed such that laws are required to restrain his darker angels versus the so-called Progressive one which asserts that man is essentially good and therefore any problem which confronts humanity must be external to man. This is why the latter view involves governments today in endless attempts at social engineering to force our institutions to address what must not be externalized. While the former understands the only solution to man's fallen nature is Christ. Progressivism is doomed to failure for this very reason since it insists that mankind is essentially good, causing it to externalize all our moral failures onto social structures. Postmodernism rejects the very concept of original sin, which is also why it embraces perversion by calling evil good and good evil while the former Christian view calls us to conversion to Christ to address man’s fallen nature. It is essential this Easter that we remember this since He came to address sin once and for all. Liberty from our fallen nature can only be found in Christ.

Isaiah 5:20 King James Version: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

In sharing these thoughts, I seek to offer a thoughtful and theologically grounded reflection for you to ponder this Easter. There is a sharp, classic contrast between two anthropologies: one rooted in the Christian doctrine of the Fall with human nature as wounded, inclined toward sin, and in need of redemption, and the other in a post-Enlightenment, secular optimism that treats human beings as basically malleable and good. Problems are attributed primarily to faulty systems, institutions, or "structures of oppression." This observation is not new. Augustine articulated something similar in City of God against the Pelagians of his day, who downplayed original sin and emphasized human capacity for self-perfection. Protestant Reformers such as Luther and Calvin doubled down on the idea of total depravity, not as absolute evil, but as a radical corruption affecting every part of us, so that even our best efforts are tainted.

The Progressive impulse I’ve described echoes Rousseau's idea of the "noble savage" corrupted by society, and Marx's view that changing the material conditions, society’s socioeconomic basis, will eventually transform human nature itself. Yet when that doesn't work, the left’s response is invariably more engineering: re-education, speech codes, equity mandates, deconstruction of "problematic" traditions, etc.

This stands in irreconcilable contrast to the unflinching Biblical diagnosis: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus didn't come primarily to fix bad policies or unjust systems, though He cared about justice; He came to save sinners (Mark 2:17, 1 Timothy 1:15). The solution isn't better management of externals but regeneration from within—"You must be born again" (John 3:7). Easter is therefore the perfect time to remember this: the cross exposes the depth of our problem since our fallen nature required the death of God’s sinless Son while Christ’s resurrection demonstrates the power and finality of God's solution.

Isaiah 5:20 is a piercing warning against the moral inversion of Postmodernism, and it's striking how frequently it gets quoted in cultural commentary today because the pattern of Postmodern failures is so recognizable. The redefining of marriage, gender, the sanctity of life, or basic virtues as "oppressive," while framing license, envy, or ideological conformity as liberation and compassion.

Christianity has always insisted on calling things by their right names, even when it's unpopular. At the same time, a fair-minded observer might note that many Christians aren't immune to externalizing blame by scapegoating "the world," "the liberals," "the elites," or even other Christians. The doctrine of original sin ought to produce humility, first of all in ourselves, not merely a critique of others. Though some secular progressives do acknowledge human nature’s flaws they relocate the fix onto therapy, education, or policy rather than by seeking for Divine Grace.

Why my core point holds: without a realistic view of sin, efforts at utopia tend to breed dystopia, because fallen people wielding unchecked power to "fix" other fallen people rarely ends well. We can see the track record of 20th-century ideological experiments which resulted in multiple millions of deaths and socioeconomic failure as Socialists attempted to prove the unprovable. As Easter approaches, Christianity offers us radical good news: our fallen nature isn't the final word. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). Liberty isn't found in mastering social structures or self-actualization, but in being mastered by the One who conquered sin and death. He is risen. May that reality ground us amid the confusions of this age!