Depravity and Redemption of Human Heart

In the Gospel of Mark 7: 14-23 Jesus provides a fundamental insight into human nature. He states the source/cause of sin.  Jesus asserts that nothing from outside can defile man, nothing from outside can cause sin.  Nothing external, material, circumstantial can cause sin. Circumstances, situations, peoples or things cannot be the source of human moral failure.

This assertion of Jesus is in sharp contrast to the popular assumption in our contemporary time that tends to search for the cause of sin outside of humanity. We all have the tendency to blame our circumstances, situations, conditions, and people for our moral failure. We tend to blame everybody and everything except ourselves. Why do I commit sins? Why do I do terrible things? – “It is because of my environment” “My place of work”  “The people I live with” “The nature of my job”. Circumstances, peoples, and things may lure, tempt and dispose us to commit sin. External realities may provide occasions for sins, reduce our defenses, cloud our judgment, even blind us, but they cannot cause us to sin. We decide in the depth of our hearts whether we want to commit sin or not.

Psychology may have influenced many people to blame their  childhood experiences for their moral ineptitude. Recently, a LRA commander  Dominic Ongwen  was indicted in ICC in Hague. In his defense, he argued that he was a victim not a villain. According to him, he was adopted as a teenager and forced to commit horrendous atrocities. But the ICC chief prosecutor  Fatou Bensouda  argued that Dominic was charged not for the crimes he committed as a teenager but for the crimes he deliberately committed as an adult. Implicit in the argument of the ICC chief prosecutor is the recognition of the fact that despite the horrible experiences Dominic Ongwen endured as a teenager, he could still choose a different path as a responsible adult. Therefore, he is culpable of the heinous crimes he committed. We have several examples of former child soldiers who have become scholars, activists, artists, musicians etc.

The cause of sin can be found in the depravity of human heart. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man (Mark 7: 21-23). The bible describes human heart as sick, evil, depraved and deceitful. The human heart is baleful and baneful. The heart of man is full of evil and there is madness in their hearts (Eccl 9:3). The human heart is treacherous and tortuous. More tortuous is the heart of man who can understand it? (Jer 17:3). The Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil (Gen 6:5).

Genocide, wars, atrocities, injustice, corruptions, terrorisms have their root cause in the corrupt human heart. The most vicious crimes are first conceived in the human heart. Evil begins as an idea, a thought and moves into the realm of decision or consent. The moment human heart consents to evil, evil is born. It is blameworthy even if it is not executed. Nobody is born a dictator or terrorist.  Hitler, Lenin, Stalin,  Pol Pot  all decided from the depth of their hearts to commit heinous atrocities. David carefully plotted the death of Uriah in his heart (2 Sam 11: 14-27). Jezebel with an acerbic malice planned the death of Naboth (1 Kgs 21: 1-16). And Herodias burning with hatred, gleefully demanded the head of John the Baptist (Matt 14: 6-12). We are not different from these men and women who planned evil in their hearts. It rings eerily true that our hearts generate evil thoughts; we plan evil and sometimes execute evil. We all have the predisposition, tendency to commit sin.

If the human heart is the source of sins and evil in the world, then we are invited to embark on an inward journey –to probe, scrutinize, and search our hearts. From the warp and woof of our experience, this exercise is neither easy nor desirable. Many people are afraid to probe their hearts because they are afraid they may not like what they see. The first task of a Christian is to identify his sins, acknowledge his sinfulness and take responsibility for his immoral decisions and actions. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us (Jn 1:10). I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me (Ps 51:3). Without an acknowledgement of our culpability and true repentance, our religious practices – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving will be ineffectual and futile. They will become a mere show, a travesty, a charade, a window-dressing. Rend your hearts and not your garments (Joel 2:3).  Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer (Deut 10:16).

                             
REDEMPTION OF HUMAN HEART

Human heart is not beyond redemption. Our lord Jesus brought the message of repentance which is another name for change of heart. In what ways can the human heart be redeemed?

The first step toward the redemption of human heart is change of heart. Conversion is a conscious and deliberate effort to renounce evil and embrace good. Conversion is replacement of the old, vicious heart with new, pure heart. God promises to give us a new heart at our conversion. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ez 36: 26). We all need heart ‘transplant’. Our cold, stony, evil heart must be replaced by pure, meek, docile heart. “The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart. Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him… It is in discovering the greatness of God’s love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced” (CCC 1432).

We will certainly need a good prayer life to obtain a new heart. Without a consistent prayer life, change of heart is simply unattainable. Change of heart is primarily the work of God, the activity of gratuitous grace in our lives. But if we do not pray how do we access the necessary graces to effect conversion? The psalmist prays: A pure heart create for me O Lord. Put a steadfast spirit within me (Ps 51: 12).

Since evil or sin begins with a thought, a suggestion in the heart, we need to carefully choose our thoughts and master our minds. This may sound very strange and unthinkable to many people. We often believe that we are at the mercy of barrage of thoughts that invades our minds at every moment. But it is within our power to control our thoughts, to choose our thoughts, to dwell on positive inspiring thoughts and reject evil or impure thoughts; we can elect to dwell on innovative, creative, positive thoughts. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever inspires, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Phil 4: 8). If it is impossible to choose our thoughts, the Lord will not command it. The Just God will not command the impossible. We can always guard our hearts against evil and wicked thoughts. It requires constant discipline and patience. It is not a day’s job. We are what we think. Our external realities are only reflection of our inner disposition. James Allen says “as a man thinketh so he is”.

Redemption of human heart requires some moments of silence, of introspection, of examination of conscience. We all need some moments alone when we can look inward and encounter ourselves in the depth of our hearts.  Soul searching, introspection requires some silence and calm. The cacophony of contemporary world may make silence almost undesirable or impossible. But a committed Christian will always take some time to be alone with himself; “to be alone with the Alone in the depth of his heart”.

Lastly, the Word of God is indispensable in the formation and redemption of human heart.  The Word of God forms, informs and enlightens the human heart. In the depths of human heart, the Lord sows the seed of his Word. We need to make our hearts a fertile soil for the Word of God. Needless to say that we need to find time for daily reading and meditation on the Word of God. “The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. “Ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ”” (CCC 133).