We hold these truths to be self-evident<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
Reasonable people agree with the Declaration of Independence that some truths are self-evident. Among them is the fact that "all men are created equal." This truth traces back to an ancient text which says, "God created man in his own image...male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). Imagine rewriting the Declaration to say, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are equally the products of blind, purposeless natural causes and endowed by such forces with certain unalienable rights…" The self-evident dimension quickly disappears.
           
The Continental Congress recognized the connection between the dignity and meaning of human existence and a personal creator ("endowed by their Creator"). But obviously, dignity does not offer the whole account of human nature. Another self-evident truth is that all people without distinction have fallen from the dignity of the Creator's image. Although we retain a degree of dignity as those made in God's image, we equally demonstrate our depravity. The occasion of the Declaration itself presupposes human depravity. It was crafted in response to evil and promoted to restrain future tyranny.
 
It is impossible to escape the fact of human depravity.  The daily televised stream of human carnage is sufficient evidence. But depravity is not only witnessed in tyrannical governments and suicide bombers. It runs like a fault-line with deceptive twists and turns through every human heart, and it cries for rescue. Some people take lightly (even ridicule) the language of rescue and salvation found in the bible. But the language clearly fits the condition.
 
The biblical categories of sin and salvation are completely appropriate. We are all self-evident sinners. We fall short of the standard and transgress the boundaries. We habitually think and do what is evil. We need the restraints of declarations, constitutions, laws and those who enforce them. We need them from childhood throughout our adult lives.
 
But we need far more than these containments. We need something that transcends the temporal and reaches to the eternal. We need something from the one who made us in his image. We need God's mercy and forgiveness. The scripture categorically states that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
    
            But how can we receive mercy from God? Some people suggest that we need religion. I disagree. Religion is, by and large, a man-made system of seeking God's approval. Like pagan mythology, religion  places humans before an angry deity and requires them to offer something to pacify the wrath of the god. In religion, man hopes to do sufficient good things to offset the bad deeds and avert the just wrath of God. This is the complete opposite of what the bible teaches about God's forgiveness and salvation.
           
 Don't misunderstand. The scripture speaks clearly about God's wrath and sinners deserving his punishment. But it equally insists that we are unable to change things. We are too weak in our sinfulness to change our standing with the Creator. This is where God's love accomplishes what we are unable to do. "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins (NLT, I John 4:9-11).  
                               
Unlike pagan mythology and man-made religion, the bible offers, as one has written, "The appeasement of the wrath of God by the love of God through the gift of God." We do not deserve God's love nor can we contribute to our salvation. Our only response is to receive this gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. The apostles repeatedly emphasized that, "…we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world (NLT, I John <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />4:14).
 
It's not surprising that the apostle John wrote concerning Jesus, "…all who believed him and accepted him, he (God) gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). But, it is sobering to read that, "…whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36).
            
            Receive or reject. Sound too simple? If so, for whom is it simple? It was not easy for God the Father and Jesus the Savior. God did for us what we could not do. This is not religion. This is love. And, the self-evident truth is that self-evident sinners need God's love and forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ.
 
Consider the words of Scripture: "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men…" (I Timothy 2:3-6). Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
 
by Steven W. CornellSenior PastorMillersville Bible Church58 West Frederick St.Millersville, PA  17551717.872.4260