Man Left to Himself

"One Year Bible" Old Testament History Passage
Judges 17:1-18:31

"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."  Judges 17:6 (NKJV)

What happens when men are left to their own devices?  Will they make things better or will things fall apart?  The Bible gives a clear teaching about the nature of man, and we should be mindful to heed it.  Evotionary theory teaches that over time everything gets better.  The forces of chance and necessity will work over millions of years to produce IMPROVEMENT in all areas of existence.  The Bible teaches the opposite -- that things fall apart.  There is a natural process of EROSION that over time, lacking the redeeming grace of God, will pull everything down. 

Libertarian ideology teaches that every man should be left to determine for himself what is good and what is bad.  The Bible teaches that the heart of every man is deceitful and desparately wicked (Jeremiah 17:5).  WE NEED A RULER.  We need the Kingdom of God.  All earthly rule should reflect the rule of heaven.  In those ways that it does not, it becomes destructive.  (If there is any greatness to America, it is because of this very truth.  We have sought to reflect the rule of God.)

The book of Judges is a chronicle of what happens when men rule themselves.  Many of the stories we find in Judges are morally repulsive.  The end result of humanism is disaster.  Therefore, we both individually and as a nation must "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."