Something must have gone wrong. Think about it. If God made man in His own image -- and we know that He did because the Bible plainly tells us -- what happened to make man the kind of creature he now is?

Take a look at man for a moment. You will remember that in my last letter we considered the wonderful mind and body of a baby. It is no less marvellous when the infant has become a man. Our bodies are surpassingly amazing, finer than most up-to-date scientific achievement. The heart is a built-in pump which keeps its rhythm, day and night, week by week, year by year, throughout a lifetime. Our eyes are cine-cameras of top quality with twin lenses for stereo-pictures, automatic adjustment for brilliant light or pictures by moonglow and everything in colour! And so with all the parts of the body, each fitted for a particular task and carrying it out with fascinating ease.

The mind too is more complicated than all the world's computers put together. Messages from thousands of nerves are received every second and responses sent to every part of the body. From outside our bodies the brain takes up the sounds we hear, the sights we see, the things we feel, the smells we breathe and the food we taste -- and quick as lightning the electronics of the brain use the information for our good. Besides all this the mind can receive and file its information ready for use later on.

All these breathtaking marvels are God's planning. But ... yes, but what has gone wrong? You see man is a very strong mixture; he can be kind, loving, sincere, self-sacrificing and he can be mean, violent, unclean, unscrupulous. I am not talking about savages in remote islands -- I am talking about men and women in our big cities who can read, write and make intelligent conversation. These men and women, people you know, can be either good or bad. If we want to be really personal -- you and I can be either honest or dishonest, considerate or heartless, clean minded or evilly minded. Why? If we were made in the image of God how can we be both kinds of person? God is not like that. He is altogether and always merciful, faithful, holy, true, forgiving, righteous, and never at any time unmerciful, unfaithful, untrue, unforgiving, unrighteous. Why is man such a strange mixture?

When you come to think of it even our bodies are affected by some kind of trouble or pest or blight or whatever we like to call it. For example, we catch cold, we have measles, bronchitis, and smallpox, jaundice and a host of other diseases. And we grow old and our senses begin to fail. Then we die. Why does this sort of thing happen to us? The average man and woman does not want it to happen and they take great care to protect themselves. Millions of pills, powders, doses, injections, ointments, plasters, drugs and medicines are used every year to keep people well or to bring them back to health. And yet, sooner or later, to all of us without exception, death comes to stay. Why does this happen? It does not happen to God; He cannot die.

All this needs an explanation. Man is a mixture of good and bad, and there must be a reason. Would you like to know what that reason is? It is not a pleasant thing to know; but it can be helpful in the long run. In fact, if we do not know the truth about ourselves we have no hope of putting things right.

The first step is to remember that God who knows everything, certainly knows what is wrong with us. The second step is to listen to what God has to say. And, the third step is to have the good sense to take heed.

Let us begin our hunt for truth. Are you ready?

We'll go together. We shall feel safer that way. And, before I forget, let me say we are all in the some boat. Everyone has the same strange mixture inside. Listen to one of the greatest men who has ever walked on earth:

"What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." Romans 7:15.

The brother of the Lord Jesus Christ wrote very powerfully about the use of the tongue. In one section of his writing he says this:

"But the tongue . . . therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made in the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." James 3:8-10.

We know just how these two writers felt. We feel exactly the same. Every one of us has experienced the same double nature of which we are made. You will perhaps remember the famous story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the one a fiend and madman, the other a respectable citizen. In the end of the story we discover that they are the same man. Sometimes we behave so differently from our usual selves -- either for better or worse -- that we wonder where all the differences spring from.

The Bible describes people just like this. Think of David who wrote the exquisitely beautiful Psalms and was brave enough to slay Goliath: yet even he committed crimes of a terribly serious kind. Look at Peter standing bravely by the side of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, ready to fight to the death in his Master's defence; and then see him but a few hours later swearing that he had never been with or even seen Jesus of Nazareth. These are well-known examples of different kinds of behaviour in the same person.

Can you explain this strange fact? If not, would you like to know the reason? You would? Then let us proceed with our investigation. The Bible tells us in the simplest possible terms how the trouble started and why it is continuing today.

Think, then, of the first man Adam and his wife Eve. God blessed them and gave them ideal surroundings in which to live -- a paradise (a park or garden) on earth. They were reflections of God -- they reflected His wisdom as parts of His creation, and in their minds so long as they worshipped and obeyed him. There came a day when their faithfulness was put to the test. It was a severe test but not one which they could not understand. The serpent in the garden informed Eve that there was no danger in disobeying God. God had said that the tree in the midst of the garden was prohibited ground; to eat it would bring death. The serpent said death would not come but instead a great freedom, Adam and Eve would be gods in their own right.

Eve should have rejected the temptation outright. She had the answer ready to hand. God had given her everything and she knew His commands and would keep them. But no, Eve hesitated and then fell. She took the fruit of the forbidden tree and persuaded Adam to do the same. They discovered all too late that the serpent was wrong. All their happiness and innocence had melted like snow in a furnace. They were rebels against God because they had preferred their own way to His way. Would God keep His word? Would death come upon them?

Let us remember one thing. God always keeps His word. God's word is His bond and we can always rely on its truth. What is more there is no one who can prevent the fulfilment of God's will when God sets it in motion. You might as well try to hold back the sea or prevent the sun from rising.

The rebels learned the seriousness of their choice. They were sinners before God. They had said God did not mean what He had said. Thanklessness and selfishness had brought disobedience to God. Two results overtook them (sin always has consequences and the first sin had great ones.) They learned by experience what had happened and they knew (inside themselves) that they were sinners. Sin had become a part of themselves; they were stained creatures. The image and likeness of God was marred and they would never be the same again. For this reason they would henceforth be a strange mixture of the good they might have been and the evil they had done. This had become part of their bodies and later on when they had children they too would have the same nature.

But something even more serious was yet to come. They began to die. It was not a quick process but it came at last. Every child of Adam and Eve inherits the same dying (mortal) nature. Every babe born into the world sets out on the journey, whether long or short, from the cradle to the coffin. And no one on earth can stop it.

This then is the explanation of the riddle with which we started. This is a fundamental truth and you should get to know the facts for yourself. Make a resolution right away that you will read the following -- Genesis chapters 1, 2 and 3.

Don't forget to do it. Offer a little prayer before you read and God will bless you in your reading. By the way, I know the story we have followed is rather gloomy and disappointing: but do not despair because there is something as beautiful, nay more so, as this is ugly: something more hopeful than this is hopeless. But that's for another time. God bless you.

Questions on Letter 4 (answers)

1. List the three steps that are required in learning the truth concerning ourselves?

2. What did the Apostle Paul and James say about the two sides of man's nature?

3. What was the test given to Adam and Eve?

4. How did sin enter the world?

5. How did Adam and Eve's transgression affect their children?

CONTENTS | LETTER 5