The Lucifer Effect

I stumbled upon this on Guy Kawasaki's blog. . .

The Lucifer Effect

Incredible and captivating experiment about the sin in us all and what each us is capable of. Despite the evidence the author and conductor of the experiment comes to this faulty conclusion when asked this question. . . .

Question: Are people inherently and consistently good or bad?

Answer: I begin my book with John Milton’s classic statement about the power of the human mind, that it is its own place, and can “make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” I follow with a psychological celebration of the mind’s infinite capacity to make any of us villains or heroes by enabling us to be caring or indifferent, selfless of selfish, creative or destructive.

People are not born evil, but rather with survival talents, and remarkable mental templates to be anything imaginable — just as infants readily learn to speak and understand any of a thousand languages in an instant in their development. We get a push from nature in various directions, such as being more inhibited or bold, but who we become is ultimately a complex process of cultural, historical, religious, economic and political experiences in familial and other institutional settings.

Situational settings only bring out what already lurks inside and what lies beneath. The Bible is clear. "There is none righteous, no not one."

What are your thoughts?

Have you seen what you're capable of?

The degree to which you see your sin and sinfulness, to that degree will you love and get the grace of God in the Gospel.