Theories of human nature

Theories of human nature

The Biblical theory of human natures posits man to have been created in the image and likeness of God. It was the plan of God to make man to man that is finite and that is unique from other beings. The individuals made by God have a mind, soul, and body that are unique and cannot be replicated in any other. This means man an individual has the ability to make decisions that deemed to be ethical and moral.

The premise that man is has a mind, will and ability to decide also means that human beings are expected to comport themselves in accordance with the moral teachings of God. The teachings guide men and women in how they are to interact with each other and the environment.

The origin of man and his nature as contained in the Bible is found in the first book, Genesis where there is vivid explanation of encounter between God and man. In this book, the biblical theory states how man was created from breath and how this breath “vibrates” in man throughout his existence. For a person to be complete, there must be the body, the soul, and the spirit.

The biblical theory differs from other theories of nature in this postulation where man and the soul must coexist. The body is the fleshy part that is visible and in which the spirit and soul reside. The bible depicts the weak part of man which often opposes the pure intentions of the spirit.  The spirit is the life agent in man and through which man communicates with God. On the other hand, the soul is the carrier of man’s thoughts and intentions.

The theory teaches that the spirit and the body are constantly at war, but man has the obligation to subdue the body to be in sync with the aspirations of the spirit. Using the soul, man can cultivate positive actions through thoughts that are inspired by the Creator.

Despite man being free to make decisions, man is responsible to God in all that he does. Everything that man does must be consistent with his Designer and the whole purpose of man is articulated in the Bible. By giving man freedom of the will does not mean that he is free to do as he pleases. According to the biblical theory, man chooses his destiny through actions. Man dies when the soul, spirit, and body disentangle and the spirit returns to God.

Further, the Bible teaches on human nature should be. This is through Jesus Christ that carried the Spirit of God and whose actions were inspired by God. His resurrection into life also signifies that although men die, they are destined to come to life someday.

This is contained in the new testament of the Bible. Philosophers have used this premise to state that man’s soul is eternal and the Bible states so. The only difference is that final destiny of one whose deeds were acceptable while alive would be different from those that did not conform to the teachings of the Creator.

Evolutionary teaching on human nature

The major underpinning argument of this theory is that man is a species like all others and that there has been a progressive change that resulted to man being the way is now. It differs from the Christian perspective that man was created and made to reproduce.

His instantaneous existence is challenged by evolutionary theorists led by luminaries such as Charles Darwin. The human nature theory, according to these theorist resulted from insights from the deep study in biology.

The study into this subject has led to different vies such as philosophical anthropology and essentialist views. The former tries to explain the position of man in the spiritual realm, and how man interacts or related with other species. The latter perception is aimed at explaining the genetic disposition of man. It implies that the origin of man and his destiny can be explained by closer examination of his unique genetic traits.

Time is a major component in the explanation of the theory of evolution and human nature. It is through time that man one of the species has the unique genetic make-up mutated and natural selection for survival by choosing members of opposite sex to reproduce a better and stronger offspring. Constant differences through the centuries have resulted in what constitutes the differences that are seen today in terms of intelligence, emotional capacities,

The theory also explains about a man and his behavior. Man’s behaviour is dependent on his cognitive abilities and ability to charge emotionally. This is however one of the shortcomings if the theory as it fails to explain how these emotions result and what how they can be controlled.

This theory is devoid of thinking that there is a superior being that control what man should do and think. All that a man does is to act in a way that will sustain his survival in the world that is perfected to select those that are best suited.

Those that fail are said to be survive are eliminated by natural selection, in what Charles Darwin called, “the survival for the fittest”. In fact, Darwin-based the whole theory of evolution completely on survival of the fittest and said the weak were eliminated because they were not fit to survive in comparison to the stronger ones.

The avoidance of God as the creator in this theory means that the composition of man as  three-in-one is not supported. Man is explained to be independent of and predestined by fate. It is nature that controls him and his environment. Nature is powerful and cannot be manipulated. Nature can influence differences even with members of the same family.

Given the two divergent concepts about the nature if man, the two theories cannot be married. The two are parallel and the theories are often on conflict with each other. The two are incompatible and impossible to reconcile. One of the reasons that the progressive theorists use to dismiss Christian postulations is that it was not possible for any one person to make the vast world and its creatures in six days.

Only nature could have resulted in the current state of the world as we see it. Although the shift towards modern scientific theories that first surfaced in the 1800s is slows gaining ground from, most people remain with the Christians belief of existence if God, who is the source of life and an answer to man’s destiny.

Modern research into science has left many questions begging for answers that neither side seems to be winning in the discussion. With new discoveries in the cosmic world, theories are coming up with new explanations on human origin and nature. Archaeologists have presented much evidence of what is presented in the Bible, especially from the New Testament concerning human nature. There are new schools of thought that have come up with concepts such as God intervened in the process of evolution that took billions of years from non-living matter to the human lives that are existent today. It is not possible for these two to marge given that opposing the possibility of God creating God is undermining his overall and unquestionable control over man.

It, therefore, waters down the belief in an all-powerful Being. Creation is the major proof that there is God and is the result of lives and nature that is evident today, according to the biblical theory. Evolutionists are struggling to give evidence that the world existed the said billions of years ago. It is not possible to merge the two.

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