A selection of verses showing that naturally our thoughts and actions tend to be in bad ways.
The prophet Jeremiah spells out our problem:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and it is exceedingly corrupt.
Who can know it?
The Lord Jesus echoes the same sentiments:
20 He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
15 He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God.
The apostle Pauls tells us that naturally we go in bad directions:
7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. 8 Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.
The apostle James says that our tongues can be used in very bad ways:
6 And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity amongst our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
He also says that these bad inclinations have far reaching consequences:
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. 15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
These chapters have links to this theme:
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