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The Fall of Adam and the Ruin of Humanity | John Calvin · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking. We are thrilled you could join
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us for today's deep dive into the historical and theological
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source material that shapes our understanding of human nature.
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Today we are opening up excerpts from John Calvin regarding the
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fall of man and original sin. As Protestant Christians who
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adhere to Reformed theology and the Westminster Confession,
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grasping the severe contrast between our original condition
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and our current fallen state is, well, it is absolutely vital.
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You cannot truly comprehend the good news of the Gospel without
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first coming to terms with the bad news of our ruin.
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We are going to dissect the core arguments concerning true self
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knowledge, the authentic nature of Adam's revolt, the
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transmission of sin across generations, and the total
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corruption of human faculties. But before we jump in, I want to
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ask you, the listener, a direct question.
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Think about how you evaluate your own nature on a daily
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basis. When you look inward to Do you
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lean on the flattery of modern philosophy, which constantly
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tells you how wonderful and capable you are?
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Or do you weigh your heart and your motives against the
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unyielding standard of divine justice?
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Keep that standard in mind as we get into this material today.
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That is a critical standard for anyone listening to Establish
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right from the start, because how we answer it dictates our
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entire approach to God. Looking at the analysis, the
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discussion begins with a look at an ancient proverb.
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The phrase is know thyself. This was a famous piece of Greek
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wisdom inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi.
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But Calvin points out a fatal flaw in how it is usually
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applied by human beings. He outlines a severe critique of
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secular philosophers who use his precept preposterously.
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They use it to inflate human pride and create vain
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confidence. When the philosophers of his day
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and frankly the secular thinkers of our own time tell a person to
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know thyself, their motive is self esteem.
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They want humans to look inward and see dignity, excellence and
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inherent goodness. They want us to find a reason to
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boast. I find that critique so relevant
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to the modern world. I mean, you go into any
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bookstore today and entire sections are dedicated to
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finding your inner spark, actualizing your potential, and
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manifesting your own destiny. The secular method of self
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knowledge is all about puffing up your chest.
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But the sauce material argues that looking inward and finding
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only reasons to be proud is not self knowledge at all.
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It is a complete illusion. It's a form of blindness where
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we miserably deceive ourselves about matters of the highest
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consequence, walking through life with our eyes closed to
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reality. To counter this, Calvin provides
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A2 part definition that forms the true formula for self
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knowledge. Yes, and the first part of that
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formula requires us to look at our original creation.
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We have to recognize the sheer excellence that God gave
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humanity at the beginning. We were formed in the image of
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God and Dude, with reason and intelligence specifically so we
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could pursue virtue, cultivate a holy life, and contemplate
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eternal life. That original dignity is
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breathtaking. Adam was created with the mind
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capable of knowing his Creator and a will capable of obeying
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him perfectly. But then comes the second part
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of the formula. We have to view our miserable
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condition post fall. We cannot simply look at the
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original design. We have to look at the present
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reality. And when we do that, all
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confidence and boasting are overthrown.
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We are left blushing for shame, feeling truly humble because we
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realize how far we have fallen from that initial state of
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grace. Let me offer an analogy to make
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that contrast even clearer. Imagine you are standing in
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front of a ruined mansion. The roof has caved in, the
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windows are shattered and the walls are crumbling.
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If you only look at the ruins, you might just think it is an
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ugly pile of rocks. But what if someone hands you
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the original blueprints? You look at the blueprints and
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see a magnificent palace designed by a master architect
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intended for a royalty. Suddenly the ruins are no longer
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just an ugly pile of rocks, they are a tragedy.
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The blueprints are the first part of self knowledge, seeing
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the excellence God gave us. The crumbling walls are the
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second part, seeing our miserable condition.
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Now you need both to understand the reality of the situation.
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That ruined mansion concept hits the nail on the head to clarify
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the mechanics of those two parts.
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The contrast itself is the teacher.
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Looking at the original creation shows us what we were designed
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to be, what our duty is, and what we owe to our Creator.
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It shows us the heights of human potential when perfectly aligned
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with the will of God. But looking at our current state
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shows us our complete inability to fulfill that duty.
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It is impossible to think of our primeval dignity without being
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immediately struck by the sad spectacle of our corruption.
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It is the juxtaposition that creates genuine humility.
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If we only look at our fallen state without knowing what we
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were created to be, we might just feel like victims of
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circumstance, blaming our environment.
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If we only look at the original creation without acknowledging
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the fall, we become proud and arrogant, assuming we still
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possess all those noble qualities.
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Absolutely. Without the blueprints, you do
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not grasp the severity of the loss.
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Without seeing the ruins, you might trick yourself into
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thinking you still live in a palace.
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That brings us to a major warning in the text regarding
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the danger of flattery. People possess a natural
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inclination to be deceived by anything that strokes their ego.
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We are wired to reject criticism and absorb praise.
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The human mind displays an excessive credulity when
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flattered. There is nothing more acceptable
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to the human ego than flattery. When people are told their
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endowments are of a high order, they believe it without a second
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thought. Innate self love blinds us.
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We willingly persuade ourselves that we do not possess a single
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quality deserving of hatred. Consequently, people love
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teachers and philosophers who herald human excellence.
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The apostle Paul warned Timothy about this very thing, saying a
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time would come when people would heap up teachers to tickle
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their itching ears. They applaud loudly for anyone
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who tells them they are sufficient in themselves for a
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good and happy life. Relying on our own faculties in
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this way is a massive trap. It does nothing but fascinate by
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its sweetness, drowning the listener in perdition.
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When a person confidently persists in their own wisdom,
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attempting to plan and deliberate without sound
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intelligence or true virtue, they plunge into pernicious
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ignorance and rush headlong into destruction.
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It is a fatal error to trust in teachers who only want us to
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contemplate our good qualities while ignoring the disease
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festering underneath. Consider the media you consume
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on a regular basis. Think about the books you read,
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the audio you listen to, the advice you take from friends or
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cultural figures. Are those voices simply
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flattering you? Are they telling you that you
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are perfect just the way you are, that you have all the
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answers inside yourself and that you just need to unleash your
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inner potential? Or do they tell you the truth?
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Do they point out the stark, uncomfortable reality of divine
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justice and your inability to meet it on your own?
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True self knowledge requires the standard of divine justice, not
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the standard of human self esteem.
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Trying yourself by the standard of God leaves you with nothing
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to inspire confidence in the flesh, but it puts you on the
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only path to genuine salvation. It is a hard truth to swallow,
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but as we move into the actual historical event of the fall, we
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see precisely why this severe view of human nature is so
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necessary. Moving to the historical fall,
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we have to redefine our understanding of the first sin.
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We need to look beyond the simplistic Sunday School image
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of Adam and Eve eating a piece of fruit.
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Calvin explicitly dismisses this common cultural misconception.
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He called the idea of sensual intemperance childish.
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The notion that the sum and substance of human ruin came
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down to gluttony or a lack of self-control regarding an apple
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is entirely inadequate. Adam lived in a paradise with
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happy fertility, yielding an endless variety of delicacies.
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He was not starving. Right.
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It is ridiculous to think humanity was doomed simply
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because Adam had a midnight craving for a honey crisp apple
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when he lived in a literal paradise buffet.
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He was not overcome by an uncontrollable appetite for a
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physical object. The punishment got inflicted on
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the whole human race was terribly severe, which means the
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ACT itself must have been a heinous crime, not a trivial
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fall. We have to look much deeper than
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the physical act of eating to understand the true anatomy of
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the revolt. If we want to understand how we
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ended up in this bankrupt state, we have to throw out the flannel
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graph version of this event. To do that, we need to clarify
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the actual purpose of the trees in the garden.
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The prohibition to touch the tree of the knowledge of good
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and evil was a trial of obedience.
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It was a test designed to keep Adam contented with his lot, to
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prevent him from arrogantly aspiring beyond the boundaries
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God had set. On the flip side, the promise of
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the tree of life was there to exercise his faith.
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The environment was perfectly structured to test man's willing
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submission to his Creator. God give man everything,
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retaining only one small restriction to remind man that
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he was a creature, not the Creator.
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When we look at the anatomy of the revolt, it is a cascading
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failure of the human heart. The text lists the actual sins
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wrapped up in the fall, and it is a horrifying list.
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First, there is direct disobedience.
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Adam broke a clear spoken command.
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Then, referencing Augustine, the text points to pride as the
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beginning of all evil, noting that if man's ambition had not
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carried him higher than permitted, he would have
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remained in his first estate. Disobedience, pride, ambition,
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and ingratitude. Adam longed for more than was
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allotted to him, showing massive contempt for the incredible
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liberality and generosity God had already shown him.
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God had given him dominion over the entire earth, yet he was
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unsatisfied because he was not equal to God himself.
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While all those elements are present, the analysis singles
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out one specific aspect as the most severe part of the crime,
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and that is infidelity. At the very root of the revolt
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was a failure to believe God. Adam and Eve despised the truth
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of God and turned aside to lies. They faithlessly abandoned the
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command of their Maker when Satan presented his calumnies,
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suggesting that God was malicious, envious of
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withholding something good from them, the guilty pair is scented
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to that slander. They agreed with the assessment
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of the devil regarding the character of God.
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This connects directly to the Reformed understanding of sin.
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Sin is not just breaking in arbitrary rule, it is an assault
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on the majesty and glory of God. That concept is staggering when
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you really unpack it. When the Word of God is
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despised, all reverence for Him is gone.
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Adam's infidelity opened the door to ambition, and ambition
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gave birth to rebellion. By casting off the fear of God
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and giving free vent to his lust for independence, man did his
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absolute utmost to annihilate the whole glory of God.
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We are talking about a son of earth, a creature made from the
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dust, demanding equality with the eternal Creator.
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This was monstrous and piety. It is not just a mistake, it is
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a foul and inexorable crime where man petulantly shakes off
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his allegiance to his Maker. This apostasy opened the door to
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total rebellion. It was a Declaration of
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Independence from the source of life itself.
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The consequences of that declaration were immediate and
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catastrophic. This brings us to the concept of
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the contagion of original thin and how this single act of
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rebellion ruined everything. It was not a bad decision that
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Adam could apologize for and move on from.
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It fundamentally altered the nature of humanity and the
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fabric of creation itself. The alteration was absolute.
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Adam's estrangement from God was the literal death of his soul,
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since the spiritual life of Adam consisted in a remaining united
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and bound to his Maker, severing that time at instant spiritual
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death. The result was a devastating
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exchange. The heavenly ornaments he
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originally possessed, wisdom, virtue, justice, truth, and
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holiness were withdrawn. In their place, dire paths were
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substituted. Humanity was suddenly plagued by
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blindness, impotence, vanity, impurity, and unrighteousness.
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Adam perverted the whole order of nature in heaven and earth.
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The withdrawal of God's sustaining grace left his nature
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naked, destitute, and defiled by sin.
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This corruption was so complete that early Christian writers
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gave it the name Original Sin, signifying the deprivation of a
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nature that was formerly good and pure.
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The scope of this disaster is cosmic.
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It is not limited to human beings.
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The Apostle Paul's words from Romans chapter 8 point out that
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the whole creation groans and a subjective vanity.
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Creation bears part of the punishment because it was made
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for the use of man. Since man was the pinnacle of
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creation, the ruler placed over the earth, his fall brought a
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curse extending above and below over all regions of the world.
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The ground itself was cursed, bringing forth thorns and
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thistles. If the physical earth, the
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plants, and the animal suffer under this curse because of the
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fault of Adam, there is absolutely nothing unreasonable
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about the assertion that this curse extends to all of his
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offspring. We are born into a broken world
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with broken natures. Throughout church history,
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people have tried to deny this reality.
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People constantly try to soften the blow.
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That leads to a massive historical controversy that we
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need to spend some time on, which is the Pelagian heresy.
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Addressing Pelagius is crucial for understanding the Reformed
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position. Pelagius was a monk from the
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British Isles in the late 4th and early 5th centuries.
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He was known for his strict moral asceticism.
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He looked around at the moral laxity of professing Christians
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in Rome and was appalled. He believed people were using
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human weakness as an excuse for sin.
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So to combat this, he introduced what Calvin calls a profane
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fiction. Pelagius argued that Adam's sin
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only to his own hurt, meaning the fall, did no damage to his
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posterity. In the Pelagian view, human
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nature remained perfectly intact after the fall, and babies are
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born today in the exact same state of innocence as Adam in
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the garden before he ate the fruit.
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Pelagius believe that human beings possess complete free
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will, untainted by any inherited corruption, and are fully
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capable of choosing good or evil on their own power.
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Satan craftily tried to hide the disease of sin through this
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theology to render it incurable. If you do not believe you are
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sick, you will never seek a physician.
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Augustine of Hippo, who was the great defender of grace in the
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early Church, recognized the danger immediately.
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He debated Pelagius and his followers extensively.
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When orthodox theologians like Augustine clearly proved from
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Scripture that the sin of the first man passed to all his
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posterity, the Pelagians realized they had a problem.
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The observable reality of human sinfulness was undeniable.
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So they pivoted. They came up with a new argument
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which was the idea of imitation. They claim that sin passed down
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not by propagation, but by imitation.
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In their view, we only become sinners because we copy the bad
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example of Adam. We look around, see other people
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sinning, and mimic their behavior.
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It is the ultimate monkey see, monkey do theology in the
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Pelagian mind. If you could isolate a child
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from all bad influences, that child would grow up to be
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morally perfect. But Calvin dismantles his logic,
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preving that we are not corrupted by acquired
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wickedness, but that we bring an innate corruption from the very
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womb. The way he dismantles that
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imitation argument relies on a brilliant Christological proof
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from the apostle Paul. In Romans chapter 5 and 1st
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Corinthians chapter 15, Paul draws a direct contrast between
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Adam and Christ. He says that as by one man's
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disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
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one shall many be made righteous.
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If you follow the logic of the Pelagians, it leads to a
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terrifying conclusion. If the sin of Adam was
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propagated only by imitation, does that mean the righteousness
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of Christ is available to us only as an example for our
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imitation? Calvin rightly calls that
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blasphemy. If Christ only saves us by being
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a good example that we try to copy, nobody's going to be
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saved. We do not have the internal
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capacity to perfectly copy the obedience of Christ.
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This strikes at the very heart of the Reformed doctrine of
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imputation. We believe that the
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righteousness of Christ is giving to us, communicated to
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us, imputed to our account by grace.
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Just as Christ restores us by grace and the communication of
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his righteousness, Adam ruined us by communicating his
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corruption. The mechanism works the same way
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in both directions. If you deny that Adam's sin is
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imputed and imported to us naturally, you must also deny
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that Christ's righteousness is imputed and imparted to us
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supernaturally. You cannot sever the parallel
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Paul establishes in Romans 5 without destroying the gospel
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itself. To explain how this transmission
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actually happens, we need to look at the depository concept.
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We do not need to get bogged down in anxious philosophical
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discussions about exactly how the soul is transmitted from
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parent to child biologically. Instead, we need to understand
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the legal and covenantal position of Adam.
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Think of Adam as the CEO and sole shareholder of a massive
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trust fund built for all of humanity.
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He was the depository of the endowments which God was pleased
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to bestow on human nature. Those gifts were not given to a
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single man isolated from the rest of history.
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They were attributes belonging to the whole human race held in
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trust by her first parent. Therefore, when Adam bankrupts
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the account through his rebellion, the funds are not
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just freezing. The debt is passed on to every
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single subsidiary and employee down the line.
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When the depository is emptied, everyone who draws from that
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account is left bankrupt. From a corrupt route, corrupt
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branches proceed, transmitting their corruption to the
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saplings. The cause of the contagion was
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the ordination of God, that the gifts bestowed on the 1st man
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would be lost for his descendants if he rebelled.
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Adam was the federal head of the human race.
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He represented us. When a king declares war, the
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whole nation goes to war. When Adam rebelled, humanity
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rebelled in him. This brings us to the full
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extent of the ruin, which is a doctrine often referred to as
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total depravity. This term is frequently
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misunderstood in popular culture.
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It does not mean absolute depravity.
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Right. Absolute depravity would mean
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every person is as evil as they could possibly be, acting out
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every wicked impulse at all times.
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We know that is not true. People who do not know God still
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love their children, give to charity, and build hospitals.
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Total depravity refers to the extent of the corruption, not
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the degree. Calvin gives a very precise
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definition of original sin that we need to unpack.
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He defines it as a hereditary corruption and depravity of our
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nature, extending to all parts of the soul, making us obnoxious
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to the wrath of God, and producing works of the flesh.
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Let us look at those pieces carefully.
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First, it is hereditary, meaning it is passed down through
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generations. Second, it extends to all parts
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of the soul, meaning there is no pristine, unfallen corner of
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your mind or heart that escapes the damage.
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The mind, the will, the emotions, the physical body, all
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are tainted. Third, it makes us obnoxious to
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the wrath of God, which is a theological way of saying that
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by our very nature, before we even do anything, we are under
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condemnation because our nature is contrary to His Holiness.
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And finally, it produces works of the flesh.
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The actual tangible sins we commit, like theft, hatred and
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pride, are just the fruits of the underlying disease.
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That distinction between the root and the fruit is vital.
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A common objection is the idea that we are innocent people
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unfairly bearing the guilt of another person.
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People argue it is unjust for God to condemn them for
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something Adam did thousands of years ago.
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But we are not innocent and blameless people.
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Being unjustly punished, we bring our own condemnation with
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us from the womb. Even infants who have not yet
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produced the visible fruits of unrighteousness possess a nature
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that is a seedbed of sin. Because that inherent corruption
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is completely contrary to the righteousness, innocence, and
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purity of God. It is odious and abominable to
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Him. The argument rests on the
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principle that there can be no condemnation without guilt.
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Since death passes upon all, including infants, all must be
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guilty. We suffer not for the defect of
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another, but for our own inherited defect.
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We are polluted by the stain, and therefore punishment is
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justly due. Calvin uses such vivid imagery
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to describe how active this corruption is.
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He compares human nature to a lighted furnace sending forth
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sparks and flames, or a fountain constantly pouring out water.
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It is not a dormant disease. Human nature is so prolific and
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evil that it is never idle, is an active furnace of desires,
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thoughts and motives that are misaligned with the will of God.
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He describes the whole man as nothing else than concupiscence.
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It is a heavy theological word, but it basically means we are a
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walking, breathing engine of self-centered craving.
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You do not have to teach a toddler to snatch a toy from a
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sibling and yell mine. Those sparks fly out of the
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furnace naturally. You have to teach them to share,
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to be patient, to tell the truth.
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The default setting of the human operating system is corrupted by
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selfishness. This completely refutes
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theologians who tried to minimize the damage, like Peter
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Lombard, a famous 12th century scholastic theologian.
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Peter Lombard, often called the Master of the Sentences, made a
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significant error in medieval theology.
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He attempted to locate human corruption only in the flesh or
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the inferior appetites. His view was heavily influenced
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by Greek philosophy, particularly the Platonic idea
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of the soul being like a charioteer trying to control the
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wild horses of the passions. In the view of Lombard, the
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sensual desires were corrupted by the Fall, but the higher
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faculties of man, the intellect and the reason remained
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relatively intact and capable of choosing the good it.
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Properly educated, he thought the mind was basically fine and
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just needed to reign in the rebellious body.
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Calvin points out his gross ignorance of Scripture by
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turning to the letters of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians
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and the Romans. Paul makes it clear that the
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citadel of the mind is seized by sin.
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The understanding is subjected to blindness and the heart to
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depravity. In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul
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commands believers to be renewed in the spirit of their minds.
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If the mind was untouched by the fall, it would not need
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renewing. When Scripture speaks of the
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flesh in this context, it includes a complete reformation
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of all parts, including the intellect.
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Total depravity means exactly that total from the crown of the
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head to the sole of the foot. No part of the human
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constitution is exempt from this deadly paint.
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The intellect is clouded, the will is in bondage, and the
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affections are distorted. Think about your own daily
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routine for a second. Have you ever tried to
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completely purify your intentions even when you do
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something charitable? If you examine the citadel of
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your mind, you will usually find a desire for recognition, a
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sense of superiority, or an attempt to earn favor lurking
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right beneath the surface. That is the act of furnace and
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operation. It proves that we cannot just
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fix ourselves by adopting better habits, getting a better
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education, or trying to suppress our sensual appetites.
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True renovation requires something far more radical.
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Mere behavioral modification is not sufficient.
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We need a completely new nature. We need a resurrection from
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spiritual death, which is why the Gospel of Christ is the only
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viable solution. You cannot put a Band-Aid on a
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corpse. But as we process this
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devastating diagnosis of the human condition, an obvious
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objection arises, an objection that deals with the character of
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the Creator himself. If we are born vicious, and if
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this total depravity is natural to us from birth, is God to
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blame? If God created us and we are
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born corrupt, does that make God the author of sin?
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This is the most common argument raised against the Reformed
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doctrine of original sin. It is an inevitable objection,
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and it must be addressed with extreme care.
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The analysis addresses this critical issue by issuing A
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strict warning. We must never dare to inscribe
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the name of God on our vices. The divine workmanship, the pure
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nature that God created in the beginning, should not be
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confused with the depravity we currently possess.
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The blame for our ruin rests entirely with our own carnality,
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not with God. The only cause of our
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destruction is our degeneracy from our original condition.
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We cannot use the mystery of predestination or the
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sovereignty of God as an excuse to insinuate a charge against
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the Author of nature. The writer leans on the words of
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the preacher in Ecclesiastes Chapter 7, verse 29.
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The text reads Lo this only have I found that God made man
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upright, but they have sought out many inventions.
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That verse perfectly summarizes the situation.
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The original design was flawless.
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Man was made upright by the kindness of God, but man, by his
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own infatuation fell away into vanity.
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Therefore, the destruction is obviously attributable only to
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man himself. To help us understand how this
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works philosophically, we can break down a brilliant
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distinction between what is inherent and what is
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adventitious. When we say human nature is
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ruined, we have to clarify what we mean.
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Sin is an adventitious event. It is a wound inflicted from the
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outside by rebellion. It is not a substantial property
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that got assigned to human nature from the very beginning.
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Think of a beautifully crafted Stradivarius violin that has
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been smashed against a wall. The damage is a severe wound,
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but the damage is not an inherent part of the original
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design. God is the master Craftsman who
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built the instrument perfectly. Man is the one who smashed it.
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But this raises a question about vocabulary because we frequently
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use the word natural to describe our corruption.
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Calvin says man is corrupted by a natural viciousness, and Paul
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says we are by nature the children of wrath.
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We must clarify why we call this corruption natural if God did
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not create it that way. The answer is legal and
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hereditary. It is called natural only
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because it is received by a hereditary law passed down from
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generation to generation, rather than being contracted by each
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individual through depraved habit.
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It is our nature now by inheritance, but it was not our
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nature by original creation. Just as a child might inherit A
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genetic disease from a parent, we inherit the spiritual
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disease. It is natural to us in our
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current state, but it is foreign to the original blueprint of
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humanity. Understanding that distinction
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is what refutes the old error of the Maniches.
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Manicheism was a major religious movement in late antiquity,
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heavily influenced by Gnosticism and dualism.
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Even Augusta was a Maniche for nearly a decade before his
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conversion to Christianity. The Maniches looked at the
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wickedness of the world, the suffering, and the evil in the
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human heart, and they came to a terrible conclusion.
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They imagined that man was essentially wicked by design.
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To protect the idea of a good God, they invented the idea of a
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different evil creator. They believed there was a good
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guide who made spiritual things and an evil God who made
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physical wicked things like human nature and the material
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world. That dualism is incredibly
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tempting for people because it seems to get God off the hook
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for the existence of evil, but it completely destroys the
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sovereignty of God and the goodness of the physical
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creation. The historical reality of the
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Fall protects us from that dualistic error.
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It protects the doctrine of a single righteous Creator who
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made all things good, while simultaneously providing a
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historically accurate account for the current undeniable
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wickedness of humanity. We do not need an evil Creator
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to explain soon. We just need to look at the
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historical rebellion of Adam in the Garden and the devastating
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hereditary consequences it unleashed across the whole human
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race. Synthesizing all of this brings
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us back to the primary mission of our theological analysis
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today. The severe reality presented in
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this material is not meant to leave us in despair, but to
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drive us to the only source of hope.
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Recognizing our total destitution and Adam,
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acknowledging that the active furnace of our hearts produces
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nothing but works of the flesh, and admitting that the citadel
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of our minds is seized by corruption is the only way to
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genuinely abandoned self-confidence.
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If you think you are mostly good with just a few flaws, you will
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seek a teacher or a life coach to give you temps on
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improvement. You look for a savior who is
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just a good example to imitate like Pelagius did.
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But if you recognize that your soul is dead, that you are
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legally bankrupt, and that your very nature is obnoxious to
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divine justice, you realize you need a substitute.
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You need someone who can communicate righteousness to you
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just as surely as Adam communicated corruption to you.
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You need the grace offered only in Jesus Christ.
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The bad news is unimaginably bad, so that the good news can
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be unimaginably good. We want to thank you for joining
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us on this heavy but necessary theological study.
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Staring into the reality of original sin is not easy,
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especially in a culture that constantly demands we celebrate
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our own inherent goodness. But as we have seen, true self
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knowledge requires the standard of divine justice, not the
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mirror of cultural flattery. Before we conclude, I want to
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leave you with a closing consideration, Bill, directly on
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the source text we examine today, we discussed how total
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depravity means the citadel of the mind and the intellect are
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completely pervaded by this hereditary corruption.
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Our understanding is subjected to blindness.
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If that is true, how can any individual trust their own
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independent reasoning to find absolute truth?
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The modern world relies entirely on the human intellect as the
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final judge of reality, ethics and morality.
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But if the instrument of our reasoning is fundamentally
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damaged by the fall, does this not completely dismantle the
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secular project? It suggests that leaning on our
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own understanding is a guaranteed path to delusion.
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Leaving divine revelation is our absolute only hope for sight.
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I encourage you to weigh the implications of a blinded
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intellect the next time you hear someone claim they have figured
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out the universe of their own reasoning.
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That completely flips A secular world view on its head.
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If our reasoning compass is broken at the factory level, you
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cannot trust the direction at points unless you have a map
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from someone outside the forest. Thank you again for spending
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your time with us on this deep dive.
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Keep questioning the flattery of the culture, keep measuring your
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heart against divine justice, and keep seeking truth in the
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only place it can be found in the Word of God.
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Goodbye for now.