Straight from the headlines, an Amish community in rural Ohio
recently suffered a series of attacks in which members of the Amish
community had their homes invaded. Men and women had their hair forcibly
cut, men having their beards shorn, a great indignity for Amish men.
Startlingly, the criminals were fellow Amish. The attackers, led by a
man named Sam Mullet, were a disenfranchised group, upset at a local
bishop’s decision not to excommunicate several others who they felt had
broken community laws. To commemorate their attacks, they are said to
have taken pictures of those whom they assaulted. A great irony in these
attacks is that The Amish way of life is intended to protect its
members from the sinful influences of the outside world. (There is also
something incredibly ironic about a movement to cut people’s hair being
led by a man named “Mullet”.) Unfortunately, this way of living fails to
account for the fact that sinful influence can never be escaped because
we are all corrupt. No matter where we go, as long as we are there, sin
will be there too.
The Biblical doctrine of Total Depravity, one of the doctrines
collectively known as the “Doctrines of Grace,” states that the basic
nature of man is corrupt, that he is inclined toward evil, and that he
is unable to do anything that merits God’s favor because he is
unwilling. Total depravity is ultimately oriented toward God and
sometimes expressed toward others.
Theologian Lorraine Boettner says it well: Keep Reading >>>
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