Human Nature…and the Nature of Parenting

REFLECTION QUOTES

“According to [Dr. Jean] Twenge [a co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic and professor of psychology at San Diego State University], indicators of self-esteem have risen consistently since the 1980s…. But, she says, what starts off as healthy self-esteem can quickly morph into an inflated view of oneself—a self-absorption and sense of entitlement that looks a lot like narcissism….”

~“How to Land Your Kid in Therapy” by Lori Gottlieb in The Atlantic Monthly

“The trouble with human nature is that we are born with a heart that loves ourselves over and above everything else in this world, including God. In short, we are born slaves to the lust for self-gratification, i.e., concupiscence. That’s why, if left to ourselves, we will always love those things that make us feel good about ourselves, even as we depart more and more from God and his ways. Therefore, God must intervene in our lives in order to bring salvation.”

~Ashley Null, scholar at Humboldt University in Berlin

“When we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative.”

~Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), priest, professor and writer

“Don’t worry that your children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.”

~Robert Fulghum, American author

“When you have children, your perspective on the parent-child relationship alters.”

~Salman Rushdie, British Indian novelist and essayist

“Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.”

~Plato, ancient Greek philosopher and founder of the Academy in Athens

“It is a wise parent who knows his own child.”

~William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and playwrigh

SERMON PASSAGE

Genesis 1:26-31 & Mark 7:20-23 (ESV)

Genesis 1

26 Then God said, “Let us make manin our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.

You shall have them for food. 30 And to every and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.



Mark 7

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”