Unsettled Christianity

The word “inclination” (Gen 6:5 – and every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only on evil), what does it mean?

The Hebrew word is “yetser”, and refers to those things that make up what we are “inside”, such as our thoughts, desires, wants, etc – the things that drive us to act (on what we choose (ie “will”)), but most importantly “purpose”. Prior to the fall, “yetser” was focused on the purpose for which humanity was created, to be God’s viceroy or governor in creation, and to “work” (make it fruitful). Post fall, we can see that this is not the case,  in fact in Gen 3 we’re told humanity is purposeless now, the words “toil/pains/pangs” meaning “without purpose” (so the woman brings the children into a world without purpose, sorry girls, actual pain inst going away).

When we are told that our “yetser”, our inner most core, is broken and no longer for the purpose it was created, we can begin to understand just how much we are broken. Inclination sort of points us in the right direction, but it really does not carry the weight of “yetser”. Humanity no longer has purpose. Why would you keep something that has no purpose? You wouldn’t, you would throw it away in the rubbish. But God does not do that, he provides a way for us to regain our purpose, to have a purpose, by fixing that thing which is broken. How? Well, there is a long story about this guy named Jesus – and pretty much, you just need to believe that its true, and you’re on the right track. Its all up hill on a very narrow track from there…