HUMAN NATURE AND CHOICE

Many would say that happiness, or at least peace-of-mind, is what life should be about. However, increasingly, these are seen as a product of our ability to make unencumbered choices, the freedom to pursue our own desires. However, others would advise that our choices have to be guided by our shared human nature.

Against the notion that there is a human nature, some argue that we are entirely malleable. Communists had argued that our nature is so malleable that they could create the new man and conform him to their ideal of a “workers’ paradise.” The late psychologist Eric Fromm had stated:

·       Marx did not believe, as do many contemporary sociologists and psychologists, that there is no such thing as the nature of man; that man at birth is like a blank sheet of paper, on which the culture writes its text. https://www.marxists.org/archive/fromm/works/1961/man/ch04.htm

However, historian Robert Royal contradicted this idealistic claim:

·       The materialist view of the person – combined with the notion that humans, as material beings, can be reshaped into the New Man of the Communist dream merely by a change of their social conditions, a view still widespread today – is a falsehood that inevitably leads to awful consequences… By most credible estimates, Communist countries killed about a hundred million people in the twentieth century. (The God that did not Fail, 247)

It should be clear that we do have a nature as a fish has a nature. We can’t leave our goldfish out on the porch to dry; nor can they thrive on chocolate milkshakes. Instead, they must be nurtured according to their nature and needs.

When we take care of anything according to its nature, it functions well. If we oil and grease our cars, as required, they will function better than if we had not. However, I wouldn’t want anyone to grease me. Instead, I would insist upon being treated according to my nature, with respect and caring.

In contrast to this, some insist that it should all be about individual choice, and that we are what we decide to be. The sky is the limit. However, it seems that our nature requires us to live within the confines of the limitations set by our nature. Just try playing a game of chess without rules. It will become meaningless and boring. Instead, we need the rules with their limitations. We are like the goldfish in water. In this environmental limitation, they will best maximize their freedom and welfare.

We too thrive best with the limitations that have been determined by our nature. When we don’t live according to our nature, we are like a man who thinks too of much his car and drives it into a lake, thinking that it will navigate well there.

Of course, this is absurd. However, many are making absurd choices that violate their nature. For example, many are experimenting with radical forms of family and sexuality like open marriages and polyamory. In contradiction to such choices, Karla Dial has reported on the findings of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - a team of authors working in the fields of anthropology, economics and psychology:

·       Though polygamy has existed throughout history — and is still accepted in some pockets of the world — it doesn’t benefit children, women, individuals or cultures the way married monogamous relationships do. According to the study, monogamy yields four primary benefits:

o   It reduces crime.

o   Monogamy leads to gender equality.

o   Monogamy reduces household conflict.

o   Monogamy improves children’s well-being through greater paternal investment.

When we violate our nature, costs are inevitable. The American College of Pediatricians has released a paper entitled, “Gender Ideology Harms Children,” in which they have concluded:

·       “According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.

·       Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthy is child abuse.” (SalvoMag.com, 2016, 6)

Does sex-change ever help? Walt Heyer, in his 2006 book “Trading my Sorrows,” writes about his troubled experiences as a transsexual. The following was culled from his interview with LifeSiteNews.com:

·       Heyer was a little boy growing up in California in the mid 1940s, interested in cowboys, cars and steel guitars when one day, his grandmother fancied that he wanted to be a girl. She naively made for him a purple chiffon evening dress that he would wear when he visited her. According to Walt, donning that purple chiffon dress triggered something that put him on a 35 year long path that led through a dark valley of “torment, disillusionment, regret, and sorrow.” His gender identity confusion led him into alcoholism, drug addiction, and attempted suicide…

Is Heyer’s experience representative of many others’? Evidently! A long-term follow-up study of transsexual persons undergoing sex reassignment surgery in Sweden found:

·       Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group.

A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey says:

·       A staggering 41% of transgenders surveyed report they have attempted suicide and that those who have medically transitioned and surgically transitioned have higher rates of attempted suicide than the general population. Transgenders have higher rate of HIV infections. They are more prone to heavy drinking and the use of drugs. They have high rates of homelessness, unemployment and extreme poverty, even more so in the more difficult economic times of the last 5 years.

Perhaps even more damning were the findings of a study originating in Scotland (2017):

·       A new study reveals that virtually all transgender students are self-harming in Scotland. The pro-gay “Stonewall” school report for Scotland with the University of Cambridge shows 96 percent of the country’s transgender youth engage in self-destructive behavior, including cutting themselves. The report also found “incredibly high levels” of mental health issues in transgenders.

·       Besides 96 percent of trans students attempting self-harm, 60 percent of homosexuals also self-harm, the survey found. While 40 percent of Scottish trans pupils have tried to commit suicide, a quarter of homosexuals have, too. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/96-of-transgender-youth-engage-in-self-harm-study

Choice has its limitations, especially when it violates our human nature. This raises the question, “What additionally can we learn about our nature that might help us to better nurture it?” According to the Huffington Post, God

·       …is getting accolades from mental health specialists who say they are finding that a belief in God plays a positive role in the treatment of anxiety and depression, The Washington Times, reports. University of Toronto psychologists reported last year that “believing in God can help block anxiety and minimize stress,' their research showcasing 'distinct brain differences' between believers and nonbelievers. A new study released Wednesday by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago took the idea a step further. In patients diagnosed with clinical depression, 'belief in a concerned God can improve response to medical treatment,' said the new research, which has been published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

These findings do not reflect something new, but the author goes on to question why: “Why do people believe? Because it's true? Or because it's good for them?”

Why not both? Clearly, there are benefits. My faith in Jesus is the assurance that I have value even when I don’t feel valued. He’s the confidence that even if I fail and the world rejects me, I am still beloved by Him, who will take my failures and turn them into gold. He is the guarantee that even when I feel ashamed and guilty that I am cleansed and free from stain.

Is it also true? The answer is extensive, so I will merely conclude with the words of Jesus:

·       “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

But do we really what to know if it’s true or do we value our own choices too much?