Can we humans improve our nature?

[Christphr]

It’s a modern idea that we humans are evolving morally. We are becoming smarter, learning from the past, have more experience under our belts and we are “making progress” on our nature.

Does the church now or before ever support this notion? Were there any condemned heresies that dealt with this notion?

 

[Babinicz]

No, because people nature is sinful. People can only do their best to minimize sinful acts or immoral. They can raise in spiritual matter but they will always sin

 

[ATraveller]

It’s a modern idea that we humans are evolving morally. We are becoming smarter, learning from the past

This is my response to that modern idea:

I’m a millennial and even I’ve noticed people seem more selfish, more vulgar and ruder in recent years. Many ‘smarter’ people are arrogant and less willingly to hear opposing views and those seem to be excuses to be rude and vulgar to others. So the idea that people have evolved morally lacks credibility.
As for learning from the past, I see no evidence of that. Lessons are learned and then forgotten, then have to be re-learned and the cycle continues.

 

[Reuben_J]

We can improve our human nature or nature of the flesh by desiring the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 

[RandomAlias]

Can we humans improve our nature?

Would that be progressivism? The error (I don’t think it counts as a heresy, but only a fallacy) is that we can do it on our own. All recent attempts, say, over the last 100 years or so, have failed.

 

[Autumn-Smoke]

As long as the world thinks of and wants only worldly things, then no.

But if the world was to unite itself to God and build its foundation on his Word, then our natures would grow in leaps and bounds.

 

[IWantGod]

There is a lot of talk about designer babies.This seems to be the future

But there are cases where human embryos are used in research to tackle diseases and are probably discarded afterward. This is not something the Church can accept, even if it is for a moral cause.

 

[IWantGod]

Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!

The only real self development is discipline over the flesh.

 

[fisherman_carl]

It’s a modern idea that we humans are evolving morally. We are becoming smarter, learning from the past, have more experience under our belts and we are “making progress” on our nature.

Does the church now or before ever support this notion? Were there any condemned heresies that dealt with this notion?

That is a complex question to answer and it depends on your definition of progress. In some ways society’s morals have improved from the influence of Christianity. For instance before Christianity there was no idea that you should help someone without expecting something in return. The idea of sending donations to starving people in foreign lands would be unheard of in Roman society.

The fact is that even though Western society did not always live up to its Christian ideals throughout history the ideals themselves were sound. We can thank Christianity for modern law, science, universities, hospitals, etc. And a lot of secular people can thank their Christian roots for a lot of their morals. God knows there is no rational foundation for objective morals apart from God. And a moving away from God is a moving backwards not forwards with morality suffering because of it.

You only have to look at the last century where millions of people were killed by atheistic communist regimes.

 

[fhansen]

Our basic natures are good, as God created them to be. To the extent that we stray from them we sin, and are less perfect. Our purpose here, in fact, is to strive in a coordinated effort with grace, with God, to overcome sin and achieve perfection, to the greatest extent that we can. We can fail, by our choices, falling farther away from God, or succeed, drawing nearer to Him. We play a role, IOW, in attaining our moral integrity.

 

[fisherman_carl]

A thing is successful in the sense that it achieves what it’s purpose is. People are fully human when they live according to their design. When we fail to live for our purpose then we are in danger of losing our identity, not realizing our potentials, and not becoming fully human. We are both body and soul. If we live only for the material we become materialistic and we lose the deeper spiritual meaning to life. This fails to satisfy us. If we live only for the spiritual and intellectual side we can seclude ourselves and neglect the material side of life, failing to recognize the material needs of those around us. This too fails to satisfy us. Being fully human means developing both sides, material and spiritual. Neglecting one side means unfulfilled potential, and not being fully human, and fully human is what we were created to be.