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Genesis 1:26 (NASB)

Let us make man in our image.

Mainstream Christianity, Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and even some evangelicals attribute an unerasable worth to humanity. Really? Is that true? Does humanity still retain a residue of goodness? When the Apostle Paul said, "No good thing dwells in my flesh," was he exaggerating and being self-loathing, or was he stating a fact? When the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Though you are evil...", should we view that verse as meaning there is a remnant of goodness left in fallen man, or that it is the grace of God and His goodness acting out through that sinner? When the Bible tells us that "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," or when God says in Genesis, "My spirit will not contend with man forever, for every desire of his heart is evil," was the Lord just frustrated, or was He speaking the eternal truth? When the Apostle James said, "For with the same tongue that you praise God, you condemn men made in the image of God," was he suggesting that just because someone was made in the image of God, they are continuing in the image of God and His grace? Is there anything worthy to praise about selfish, callous, self-centered human beings who only care about themselves and no one else?

You see, my friends, we Christians should vehemently reject this romantic notion of human dignity and self-worth proposed by the mainstream Church. If human beings have inherently one iota of self-worth or dignity left, then Christ died in vain. Do not be deceived. The human race is a group of red-handed rebels who spit in God's face and pursue their own selfish ambitions. The only true human being who is fully restored to the pre-fallen state of truly reflecting the goodness of God and His likeness in His image is the one whom the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed. Everyone else is a despicable sinner as far as God is concerned, awaiting final judgment and eternal damnation with zero intrinsic worth. Amen.