Page 123 - Apologetics Student Textbook (3 Credits)

The other reason Anne Frank’s words are so heartbreaking is because she believed a widespread and
popular lie.

Pelagian Origins

The belief that people are basically good is an ancient falsehood going back to the fourth-century AD. It
was first propagated, at least in a theological sense, by a British monk called Pelagius. He fervently and
persuasively argued against the biblical doctrine of original sin—the belief that all of mankind has been
morally corrupted through Adam’s fall.

The Pelagian heresy was defeated at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. But Pelagius’s beliefs have been
readily imbibed by most secular cultures and are alive and well in the present day. Atheism and
Darwinism may have toned it down by embracing an anthropology of moral neutrality rather than
goodness. But their worldview remains essentially Pelagian because they still deny the inherent
sinfulness of man.

In that sense, Pelagius still stalks the hallways of government, higher education, and the mainstream
media. Most foreign policy disasters are connected to the naïve assumption that people are basically
good. Welfare programs flounder because of beneficiaries who prefer to extort the system rather than
behave ethically. Psychologists continue to exclude the possibility of a sinful nature from their study of
the human experience. Behavioral experts relentlessly try to solve bad behavior with better education.
And society at large is now burdened with a younger generation that identifies as victims rather than
perpetrators, refusing to be held accountable for its actions.

The realm of parenting has also been poisoned by the belief that people are basically good. Our
children should be the greatest empirical proof of original sin. After all, we don’t have to teach them to
lie, throw tantrums, or be selfish—they are all born with ready-made expertise in sinning. But like Anne
Frank, many parents prefer to believe in the inherent goodness of their kids despite the massive weight
of evidence to the contrary. Consequently, appeasement and medication have usurped the role of
discipline in far too many families.

We get an even harsher dose of reality when we honestly assess our own lives. God has written His
morality upon our hearts and consciences (Romans 2:14–15)—we instinctively know right from wrong.
But we live with the natural desire to rebel against what we know is right. Those who choose to deny
this truth end up affirming it through their denial anyway.

Clearly then, the Pelagian lie is incredibly pervasive in the world. Churches thus carry an enormous
responsibility to repudiate it. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening. The belief that people are basically
good is now a thriving heresy in some of the most popular churches in America.

Pelagian Churches

Bethel Church in Redding, California, is a prime example. Pastored by Bill Johnson, Bethel is perhaps the
most influential charismatic church in the country. They are most widely known for their Jesus Culture
music, testimonies of trips to heaven, gold dust “miracles” pouring out of their ventilation system, and
many other bizarre claims and antics. But undergirding these strange recent phenomena is well-worn
ancient heresy.

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