2:24 AM
@curiousdannii If the Bible is a Divine work, and not mere human literature, then wouldn't you expect that it would have not merely a lot of spiritual meaning, but infinite spiritual meaning? How could a book that God produced not have infinite meaning?
@curiousdannii Precisely. The intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. That's why it was necessary to separate the intellect from the heart. Not completely, of course, but sufficiently so that the mind could rise above the evil desires of the heart, see them for what they are, and commit itself to overcoming those evil desires. And yet again, this happens only through God's power in us. But the intellect must assent to God's doing this in us. That is one meaning of faith.
@curiousdannii It is shown in the general character of the people after the flood. Before the flood, there was no code of laws; people simply acted according to their impulses. God remonstrated with Cain to check his evil desires, but he was unable to do so, and he went right ahead and killed his brother. Eve, also, could not restrain herself from eating from the tree of knowledge, nor could Adam. When they had a desire, they acted on it.
Lamech, one of Cain's descendants, also went ahead and committed murder when the desire entered his mind, as you can see in
Genesis 4:23-24. The picture before the Flood is of people who acted on whatever impulses they had, until, as I quoted earlier:
> The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5)
> Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. (Genesis 6:11-12)
The wickedness was not only in the heart, but in the "thoughts of the heart," and it expressed itself in filling the earth with violence. Heart, head, and hands were all corrupt, leading to the utter corruption of humanity, with the exception of Noah and his family, who:
> was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:9)
After the Flood, the character of the people changed. As you say, Genesis 8:21 says:
> the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth
And yet, not everyone acted upon those evil inclinations. Some followed the Lord and acted righteously despite those evil inclinations. This was something that the pre-Flood people could not do.
For example, unlike their brother Ham, when Shem and Japheth heard that their father was drunk and naked in his tent, they spared his honor by going backwards, not looking, and covering him with a garment.
Further, the post-Flood people made plans and carried them out--even if their plans were sometimes evil. The Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 is an example of people pooling their intellect and taking organized action pursuant to it, even if God stopped them mid-stream.
The Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had the same heart that was "evil from youth." And yet, for the most part (not always) they acted ethically and with decency. Jacob, in particular, shows both the evil heart and the ability to act righteously when his mind directed him to do so.
Altogether, the character of the people after the Flood, as depicted in the various stories, was of a different quality. Despite their evil inclinations, they had the ability to act righteously. And once the Law was given from Sinai, all of the people had the ability either to obey them or to disobey them. Those who disobeyed were punished, and those who obeyed were rewarded.
This shows their ability to rationally and intellectually consider their own impulses and desires, and either act or not act upon them as directed by their thinking mind, if they chose to exercise it.
So the whole story of the Bible after the Flood shows that we humans have had this capability ever since of evaluating and checking the evil desires of our own hearts through the exercise of our rational, thinking mind. If that were not so, God would never have said to the Israelites:
> See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
> But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
> Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
If we humans did not have the ability to choose life after intellectually evaluating the choice between life and death, and the consequences of each course, these words of the Lord would be vain and nonsensical.