Miriam Webster defines tendency thusly:1 a : direction or approach toward a place, object, effect, or limit b : a proneness to a particular kind of thought or action

I agree that it is not genetic, but it IS behavioral, meaning that the easy way is usually the one a human takes, and in this case animism is as basic as it gets. Also, when man cannot understand forces or events greater than himself he will tend to lean toward the magical or animistic explanation.

Now, if you are speaking of modern man, and specifically Christian people then I have to agree. Rejection of the truth always leads to the acceptance of the alternative which is the enemy of truth.

In a different vein: Are you intimating that man is basically good or are you meaning that he is morally neutral and chooses either good or evil? I would say that man usually acts in his own self interest, which could be good OR bad, but he is NOT basically evil..

> I don't believe any heresy or any evil is
> a "basic human" tendancy.

> It's not a part of our genetic code.
> And certainly God did not embed evil into
> our souls.

> We do have some innate drives within us that
> cause us to sin; like selfishness, lust, and
> greed, the "sin which worketh in our
> members".

> But animism is not just sin, it is a devil
> inspired religion. It is the root religion
> that led to all the other pagan idolatrous
> religions.

> It's been around for a long long time,
> That's true. But it is not part of our
> humanity.

> It is based on lies that infect man whenever
> he rejects the truth.

> But such lies don't spring up from within
> us.
> They come in and infect us like leaven.

> The leaven of the Pharisees that infected
> the religion of the Jews is directly
> analagous to the leaven of animism within
> Christianity today.

> Let's not confuse apple's and oranges
> here. Animism is ancient. Snake handling
> appeared in the early 20th century.

> But neither animism nor snake handling were
> problems in American churches until
> pentacostalism appeared.

> There were other problems, but not those.

> And Pentacostalism was the wide-open door
> through which they came.

> Yes, Go on.

> Ahhhhh, I'm beginning to see the problem
> here.
> You don't know your church history.

> The Baptist church is not and has never been
> "Calvinist". The Calvinist
> churches are otherwise known as Reformed
> churches.

> From Wikipedia
> "The Reformed churches are a group of
> Christian Protestant denominations
> historically related by a similar Zwinglian
> or Calvinist system of doctrine but
> organisationally independent."

> Here's a link to a list of the Calvinist
> churches in America.

>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_churches#Reformed_churches_in_the_United_States_of_America_and_Canada_.28and_Old_World_counterparts.29
> Calvinist churches are NOT Evangelical.
> and Evangelical churches are NOT Calvinist.

> They came from different lines of
> Churchianity.

> No, I'll leave that to Jesus.
> But that doesn't mean that I won't say that
> Pentacostalism is an open door to heresies.

> Well, as I've been trying to say,
> Calvinist doctrine has nothing to do with
> Baptist or other evangelical denominations.
> So I think you'd have a little trouble
> selling that argument.

> I do admit that in recent times there has
> been a lot of bleedover from one
> denomination to another so now, pretty much
> all churches are infected with one or more
> major heresies.

> It's a sign of the times. The great falling
> away has already occurred.

> That's a fact. Extremely obvious.

> Yes.
> Mystic, esoteric, gnostic, doctrine is an
> obvious target for criticism.

> a basic human tendency and you cannot
> prove that it ISN'T. Prove???

> How can we ever really "prove"
> anything when it comes to religion? We can
> just decide to disagree on this point.
> That's OK.

> You think that animism is a basic God given
> human characteristic, and I think it's a
> false doctrine that people choose by
> rebellion and accept by faith.

> Hey, I wasn't going to attack anybody.

> If folks want to indulge in spiritual
> practices that open the door to demonic
> attacks and strong delusion that's their
> problem.

> But I'm not going to deny that opening those
> doors is an invitation to disaster just
> because it might hurt the feelings of those
> who do it.

> I saw the fruit of such foolishness in my
> own life in the family.