> 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.

When we are just driven by the forces of nature and our animal instincts, in the absence of the Spirit of God, it is not animism (yet).

I'll get back to that a little further down.

> Also, when man cannot understand forces or
> events greater than himself he tends to lean
> toward the magical or animistic explanation.

Yes, man searches for meaning, in the stars, in natural signs, he attributes god status to the forces of nature. It is animism, but in the absence of any other knowledge it is not even sin. It's just searching.

> 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?

No, I don't think man is basically good. Nor do I believe that he is inherently "evil". Selfish and therefore sinful yes. But evil, no. We have to choose to be good or evil. But that choice is by necessity an informed choice. When we choose, we know what we are choosing.

> 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'll agree with you there. The natural tendancy is to act in self interest.

In fact its more than a tendancy, it's a drive.

The very forces of nature act together to push us in that direction. And the natural forces are not evil in themselves.

However that natural self-interest, which is the motor behind all interaction on the human level, is in direct opposition to the spirit of God.

Once we meet Christ, we have no excuse for choosing self over His will.

It is only when we submit our own will to the will of God, that we can even begin to resist the forces that drive our natural man along the course of self-interest.

That's what becoming a new creature is all about.

No longer slaves to the forces of the universe, but yielded to the force behind the universe.

Selfishness (sin) controls the natural man. The lost sinner is not evil, he is a slave.

But we become evil when after having been offered the possibility to break free of the slavery to sin, we sell out and reject the offer, despising the birthright that is ours through Christ.

Like Jesus told the Pharisees, if He hadn't come and shown that He was the son of God through his works, they would not have any sin.

But once they saw the truth, and rejected it their sin was on their own shoulders.

Once we know that Jesus is Lord over the forces of nature, submitting to those forces instead of Christ becomes idolatry.