1/6. At the end of Reformed Dogmatics vol. 3, chapter 2, "The Spread of Sin," Bavinck strings together a long list of quotes from non-Xian that show tremendous disdain for human beings - going far beyond the supposedly extreme Calvinist doctrine of total depravity.

2/6. For example, he quotes Schopenhauer: "Even the composition of the human conscience is one-fifth fear of other humans, one-fifth superstition, one-fifth prejudice, one-fifth vanity & one-fifth custom." & Hobbes: "Man to man is a wolf."

3/6. He sums up Darwin as teaching: "Civilization can tame humans but can never make of them something other than what they originally & temperamentally are. What we call moral life is an accidental byproduct of circumstances of the life of people in a specific society."

4/6. He goes on for a page & a half & then he says: "It is not Scripture alone that judges human beings harshly. It is human beings who have pronounced the harshest & most severe judgment on themselves. And it is always better to fall into the hands of the Lord . . .

5/6. . . than into those of people, for his mercy is great. For when God condemns us, he at the same time offers his forgiving love in X, but when people condemn people, they frequently cast them out & make them the object of scorn." (124-5)

6/6. In the darkness of today's 'cancel culture', it is obvious that Bavinck is highlighting the beauty that the Gospel has for our society. The woke religion preaches sin w/o regeneration, new birth or forgiveness; it is a harsh legalism. The Xian Gospel is so much better!