Why, indeed — after all, the teen-dream leader of the neo-folk/rock group Bright Eyes is young enough to be my son, hasn’t left a legacy of profound music or writings, and isn’t even someone most of you have ever heard of. I have never heard any of his music. As far as I know, he also doesn’t identify as Christian.
And that’s my point here.
If a young, non-Christian man like Connor Oberst can innocently suggest that maybe most people have an inclination to try to help others and would do so if shown how, then we as Christians could take it a step further and not only model kindness, but not knock people who attempt it on their own. Perhaps we could refrain from mocking as “tender-hearted and tender-headed” those who endeavor to buy fair-trade coffee or non-sweatshop apparel, or not accuse of them of paralyzing “father hunger” when they try to live lives of moderation and probity. Maybe we could even stop hurling epithets at people who disagree with us, thus making the Gospel — a necessary offense — less needlessly so.
Kuyper called it common grace; Arminius gave us prevenient grace. Either way, there’s no threat to the Biblical doctrine of original sin when we acknowledge that there is that of the Spirit working in each one of us, and that when someone wants to do good, or at least not do bad, the Lord who loves them desires to gently lead their hearts and minds into greater light and truth. Not just to facilitate their good works, but to be found by those who seek Him. The Scriptures say that God takes no pleasure in the loss of any soul; it would be nice if we imitated Him in that, or at least got out of the way when someone tries to reach out for God.