Both the original Reformer, Jean Calvín, and the philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, had very negative views of human nature. Calvin believed in the total depravity of humans. This does not mean that they were devils, but that every part of a human being was depraved to the point that there was no such thing as good works, since every work was somehow corrupted. Hobbes made a famous statement in which he said that the natural man was brutish, self-seeking, and violent.
In the comic above, Calvin actually tries to be good and is unable to carry it through. In fact, at the end Hobbes makes a rather famous comment that “virtue needs some cheaper thrills.” One of the things that we are often hesitant to face is the fact that many sins have a rather pleasurable component to them. The reason drug addicts get into drugs is because there is indeed a thrill and a rush when one first begins to abuse drugs. Sex is another pleasurable experience, and when society is bereft of guidelines, the question comes up as to why one should resist what is so natural and pleasurable.
But, catch the next to the last panel. Susie has been decked by a snowball. Look at Calvin laugh at Susie, but look also at Susie’s face. She is both hurting and angry. This is not a child’s simple game of snowball in which friends surprise each other. No, this is pure and simple aggression against someone who did not want to participate. Now, let me ask you another question. Can you imagine a grown up child of this type becoming a Serbian shooting at a Bosnian or a Croat shooting at a Serbian, etc.?
Virtue is a hard path. We try to avoid it even in Christian circles by equating mortifying the flesh (Saint Paul said that) with either medieval excesses or with works-righteousness. There is nothing like the term works-righteousness to exonerate us from the need to exercise a firm control over our flesh so that we may grow in holiness. Then we continue to excuse ourselves by going on and essentially equating a feeling of pleasure with the leading of the Holy Spirit. Thus, if we are not feeling a sense of peace and pleasure in our fight against sin, then we must be doing it in the flesh and not in the Holy Spirit. So, we had better stop fighting the flesh in that way. And, so, again we exonerate ourselves from the war against our flesh. Either way, we get to stop fighting and get to sit and wait for some entrancement of the Holy Spirit that will lead us to holiness without pain or great personal effort.
Meanwhile, sin certainly gives cheap thrills. It does not take hard personal work to sin, one can simply slip into it. Sin entices and allures in a way that virtue does not. Virtue calls out, like wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, calling for decision and for followers. Virtue’s call is the call of the soldier, of the runner, of the one who does not box the air vainly (see Saint Paul). One cannot simply slip into virtue in the way that one can simply slip into sin. No, virtue requires committed dedication, which is not a virtue that we tend to cultivate in this society.
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