The Green Monster

"Hulk is the alter ego of Bruce Banner, a socially withdrawn and emotionally reserved physicist who physically transforms into the Hulk under emotional stress and other specific circumstances at will or against it; these involuntary transformations lead to many complications in Banner's life. When transformed, the Hulk often acts as a disassociated personality separate from Banner. Over the decades of Hulk stories, the Hulk has been represented with several personalities based on Hulk and Banner's fractured psyche, ranging from mindless savage to brilliant warrior, and Banner has taken control of the Hulk's form on occasion. Banner first transforms into the Hulk after being caught in the blast of the gamma bomb he invented while saving Rick Jones, a youth who had wandered onto the testing range." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_%28comics%29

Jekyll and Hyde

"Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886.  It is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll,^[2][3]and the evil Edward Hyde.

The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often spuriously called "split personality", referred to in psychiatry as dissociative identity disorder, where within the same body there exists more than one distinct personality.^[4] In this case, there are two personalities within Dr Jekyll, one apparently good and the other evil. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde

The Bible's description of Human Nature

as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." "THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS"; "WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS"; "THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN." "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."

(Rom 3:10-18)

"The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

(Jer 17:9)

Every human being has a "Hulk" or a Mr or Ms Hyde inside of them.  Every child born has this.  In fact it can be more visible in children before they are quite socialized and matures into a semblance of self control.  They may not yet be responsible for their actions but yet the actions of selfishness are manifestly visible.   

Every man and woman, husband and wife have their "Hulk" inside no matter how sweet and charming they are.  Even the feelings of attraction and romance that we feel toward another person are entirely based on how "they make us feel".  Parents don't have children for altruistic reasons unless they adopt an unfortunate child already in this world.  Parents birth children for the sake of their own feelings.  

Every choice we make is influenced by how it makes us feel.  From our homes to cars and clothes and friends.  Remember how we reacted the last time our paradigm about our lives was disrupted most likely by other people working out the paradigm of their lives in traffic or shopping?

Now consider every leader in our nations and societies.  Every local leader, pastor, administrator, business person, every councilman, school board member, school teacher, police and fire person are all human and are walking around with their own Mr or Ms Hyde or incredible Hulk inside.   Every governor, senator, congressman, and President has one.  Every government employee making policies, shuffling paper,  serving citizens at gov't office windows around the world has one.  Every person we encounter every day at the store or gas station or church all have the same character inside.  

As Christians we know that before coming to Christ all people are slaves to sin, slaves to this inner being of selfishness.   As slaves they cannot be expected to behave in any way as selfless and honest people.  It is surprising when anyone who is a slave to sin actually behaves well.  This may in fact be a residual effect of the God's Spirit in our society from prior generations.    Even so, after we come to Christ the "Old Man" or "Old Woman" is not gone.  (See Romans 7.)  God has begun a good work in us and will continue it until we are perfected (Ephesians 2).  

Why is this reminder important for us?  Because like the many humans who have gone before us, we forget.  Even more so, we create all kinds of narratives around ourselves and our loved ones, our leaders, our teachers, our pastors, our police officers, our society that allow us to naively believe that most everyone is good.   Then we find ourselves shocked when one of these people "goes bad".    Then we appeal to other leaders to do something so that bad things don't happen.  And yet they do.  No gov't on earth, not even the Gov't that God put in place over Israel through His commandments, can tame the human heart.  No law can eradicate the Hulk, or Mr or Ms Hyde from the human character.   We all have potential to act badly depending on our incentive.

That brings us to our attitude about leadership.  If all humans carry with them this green monster of self interest how do we choose leaders for government and law enforcement, for church, for schools, for sports, for media, for entertainment, for military?  Can any humans be trusted when no one is looking to put other people's interests ahead of their own?  What is the solution for human leadership?  Shall we trust blindly and hope for the best?  Shall we create a narrative where the Bible doesn't really mean what is says about the human heart?  Maybe it is not desperately wicked after all.  Maybe we can discover that there are exceptions for my child, my husband, pastors, teachers, police and political leaders?  

"THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." "THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS"; "WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS"; "THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN." "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."

(Rom 3:10-18)

When we are alone and only tasked with items of our own lives trust is not necessary.  Trust is only required when tasked with items which influence others while absent or out of sight from them.  Since humans are not trustworthy in this regard, tasks that influence or control others must never be done in secret, in darkness.  We must bring all those matters into the light. Secrets are the tools of tyrants and people of low character.

And the LORD was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things.

(Gen 8:21)