Natural and Normal
Let the record show that while humans have bodies which share a lot of DNA with other life forms on earth, especially the primates, we are not merely unusually clever hairless apes. Vast differences in the intellectual, emotional and spiritual realms underscore this. We have roughly the same body build as the primates, but simple observation of behaviour defies the suggestion that humans are just the clever branch of the family tree.
Turning to “nature” to discover what is “normal” for human behaviour forces us to fall short of our potential. Parents casually turn to the animal kingdom to demonstrate unacceptable social behaviour - “don’t eat like a pig” (associated with unacceptable table manners), “you don’t have the sense God gave a goose” (associated with unwise decisions), “you little monkey” (associated with mischievous or naughty behaviour), “there you go, down another rabbit trail” (associated with fruitless expenditure of energy) and so on.
“Natural” and “normal” are rough guidelines which have some usefulness in categorizing behaviours, but they are not definitive. Examples in the animal kingdom or in human populations, however numerous prove nothing. The other day I saw statistics on the Heart and Stroke Foundation website which claimed that 40% of Canadians have high cholesterol levels in their blood. This is the “natural” outcome of the “normal” Canadian diet, but try convincing your doctor not to put you on cholesterol medication citing that high cholesterol is “normal” and “natural.”
Allow me to contend for a moment that if you’re looking to what is “natural” and “normal” to set the limits of your behaviour, you’re going to be disappointed. Just as you might expect, God holds us to a higher moral standard. In the Bible, animals are never held to account for the morality of their behaviour. The only time that animals were to be “executed” was when they had a reputation for attacking people and posed a continuing threat. (See Exodus 21:29) Their death was not punitive, but to prevent further human deaths.
To be fair, this use of animal behaviour to guide human behaviour is rational in our social context. In a society which is rapidly abandoning the concept of special creation for the theory of evolution, it is to be expected. After all, if we are nothing more than sophisticated animals, then we can be excused for acting like animals sometimes. However, I contend that this is a fallacy. As the image-bearers of God, we are not merely elegant animals (though, because we share the same physical environment, we share some physical characteristics). We are more like God than we are like animals.
When a few animal and bird species use rocks, twigs, or sticks as tools, observers get all excited about how intelligent these creatures are. When an animal demonstrates some communication ability beyond a few grunts, growls, chuckles and snorts, its intelligence is touted as evidence that evolution is on the march and that it’s headed in our direction. When animals show social bonding and order this is anthropomorphized: “Why, they are just like us!” Are you surprised that when “domestic violence,” infanticide or cannibalism is witnessed in primate populations, the promoters of “natural” and “normal” are strangely silent?
Some would retort that this is because humans, for the most part, have evolved beyond these repugnant behaviours. We have added morality to our attributes which gives us a sense of right and wrong, good and bad, fair and unfair, everything we need to have a functioning justice system. While some animals seem to behave with a rudimentary form of altruism, it is a stretch to suggest they have anything like a human moral sense. While people can explain “animal behaviour” in humans by pointing to evolution, they can’t explain “divine behaviour” - moral standards, appreciation of beauty, creation of music, art, design, and order or the propensity to worship.
Perhaps your life isn’t working out very well because you’ve been deluded by the “new normal” which is often nothing more than the “old immoral.” You’ve learned the hard way that pursuing behaviour which has only recently been approved for humans, would have been better left to the animals. Consider that God made people in His image, to bear His likeness, to be His representatives among the creatures of the earth. (See Genesis 1 and 2)
I suspect that part of the problem is that we don’t want that responsibility. It’s so much more fun to act like the animals instead of acting like God. Animals (which I really like, by the way) have no moral model or framework to live by. We do. God has presented Himself as the model for human behaviour in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us various summaries of His law, culminating in Jesus’ bottom-line statement that we are to love God with heart, soul, strength and mind and our neighbours as ourselves. (See Luke 10:27)
If life isn’t making much sense, turn toward God. Look to Him to set the pattern for your behaviour. On your own, you won’t be very successful, but if you come to Him for forgiveness for the moral debt you’ve racked up and willingly submit to His authority over your life, He’ll give you His Spirit. A divine spark within you will begin to glow and your life will never be the same.
