Original sin and Abu Ghraib Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard Mouw comments on the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal from a Calvinist perspective. It is not only the idea that "civilized" Americans could carry out such abuses that upsets him. It's more personal than that. "I am horrified because those images make me confront the evil that lurks in the deep places of my own soul."
am a Calvinist, which means I have a firm belief in the reality of original sin. I have come to many of my strong Christian convictions by weighing arguments on various sides of the issues. But not my belief in original sin. ...
When I recoil in horror, then, at the sight of American soldiers torturing Iraqi and Afghan prisoners, it is not because I am witnessing an evil that is unfathomable to me. That kind of evil is all too familiar to me. I see it lurking inside me, and once again I cry out to God for mercy and forgivenness, on my own behalf as well as for people whose misdeeds right now have become a matter of public record.
As a Christian, I certainly do not believe that our only recourse is a fatalistic acceptance of the reality of evil. Both my theology and my experience tell me that divine grace is possible. Humans can, with God's help, resist doing the evil that might come "naturally" in horrific wartime situations. And, with grace, we can be forgiven for even the most depraved sins against our fellow human beings. With repentance, great sinners can recreate their moral lives.