Matthew 15:18. The Bible says that self-control starts with the heart. Matthew 15:18-20 says, "Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man...". We can come up with all types of excuses why we do bad things, but it all comes down to what is inside of us. If heart our is not right, evil thoughts will proceed out of it.

Genesis 11:6. Our imagination without the restraint of knowledge and wisdom is a dangerous thing. Our imagination opens our minds to all things and ideas: both good ideas and bad ideas. Bad ideas and thoughts can lead us to all types of sin and being disobedient to God. These sins can include adultery, envy, stealing, hating, and even killing to name a few. This is what happen to the people that built the Tower of Babel. The people used their imagination to build the great Tower of Babel, but they did not use wisdom.

Genesis 11:4. A free, democratic Government is good, but what about freedom and a Government that is without God?

Proverbs 29:15. It is natural for a mother’s love to be forgiving and not judging. At the same time a mother’s love should not just accept anything that a son or daughter does as OK. A mother must provide correction to her children when they are wrong. She still loves them, but she does have a responsibility to nurture and reproof a child. A child that is just left alone to do what he or she wants will become a shame to their mother ( Proverbs 29:15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame”).

Romans 1:32. The nature vs nurture debate is usually all about justifying someone’s bad behavior. This type of argument operates on a bad premise, namely that there is no God. The nature position declares that a person was just born bad. God did not make us to be bad, to sin and be disobedient to Him. The nurture position is that a person became bad because of his environment. This argument really boils down to “the devil made me do it.” This argument is in error as we always have a choice.

Romans 1:21. The nature vs nurture debate is based on vain imagination lacking the knowledge of God. Now why do I say this? Many great scholars have studied this argument, but did they consider the all-powerful nature of God as a factor in influencing the nature of a person? If you make the argument that it is just in someone's nature to be a thief or a murderer, this argument implies that God is not all-powerful. If you take the argument that a person is nurtured by their environment to be a homosexual or habitual liar, again, how can God be all-powerful and this argument be true?

2 Kings 17:4. We have to believe all of God's word not just some of it. What many of us do is selectively believe part of God's word. It is easy to believe that God is a god of love and that He is a provider.  What is not easy to accept is that God is a righteous God. In His righteousness He cannot tolerate things that are not of Him. This includes all types of sin to include hate, placing other things above Him, envy, lusts of the flesh, pride, and much more. When we are in sin we will harden ourselves against God because we desire to continue in our sin.

Psalms 101:4. If you display selfish behavior with God or your neighbor, God will not put up with you for very long. Because God is a righteous God, He cannot be in the presence of the proud. The proud place more honor on themselves than God. God counts this type of person as wicked and He will not know him. Neither will God put up with a proud person that slanders his neighbor. God will not suffer anyone that has a proud heart against God or his fellowman (Psalms 101:3-4).

Proverbs 3:5. God's plan is for us to trust completely in Him for all of our needs. This is the Christian definition of trust. He desires us to continually acknowledge Him and stay in close fellowship in Him. When we go against His plan and trust solely in our own understanding (be self-centered), God considers our self-centered actions wicked. Because God is a righteous God, he must separate himself from wickedness. To avoid separation from God we must put His wisdom above ours and stop being self-centered.

Nehemiah 9:17. From God's perspective, He must be amazed at the choices we make because of our sin nature. This was the case with the Jews when Moses led them out bondage. The Jews soon after being led into the wilderness decided to rebel with the express purpose of returning to their bondage in Egypt. Nehemiah 9:17 says, "...and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage..." This is way the sin nature in all of us desires to act. Our sin nature desires to rebel against God and return to the bondage of sin.