sermon-illustrations
Curated Sermon Illustrations on Humanity
Explore powerful illustrations on humanity. Discover stories, analogies, humor and more as you illustrate the timeless truths from scripture.
Featured Illustration
Humanity’s Sinfulness & a Toll Experiment
There’s a somewhat naïve belief among some that, in general, most people are inherently good. While many Christians may not fully embrace John Calvin’s doctrine of total depravity (which I believe is often misunderstood), most of us understand that the stain of sin prevents us from consistently being “good people.” Interestingly, an experiment conducted in the summer of 1970 provides support for the argument that people are not as good as we might like to think, particularly when no one is watching.
In Delaware, an experiment was conducted on the state’s turnpike, operating under the honor system for 20 days. Drivers who didn’t have exact change for the toll booths were allowed to take return envelopes and mail in the money. However, of the more than 26,000 envelopes taken, only 582 were returned, as reported by the Associated Press. Even more surprisingly, some of the returned envelopes contained nothing but stamps and scraps of paper instead of the toll money. The experiment ended up costing the state around $4,000 (in 1970 dollars), not counting the lost tolls.
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