A heart condition

For the past several years, there has been a great deal of debate in Christendom about the state of a person's heart. There are people who insist that the heart is evil and can quote scripture to prove their point. There are people who insist that God gives a new heart and therefore the heart is good and can be trusted (and they can quote scriptures to prove their point). The debate frequently erupts on some of the Internet forums that I read.

Recently I was reading some of the parables that Jesus taught. A familiar story about seed, about different kinds of soil, and the resulting interaction between the seed and the soil caught my eye. Jesus had told a story to the crowds of people following Him about a man who sowed the same kind of seed on different kinds of soil with different results. Later the disciples asked Him the meaning of the story. Here are the words of Jesus:

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

As I was reading the words of Jesus, the last line leaped off the page. In order for the word of God (the seed) to bring forth fruit, it must be heard with a good and noble heart. Of course I had some immediate questions.

1. Since the seed (the logos, the word of God) finds fruitfulness only in a good and noble heart, are the people that insist the heart is wicked unable to receive the word of God in a way that results in fruitfulness?
2. Why/how does the devil have access to the heart of those who are compared to the wayside (or path)? Is their heart evil? Does that evil-ness allow access?
3. Do the first three soils correlate with the condition of a person's heart? Are these the people who insist that their heart is evil?

I don't profess to have the definitive answers to these questions. However, Jesus words seem to indicate that there is a correlation between the degree of fruitfulness of a person and the condition of their heart. In other words, if one does not have a good and noble heart, then it impossible to provide the incubator that brings the word to complete fruition.