Here is the bottom line when considering a person’s heart and its ability to discern truth on its own.

Every man is a liar, and no man is good. The only thing that can come forth from man’s heart is evil. Therefore, we cannot expect to find truth as a natural product of our mind or feelings.

The source of man’s inability to follow Scriptures, as a result, is man’s own heart. It is from man’s mind that false ideas and doctrines spring.

According to Scriptures, we must first control our minds and then set them to understand what Yahweh has to say. This instruction means that we must approach Scriptures with the attitude that allows the book to tell us what it is trying to say, not superimposing our own beliefs or assumptions upon it.