If It Walks Like Sin and Talks Like Sin...

In light of recent events in the news I felt like reposting this from last year. It is almost a year to the day and nothing changes , there is nothing new under the sun as Qoheleth once said in Ecclesiastes. The only thing different between modern time and all the other eras in human history is we get the news instantly now...and boy, do we get a lot of it too. From the local folks to the "leaders" of our country.

Adultery, Sexual Perversion, Murder, Denying God, Abortion, Corrupt Leadership, False Teachers, Haughtiness, Idolatry, Covetousness, Greed, Lust, Assault, Violence, False Accusations, False Witness, Extortion, Bribery, Blackmail, Arrogance, Sorcery, Hate, Cruelty, Hypocrisy, Disobedience, Conceit, Fraud, etc, etc, etc.

Sin has fallen off radar in our modern culture when it comes to fashionable terminologies. In the Church’s battle over ambivalence with our postmodern culture it has become unfashionable to use words like sin, repent, apostasy, and in due course…salvation. The world doesn’t seem to care and doesn’t seem to notice sin. Only backwoods anti-intellectuals use words like sin or so the culture says. We are sending a huge portion of our recent generations directly to Hell never having known better because many people that do know or should know do not correct misconceptions. It is all because certain words are not trendy and all because certain ideas are so “yesterday”. People are too busy trying to make friends instead of trying to convert them and correct their misunderstandings. The churches that do bend to the trend end up sacrificing a huge portion of proper doctrine and proper theology catering to people that are often times indifferent and only looking for meaningless spirituality that has no god behind it. Either that or they want a god that fits their schedule and their needs so that it doesn't inconvenience them.

Sin is no longer a moral or spiritual bankruptcy, it is now a disease or a condition that is an outcropping of our ego, superego or our id (or whatever the shrinks/quacks are calling it this month). According to the experts it is a disorder that is not our own fault. We need not take accountability for this disorder because it was brought on by parents that overindulged/under indulged us with materialism because they didn’t know any better. Good thing we do, right? Sin is now a medical condition treatable with antidepressants, psychotropic drugs or just plain narcotics to help you either forget about it or dull your senses the same way wine would have "back in the day".

The love affair with sin didn’t end, it just changed names. When it changed names it stopped having a relevance and connotation as something negative. It no longer required an atoning sacrifice according to our culture (if they had their way they would say it never was necessary). It no longer required judgment. If an action really wasn’t wrong in the eyes of the people why would it need to be judged? Why would it require justice? Man defined the terms and thereby defined the meaning. If men said it was okay, then it was okay, wasn’t it? If its meaning was morally neutral who would care what you did. Does this sound familiar?

"It's a victimless crime. I'm not really hurting anyone"

"I'd never intentionally hurt someone"............how about unintentionally?

Things have ceased to have any solid meaning thereby not requiring a definitive and decisive reaction or a decisive punishment. If you haven't gotten punished then you're not wrong, right? According to our cultures twisted philosophy the perpetrators have all become victims. No one is at fault for anything anymore. Our disorders are not the by-product of our actions but rather a product of a society that neglected us or treated us unfairly. No one ever directly gets blamed at and individual level and held accountable for their actions. Only large nebulous generalized entities are blamed, "they", "them", "the right", "the left", "the fundamentalists", etc.

...and so it goes.

The terms change and out goes division and divisiveness, and in comes diversity. Out goes God’s grace and mercy and in comes man’s “rights” and self-aggrandizement. Out goes love for your neighbor and in comes “every man for himself”. Out goes optimism and in comes cynicism. Love is out, hate is in. Tolerance is acceptable but only until you start infringing on my opinions, my life and my well-being…never mind you. The "I" and "me" are more important than the "you" and the "we".

In our consumer society we must always have the “newest” everything even the newest terms, slang and jargon. Unfortunately, along with these terms come ideas that are destroying us and doing it with as smile. Diversity, fairness, tolerance, rights, etc are some of these terms to name a few. These terms in many cases were originally created and used for good purposes but like everything else Satan has gotten his unholy claws on, they have become twisted and misused.

It is just like a consumer society to toss something in the garbage can after it has lost its appeal or perceived relevance. When something is worn out or deemed old it is thrown out and replaced. These current terms will change again in the near future. Evil never rests and continues to change and morph so to be unrecognizable except to an extremely discerning eye. We as believers must stay vigilant and call people out when we know what somethings is. This is especially true when our culture tries to call it something it is not and mislabel it purposely to serve their own end (or the Devil's). Evil is still evil. Good is still good.

"Woe to those that call evil good and good evil" Isaiah 5:20

It may have a thousand other "nicer" and "trendier" names or technical diagnoses but if it walks like a sin and talks like a sin...

Its like the three monkeys holding their eyes, ears and mouth. You can pretend sin doesn't exist, you can pretend not to hear it, you may deny speaking it, or seeing it...but it is still there. We as humans must come to grips with the fact that wickedness dwells in the hearts of all people. What makes the difference is if we allow it to stay there or if it gets replaced. What we replace it with is crucial. If we replace it with more things of the world (therapy, psychoanalysis) we doom ourselves. If we replace it with the things of God, with Christ, with the holy things we are on our way to true recovery and true deliverance