Right, Wrong, Sin……and Forgiveness

In our modern society, one of the worst things that you can do is to tell someone that something that they have done, or even worse, something that they are still doing…………is wrong. You can call an idea wrong and you will meet a lot of pushback. But, if you call a behaviour wrong, you will face an entirely different level of hostility. Tell someone that their belief in God is misguided and you will likely enter a spirited debate. Tell someone that it is wrong for two men to have sex and you will face name calling and may even be ostracised socially or have your business……..or even your state boycotted.

Even obviously wrong behaviors like looting a store are becoming……..ok……tolerated……….not wrong. Shoplifting less than $900 is, in many jurisdictions, not prosecuted. Rioters looting stores are rarely pursued. Wrecking Portland is a legitimate form of public discourse. Some politicians even verbally give the rioters a pass……….or post their bail.

We are entering an era where the realm of behaviors that are “wrong” is shrinking. We are, slowly, one offense at a time, removing the very idea of wrong from our world. The internet and the media are leading the charge.

I’m getting a little too close to politics here……I apologize. I’ll get to the point.

Calling out wrong behavior………and the guilt it causes……is becoming socially unacceptable.

To take it one step further, feeling guilty…….or worse, making the other guy feel guilty………is becoming more wrong……….than being wrong.

I think that there is a link here…….between wrong behavior, guilt, redemption, and secular humanism. If guilt is a bad thing……..and wrong behavior causes guilt………..then if we can eliminate the idea of wrong behavior, we no longer need to suffer from guilt. Without guilt we no longer need forgiveness.

To take it one step further……..if we do something wrong…….if we are guilty…….we need forgiveness……..and we need to change. But, if there is no wrong……….there is no guilt……..there is no need for forgiveness. And if there is no need for forgiveness……….there is no need for Jesus………or God for that matter. So……..if we can completely eliminate wrong……..if we can define it out of existence……….then we can eliminate guilt and confidently take charge of the world. We can get out from under the thumb of God……..and all of those rules……..all of those wrong things that restrict us………that make us feel bad when we do them.

In order for man to be the ultimate ruler of the universe, we must either be perfect………or we must bring our vision of perfect into alignment with our condition and our appetites. We must either do what is right …….or redefine what right is……..until it agrees with our appetites………until the things that are wrong……….become right.

We don’t talk about it……..but eliminating the concept of “wrong” is a central requirement of the theology of secular humanism.

In a Christian world, right and wrong, are defined externally…….by God. Objective right and wrong guide our appetites and actions. In a secular humanist world, our appetites and actions guide our definition of right and wrong. Right and wrong become whatever we need them to be in the moment.

In an increasingly secular humanist world, self actualization, our rights, our appetites, our entitlements………..are becoming more important than right and wrong. These ideas are not, in themselves, evil……….. but they cannot define right and wrong.

In a Christian world, wrong leads to guilt, which leads to repentance, which leads to forgiveness, which leads to growth. Secular humanism rejects guilt…….and in the process discards wrong……….and Christianity with it.

The progressive elimination of wrong puts us on a slippery slope. When we turn something wrong into something right, we make it easier to turn something even wronger into something right.

We are like the frog in the pan of ever hotter water………sitting there until we cook.

So……the challenge for us is this:

Pick an act that is OK today but that wasn’t OK 50 years ago:

Sitting in front of your TV for one evening and watching 10 or 20 killings and 10 or 20 thinly veiled sexual encounters.

3000 abortions……today.

Parents turning the socialization of our kids over to the internet.

Government that turns a blind eye to crime.

Are these things really right………or is the water getting warmer?

Wrong causes guilt…..and guilt causes pain. But pain is what tells us to get out of the pan of hot water.

Christianity tells us to get out of the pan. Secular humanism tells us that the water really isn’t that hot.

in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Paul. ESV

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James, ESV