Everyday…we want to know who to blame.
Whatever it might be, whether it’s a crime, act of terror, political scandal, financial rip-off, medical malpractice, or scam, we want answers. Who was responsible for this, what’s being done to bring those guilty to justice and how can it be prevented in the future? Along with these a host of other related questions arise, such as: What other factors contributed to this happening? Are there others involved? What systems failed that should have prevented it?
Our sense of justice can be very strong when we see evil practices going on in our society. And so it should be. Those who are guilty must be brought to justice if our culture is to survive. Any society that has no penalty for wrongdoing is doomed to descend into chaos and lawlessness.
In my last post the focus was on the Church, those of us who had had the Scriptures and known the truth and slipped away from it. Just three or four generations back, there was a Christian consensus within our nation on moral issues. I don’t say we were a “Christian nation” then, but there certainly was at least a general public agreement concerning morality, a common understanding of what was right and what was wrong. As recently as 1950, the words “under God” were added by our government to our pledge of allegiance to the flag. In the early ‘50’s, my mother even taught the Bible in the local public high school! Can you even imagine any these scenarios today?
Jesus compared his followers to salt and light in the world. Salt is a preservative, and the main one in those days without refrigeration, as well as being the chief spice for bringing out the flavor of the food it preserved. Light gives the ability to see things as they really are, that is the knowledge of the truth.
When Christians no longer act as salt and light in their culture, the preserving power is gone, the truth is lost in the shadows and life becomes a search for the missing flavor. In Romans 2:21, 24, it says, “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ...As it is written, ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles [the world] because of you.’”
The Scriptures are teaching here that it is the hypocrisy of those who claim to believe in Christ, yet live like the rest of the world, that causes the world, in general, to disregard, disparage and blaspheme the name of the Lord Jesus. So then, do those who never had a Christian upbringing and were never taught anything about the Bible have an excuse? Even though they may have been negatively influenced by the hypocrisy of so-called Christians, they will still be held accountable for their choices in life. But why?
Once again, the Scriptures give us light. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)
According to this passage, even persons (the world) without any Biblical knowledge have been given sufficient evidence through the created external world and through their own inward understanding to know something about the truth of God and His divine character and therefore to be aware of their ungodliness and deserving of His wrath. Ultimately, every individual becomes responsible for his or her own actions.
What, then, should be the message of the Church to those in the outside world? Simply this: before we seek to offer the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must kindly and firmly make them aware of the sin condition of humanity and their living, as a result, under the wrath of God. Without this element of the whole truth, there really is nothing in their perception from which they need such a great salvation as Jesus offers.
Whatever it might be, whether it’s a crime, act of terror, political scandal, financial rip-off, medical malpractice, or scam, we want answers. Who was responsible for this, what’s being done to bring those guilty to justice and how can it be prevented in the future? Along with these a host of other related questions arise, such as: What other factors contributed to this happening? Are there others involved? What systems failed that should have prevented it?
Our sense of justice can be very strong when we see evil practices going on in our society. And so it should be. Those who are guilty must be brought to justice if our culture is to survive. Any society that has no penalty for wrongdoing is doomed to descend into chaos and lawlessness.
In my last post the focus was on the Church, those of us who had had the Scriptures and known the truth and slipped away from it. Just three or four generations back, there was a Christian consensus within our nation on moral issues. I don’t say we were a “Christian nation” then, but there certainly was at least a general public agreement concerning morality, a common understanding of what was right and what was wrong. As recently as 1950, the words “under God” were added by our government to our pledge of allegiance to the flag. In the early ‘50’s, my mother even taught the Bible in the local public high school! Can you even imagine any these scenarios today?
Jesus compared his followers to salt and light in the world. Salt is a preservative, and the main one in those days without refrigeration, as well as being the chief spice for bringing out the flavor of the food it preserved. Light gives the ability to see things as they really are, that is the knowledge of the truth.
When Christians no longer act as salt and light in their culture, the preserving power is gone, the truth is lost in the shadows and life becomes a search for the missing flavor. In Romans 2:21, 24, it says, “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ...As it is written, ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles [the world] because of you.’”
The Scriptures are teaching here that it is the hypocrisy of those who claim to believe in Christ, yet live like the rest of the world, that causes the world, in general, to disregard, disparage and blaspheme the name of the Lord Jesus. So then, do those who never had a Christian upbringing and were never taught anything about the Bible have an excuse? Even though they may have been negatively influenced by the hypocrisy of so-called Christians, they will still be held accountable for their choices in life. But why?
Once again, the Scriptures give us light. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)
According to this passage, even persons (the world) without any Biblical knowledge have been given sufficient evidence through the created external world and through their own inward understanding to know something about the truth of God and His divine character and therefore to be aware of their ungodliness and deserving of His wrath. Ultimately, every individual becomes responsible for his or her own actions.
What, then, should be the message of the Church to those in the outside world? Simply this: before we seek to offer the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must kindly and firmly make them aware of the sin condition of humanity and their living, as a result, under the wrath of God. Without this element of the whole truth, there really is nothing in their perception from which they need such a great salvation as Jesus offers.
For the honest seeker, however, there may remain the
question, How can a just God condemn someone for breaking a law about which he
had no knowledge? We need to be able to give
answers to those kinds of questions. In
the next post, I’ll attempt to deal with that issue.
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