The absence of moral absolutes

 Dallas Willard begins his excellent book, The Divine Conspiracy, by telling about a fighter pilot practicing a high-speed maneuver. She turned the controls for what she thought would be a steep ascent and flew straight into the ground. She did not realize that she had been flying upside down. What a parable that is for many in our world today.

We live in a time where there are no absolute moral standards.  There was a time when the church, the culture, the family and education taught moral values alongside theology and mathematics. Those days are long past. In fact, if the educational system tried to impose any sense of moral values on its students they would likely soon find themselves in court. Much of the church has abandoned sound biblical teaching on moral issues as well and has chosen to tickle the ears of their listeners, Even many families have given up and have decided to let their children decide for themselves concerning moral issues.

There was an episode on the old Andy Griffith show when Opie made friends with a hobo played by Buddy Epsen. The hobo tried to convince Andy that he should let Opie make his own choices in life when Andy replied, "Nah, I'm afraid it don't work that way. You can't let a young 'un decide for himself. He'll grab at the first flashy thing with shiny ribbons on it, then when he finds out there's a hook in it, it's too late. The wrong ideas come packaged with so much glitter, it's hard to convince him that other things might be better in the long run and all a parent can do is say, "Wait. Trust me" and try to keep temptation away." More families need to follow Andy's advice. Children need parents who will teach them the difference between right and wrong.

The educational system is even worse. They may teach courses on philosophy and discuss the issues of good and evil, but they do not dare state that certain actions are evil while others are good. They certainly can't include questions on an exam that asks what behaviors are good and which ones are evil. In our postmodern world, such questions are left up to the individual, and no one has the right to say that any individual's choice is wrong.

Of course, this only leads to chaos. If everyone is permitted to choose for themselves what is right and wrong, chaos is bound to reign supreme. College campuses, especially the Ivy League schools, seen to be a hotbed for anti-Semitic activity today forcing Jewish students to leave school in fear of their lives. According to reports, Columbia University does not want police on campus, but they are also unable to guarantee the safety of their Jewish students.

This is only one example of what happens when there are no standards of right and wrong, but it is certainly a troubling one. We are now a nation of entitled people who believe they are free to live as they choose with no one questioning anything they do while at the same time depending on the government to subsidize their lifestyles.

We need to be in prayer for the nation of Israel and the Jewish people around the world. No nation has ever turned its back on Israel and thrived. We need to pray for peace for the nation of Israel, safety for Jewish people wherever they live, and that our nation will once again discover that God has set standards of right and wrong.

Changes in life

When you've lived 75 years you have seen a lot of changes. Just in technology alone the changes I've seen are remarkable. My first cell phone was a bag phone. It probably weighed 5-6 pounds, not exactly something you would carry on your hip or in your pocket. My first Internet provider used dial-up with all the screeches and bongs when you called in. I think they only had a couple of lines at first, and when the kids got home from school you couldn't get on again until about 10:00 PM. When they added 7-8 new phone numbers you kept trying until you finally got through on one. At least it was free! When I began my pastoral ministry I used an Underwood typewriter to type out the bulletins and sermon outlines. I used a lot of White-Out those days. A few years later I bought a word processor and thought things couldn't get any better.

I still remember my first computer. When I decided to add Microsoft Office it came on (I think) 12 floppy disks. The computer tried all day to download it until it finally ran out of memory. I had to have more memory added to the computer before I could even download the program! My first computer class was on DOS, and I'm glad I don't have to remember how to use that.

Life is much easier with high speed Internet, software programs you can just download off the Internet, cell phones with more options and memory than the earlier computers. Change is often a good thing that makes life a lot better. But, not all change is positive.

During these same 75 years I've seen many changes that are not for the better. Much of society today does not know how to relate to one another. We no longer discuss differences; we shout at one another, take up weapons and fight. People are easily offended today and demand their rights even if those rights trample on the rights of others. We used to have statesmen and women elected to political offices; now we have people who are totally unqualified to hold any office making decisions that have negative impacts on the well-being of our country. Our national debt continues to skyrocket, and our politicians can't seem to spend money fast enough. Evil runs rampant in the world, and many can't even agree on what evil is or if it even exists. 

When I was a child the church was often the center of activity especially in the smaller communities in which I lived. Stores were closed on Sundays. Schools didn't schedule activities on Sundays or even Wednesday nights. Even non-Christians knew much about what the Bible taught. None of this is true today. It seems every religion is welcomed except for Christianity. Christian values and beliefs are ridiculed in almost every arena of life today. The church is looked upon as a relic of the past, and the Bible is viewed as a book of myths by many.

No, not all change is good. Unless and until we can see Christian values and beliefs become accepted once again in America we will continue to see our society decline. Nearly 20 years ago Robert Bork wrote a book called Slouching toward Gomorrah which issued a warning about the direction our nation was heading. I'm afraid we are no long slouching our way to Gomorrah; we are running full-speed towards it. The only way we can reverse this is to see revival break out in our churches.

 

Avoid the very appearance of evil

1 Thessalonians 5: 22 reads, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." (KJV) Elsewhere in the Scriptures it explains that by doing this, and living lives pleasing to God, that no one will be able to accuse us of evil. More than one pastor has been accused of wrong behavior who may or may not have been guilty, but he had placed himself in a position where he could not defend himself or prove his innocence. It APPEARED he had done wrong, and to his accusers he was automatically guilty.

We live in a time today in which a mere accusation is enough to convict you in the court of public opinion. We saw this clearly in the confirmation hearing of Judge Kavanaugh when various charges of misconduct were made against him. Although not a legal trial, we saw the doctrine of innocent until proven guilty turned upside down. Unsubstantiated charges nearly cost him a seat on the Supreme Court, and more importantly, did great harm to his reputation and had to have been very hurtful to his family. The media, Hollywood, and most Democrats all pronounced him guilty simply because he had been accused.

One of the interesting things about that situation is that some of the same people who were quick to condemn Kavanaugh earlier made fun of Vice-President Pence for his policy of not dining with a woman alone who is not his wife. The VP was following the teaching of Scripture presented above to ensure that no one could ever accuse him of misconduct.

Another interesting thing about all this is now complaints of misconduct are being made against Joe Biden as he plans to announce his candidacy for president. Many of those who were certain of Kavanaugh's guilt because claims were made against him are now defending Biden against his accusers. To his credit, Biden has issued an apology for not respecting people's personal space, but some say that isn't enough. Because he has been accused he is not a suitable candidate in the eyes of some. Personally, despite his frequent gaffes, I hope he does run. At this point he would be the only adult on the Democrat side running for president and the only one who could work both sides of the aisle.

As a pastor I had the policy of never being alone with a woman who was not my wife. In time I included never being alone with children without other adults present. This was not because I did not trust myself but because I know how some people sometimes think. Billy Graham had the same policy throughout his ministry for the same reason. The policy never created any difficulties in my ability to minister to women or children, and it protected me and them from any gossip or false accusations.

There's a reason we have the "Baptist side-hug," but that may not be good enough in the 21st century. After Biden's apology Nancy Pelosi said he needed to join the "straight-arm club" and change his behavior.

Pastor, what policies do you have in place to protect yourself against false claims of misconduct? Have you discussed these with your leadership? As a pastor, I not only talked about these policies with our leaders, I shared them with our congregation. I made sure they not only knew what my policies were but also why I had them.

What makes you angry?

I began my devotional reading this year by re-reading The Cross of Christ by John R. W. Stott.  I'm about half-way through the book and finding so much that I've missed in previous readings.  In my reading today I came across his thoughts on the doctrine of propitiation.  I marked these words.

First, the reason why a propitiation is necessary is that sin arouses the wrath of God.  This does not mean (as animists fear) that he is likely to fly off the handle at the most trivial provocation, still less that he loses his temper for no apparent reason at all.  For there is nothing capricious or arbitrary about the holy God.  Nor is he ever irascible, malicious, spiteful or vindictive.  His anger is neither mysterious nor irrational.  It is never unpredictable, but always predictable, because it is provoked by evil and by evil alone...What provokes our anger (injured vanity) never provokes his; what provokes his anger (evil) seldom provokes ours (173).

As a younger man my anger got the best of me more than once.  I would like to say I've slain that beast, but it would not be true.  I've tamed it quite a bit, but it's still not dead.  I would also like to say that I now have only righteous indignation, but that also would not be true.  Most of the time when I get angry it is because of injured vanity.  When I was saved many of the things that were temptations for me were removed, but God has left this challenge to remind me that I will always be dependent upon him, and I'm thankful that he has done a great work in this area of my life and continues that work today.

Unfortunately, I meet a lot of pastors who also struggle with anger issues.  A few times it has almost been amusing to watch such pastors who were confronted with their anger issue to demonstrate it's reality through their rejection of that confrontation.  Of course, this is not limited to pastors but can be found in all Christians.  I have seen and heard some truly horrible things in church gatherings that demonstrate how much of a problem anger is in people's lives.  As I reflected on Stott's words I realized that most of the conflict and anger that erupts in churches is seldom about evil; it is nearly always about injured vanity.  Somebody didn't get their way, and a firestorm ignites.

The Bible does not forbid anger.  It tells us that we can become angry and yet not sin.  I have to agree with Stott that the anger that is allowed should be towards evil.  We should get angry over the violence that occurs in our streets.  We should be angry at the drug trafficking that destroys lives.  The church should be angry at the exploitation of women and young people in the sex trafficking that occurs today.  We should be angry at discrimination in all its forms.  We should be angry at the death of so many unborn children through legalized abortion.  We should be angry at the number of children who go to bed every night hungry while living in the wealthiest nation in the world.  We should be angry at the lack of moral restraints that passes as entertainment today.  We should be angry at a government that has usurped the role of God in many people's lives, at the political correctness in our society that tells a child he cannot talk about Jesus in school, and at political leaders who fatten their own checkbooks while ignoring the needs of the people who elected them to office.

But, we aren't.  Most political leaders know they can ignore our concerns because many of us seldom vote, and if we do, like most Americans we vote our pocketbook and not our values.  Seldom do we hear preaching from our pulpits that addresses these issues.  Our board meetings and business meetings seldom include any discussion about how to address these issues in our communities.    We are content to talk about whether the pastor should get a one percent or a one-and-a-half percent pay increase and what color carpet should we install in the sanctuary.  And, too often, if our suggestion isn't approved, that's when we get angry.

The church faces some real challenges today, and if we are going to meet those challenges we are going to have to get angry, real angry but only at the things that makes God angry.  God's wrath is directed at the evil that harms his creation and the persons for whom Christ gave his life.  When we get angry enough at that evil that we actually begin to try to do something about it the church will once again become what God intended for it to be and genuine revival will break out.

More than ever we need to remember the reason for Christmas

For the past few days my wife and I have been visiting our son and his family near Philadelphia.  It was our Christmas with them.  We exhanged presents, ate some great meals, and really enjoyed being with each other.  In view of the horrible tragedy in Connecticut, my time with our grandchildren was even more special than usual.  As I looked each one in the face I could not imagine the pain I would feel if for some reason they were not here.  Like most Americans I have prayed for the families and close friends who have been impacted by this horrible event.  I listened as President Obama spoke to the nation, and then to the people in Newtown, Connecticut and felt that he has never spoken more eloquently.  I pray that the people most impacted by this event received the comfort and encouragement his words were intended to convey.

Like so many, I can't make any sense out of this tragedy.  The killer evidently left no note so we don't know what motivated him to commit such a horrible crime against so many innocent people.  Perhaps as the investigation continues we'll learn more about his reasons for his actions, if there are any reasons. 

A second challenge is determining what we as a nation needs to do to prevent this from happening in the future.  Of course, there are renewed calls for stricter gun laws, and even some lawmakers who have opposed such laws in the past are announcing they are rethinking their position.  That is understandable in light of the events of the past weekend, but my fear is that stricter gun laws really won't do anything to make people safer.  They may give people the appearance that they are safer, but the fact is such laws will do little to make our lives safer.  The problem with gun laws is that the people who promote them forget that evil people don't care about such laws.  Such laws penalize law-abiding people and do nothing to to deter those people bent on harming others.  Do I believe the average American needs an automatic weapon?  No, but how many hundreds of thousands of these weapons already exist, and how difficult will it be for a criminal to obtain one?  Will the passing of any law change that?  Very doubtful.  Therefore, how will such laws make our lives any more secure?

It could be argued that stricter gun laws would at least be a deterrant to someone who wanted to harm others.  Timothy McVeigh killed and injured hundreds of people with a bomb made out of fertilizer.  On 9/11 terrorists killed thousands of people with planes they secured by the use of box cutters.  Guns are not needed by someone determined to inflict pain and death on others.

The fact is that the one thing that so many do not want to recognize is that evil exists in the world.  We live in a time when people want to argue that there is no absolute right and wrong, but such people are hard pressed to defend that position when something happens such as the killing of innocent children.  Evil does exist, and there are evil people in the world today who seek to harm others, and they will do their best to carry out their plans by whatever way they can find whether that is with a gun, a knife, a ball bat, a box cutter, or bags of fertilizer.  No law can address evil no matter how much we might wish otherwise.

Only one thing can conquer evil, and that brings us to the message of Christmas.  Jesus Christ came to overcome the evil that exists in the world and in the hearts of mankind.  Born in a simple manger he was eventually crucified on a cross to offer all mankind the transformation that we all need.  No law can transform the heart and soul of a human being.  Laws can only attempt to regulate the sinful nature that we are all born with, and as we see all too often they fail at such regulation.  Only Christ can change a person's heart and transform evil into good.

This is a message that has been removed from the public square in the past few years.  We've eliminated Christmas programs in our school or at least replaced them with holiday programs.  Companies order their employees to say "Happy holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" so as not to offend their customers.  Nativity scenes have been removed from government grounds.  Christian values and teachings are ridiculed and mocked in much of the media today.  I could go on listing the assault on Christianity, but all we are left with now is the hope that more laws will somehow address evil when we all know they can't.  Today, more than ever we need to remember the reason for Christmas.  Christ came to offer the things we need more than ever: hope, peace, love, forgiveness, and transformation.  If we can help even one person receive these this Christmas season we will have given him or her the greatest gift they will ever receive.