[Biblemat] S) IS ANYTHING SINFUL?

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
recent files.  Use to the glory of God.

IS ANYTHING SINFUL?

     For several decades America has been fed a steady diet
of moral relativity, going back beyond Joseph Fletcher's
Situation Ethics (1966).  The teaching is that there are no mor-
al absolutes.  The theory contradicts itself in its opening statement, 
because one must absolutely accept that there are
no moral absolutes.  But, aside from its self-contradiction, the ethical 
philosophy asserts that morals are personal and 
individual.  What is right for one person may not be right for
another and what is sinful to one person may not be sinful to
another.  Each person becomes a moral law to himself and
one cannot make absolute moral judgments.

     Despite assertions that one believes in moral relativity, no
one practices it consistently.  Try applying moral relativity to
such politically charged issues as racism.  Does anyone be-
lieve that our media would tolerate moral relativity on racism?
Is racism sinful for some individuals but acceptable for others?  Is each 
individual allowed to decide for himself whet-
her or not he will be racist and then everyone told not to jud-
ge (condemn) each other?  Are we taught to be tolerant of
racists or that racists shold be tolerant of those of us who
choose not to be racists?  In an era of moral relativity, the consistent 
application of the moral dictum would be accept-
ance and tolerance of racists and racism.  But, the fact is that
no one can practice moral relativity consistently.  There are
always some things that the moral relativist wants to say are
always wrong -- whether it be racism or homophobia.

     What moral relativism is reacting to is the Christian moral
standard that teaches that ethics are determined by the revel-
ation of God's Will.  The moral relativist cannot accept that
God revealed Himself and gave absolute moral laws to govern
human conduct.

     Nowhere is the conflict between moral relativity and Christ-
ianity more in conflict than in sexual ethics.  The New Testa-
ment condemns as sinful fornication (1 Cor. 6:12-20), adultery
(Rom. 13:9), homosexuality (1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:9,10), lustful
leering (Matt. 5:27,28), etc.  Modern ethics in America treat
fornication as a rite of passage for those who enter puberty.
Monogamy is thought to be its own punishment (because one
does not "enjoy" sexual experiences with whomever he wish-
es).  Homosexuality is the natural sexual expression of a seg-
ment of the population which is "programed" differently than
the majority of humanity.  One is to be concerned, not about
homosexuality, but homophobia.  Pornography is protected
under the first amendment rights and men are expected to
look lustfully upon naked women.  The Christian and moral
relativism are two world views with conflicting ethics.

     The result of modern relativity is that nothing is right or
wrong.  Who can unequivocally say that murdering a human
being is wrong (think about abortion)?  Who can say that stealing is always 
wrong?  Who can say that adultery is sinful?  Who can say drinking alcoholic 
beverages or experi-
menting with marijuana is wrong?  On the other hand, who can say that loving 
one's neighbor is right and good, that helping the needy is a moral virtue, 
that honesty and marital
fidelity are good?  Are they not also just one's personal choice?  The 
problem of moral relativity is that the philoso-
phy blurs the lines between good and evil.

     This blurring of moral standards has weakened society.
Abortion on demand has led to disrespect for human life.  Our society is 
actually arguing about whether or not partial
birth abortions should be legal!  In this reprehensible act, a 
doctor pulls a late-term baby out of the womb feet first until
little by the head is inside the mother.  Then he pokes forceps
through the baby's skull and uses an instrument to suck out
the brains and crush the skull.  And our enlightened society
cannot see anything wrong with the practice!  The same moral relativity that 
introduced abortion on demand is now
fighting for legalized euthanasia.  Disrespect for life on both
ends -- at birth and at the end of life -- has led to disrespect
for life in the middle.  We live in a society of drive-by shoot-
ings and almost nightly murders in major cities because a 
drug deal went bad or two people living together got in a fight.  Our society 
is breeding pedophiles and child abusers.

     Not until men become convinced that something is broken
will they look for its cure.  At the present, the majority seem to think that 
the moral relativity approach to ethics is better
then the ethics of Christianity.  But, men do not have to learn
to be content in the society which is.  There can be a better
society.

     The good news of the gospel is that society can be chang-
ed through the influence of the preaching of the gospel.  Men
and women can be taught moral responsibility to their Creat-
or and given the revelation from God that reveals what is right and wrong.  
Men can be held accountable for their diso-
bedience to God's Word with reference to "thou shalt not
kill" (even with respect to abortion) the same as they are held
accountable for their disobedience to the command, "Thou
shalt not steal."

     Those of us who were raised in an America that was deep-
ly influenced by Christian ethics can remember the days when we left home 
without locking our doors, parked our car
with the windows down because of how hot it was, thought
that one who was unfaithful to his mate in marriage was guilty
of immorality, and expected children to be reared by both of
their natural parents.  What was can become what is, if one
will reject the world view of our age with its relative ethics and return to 
the Christian world view with its ethical teach-
ings.  What kind of society do you wish for your children and
grandchildren?   ----- Mike Willis in Truth Magazine, Vol. 51, No. 3, March 
2007.   </HTML>
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