sin and repentence – Page 4 – Public Christianity

it’s easy to indulge in sin when no one else is looking. We can put on our ‘Sunday’s Best’ and smile in the pew and say “Amen” and later retreat to our homes that we can’t really afford and turn on our television bought on credit or log in online and enjoy the limitless supply of filth anonymously, with no accountability. So what’s to stop us from watching what I described before?

I said, “If we’re going to keep calling ourselves a ‘Christian nation’ we need to start acting like it.” I guess the same thing can be said for a ‘Christian state’. I have a lot of respect for the Mormon religion when it comes to their emphasis on family, despite having zero respect for their doctrine. And despite my joy at taking jabs at the state of Utah, this news shocked me. Actually, no it didn’t. Hotel PPV of pornography is one of the largest segments in that economy, and that’s largely due to the Marriott franchise of hotels. But to see that Utah has the highest per capita online porn subscribership, for such an upright (uptight?) culture, really did come as a surprise.

What’s sad though is how the study tried to paint the issue red and blue as if politics has anything to do with pornography. If you look at the graphic both the top 10 and bottom 10 are pretty evenly split between red and blue states. Even the argument of “the scarcity of adult entertainment outside the home” doesn’t hold water when you see Hawaii and Florida also in the top 10 while Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are on the bottom. You can tell the authors of the study are trying really hard to make this a political and religious issue, given the overwhelming support for California’s Proposition 8 out of Utah and the Mormon Church.

I guess no religion is immune from hypocrisy. So while I’m raging against our choice in television shows, it’s only fair to also rage against our choice of Internet browsing. Glad you’re online and that you’re here, but exercise caution with where you go from here.

“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell” (Mark 9:47)

“It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away.
It’s a slow fade when black and white turn to grey…

People never crumble in a day,
Daddies never crumble in a day,
Families never crumble in a day”
–Slow Fade, Casting Crowns

How did I get here? Have you ever asked yourself that question when stuck in some sin that you just can’t seem to get out of? This song cuts me right to the heart. To be honest, I almost cried the first time I heard it. The description of the song in the liner notes is just as convicting: “This song was inspired by the spreading cancer of moral failure in the fathers of this generation. As believers, we must guard our hearts and understand that no one crashes and burns. They just slowly fade away one little compromise at a time.”

Look around and this becomes painfully clear. One brother in my congregation was just recently caught in the act of adultery by his wife. Another was just caught looking at pornography by his wife. Both bring up the question, what else is going on in my brothers’ and sisters’ lives that I don’t know, that no one else sees. But I can’t be self righteous either. I also need to ask myself, what little compromises am I making? My temper, my language, my lack of patience and kindness- where will they lead if I just let them continue? How slowly will I fade?

“[L]et us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…” (Heb 12:1)

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15)

“Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” (Eph 4:19)