Turn

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices." (Zechariah 1:4)

I've been doing some reading. I recommend it. The author, Martin Davie, argues that modern morality has two strands. Strand one is authenticity of life. In other words, the modern mind thinks that to be moral is to act out fully the person that you perceive yourself to be - to be fully you. Strand two is authentication. In other words, the moral responsibility of institutions is to validate the person I perceive myself to be.

As a confused oldie, this makes a lot of sense. It explains why my children are horrified when I deign to disagree with their approach to their friends ever more confusing sex lives. I am not being irrational, I am being immoral. There is no room for argument. If I disagree with a person's lifestyle choices then I am rejecting them as a person,  I am failing in my moral duty to bless their choices. My only avenue of critique is to complain that they are not being true to themselves. All other critiques are morally abhorrent. 

Now to my mind this is absurd. It is God who determines moral right and wrong, not me. I have absolutely no choice in the matter at all. And God determines this for my good, so I can turn to Him and be saved. Unless I see my moral depravity I have no hope. When I do, I have an offer not just of forgiveness but of joy everlasting.

And the really sad thing is that I can see no middle ground between my view and theirs.  One of us is wrong. If it is me then my life has been a waste, but if it's them then theirs will be, and not just now but into eternity. So I am stuck. However stupid they think I am I have to proclaim that God's standards have a hold on their lives and not their own ones. To do so risks rejection and infamy, but not to do so denies them the chance to repent. 

I wonder where else this is true?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

War

Image
And they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, ‘We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.’ (1:11) Now that's odd. I can't imagine that there has been a time in history when the world was all at rest and in peace. Even Jesus, the prince of peace, promises 'wars and rumours of wars'. So what's going on? Honestly, I've no idea. Is the whole earth the whole known earth maybe? The flood story feels that way so why not this one. Or is it a time of much smaller population when the whole earth could be at peace? That seems a little more likely. A wave of conquest by a great power is followed by a time of calm before the next wave.  In either case it is yet another example of how absurd is the idea that religion causes wars (I mean - the most deadly wars in history had nothing religious about them at all). Human beings in greed or pride or fear or folly cause wars. They may blame religion or use...
Read more

Blinded

The LORD was very angry with your forefathers (Zechariah 1v2) It seems it is the LORD we need to deal with, not our ancestors. They were held responsible for their own actions and we are responsible for ours. To start making reparations for the actions of our predecessors is stepping into God's territory, mistaken at best, at worse pride and folly. It is far too easy to be alert to the sins of the past and entirely blind to the sins of the present.  I am willing to bet that those who gave money to the Church that was earned by slavery thought that they were doing a good thing, and had a blind spot to their own sins, as a result of their own society. Instead of trying to make good their mistake, maybe we should be looking at ourselves and asking what is our blind spot, where are we caught up by culture. Where are we following the crowd rather than listening to God?
Read more

Dream

Image
During the night I had a vision (Zechariah 1:8) Well, oddly, so did I. The difference is that mine was a waking dream. I know it doesn't really count but it did involve some weird and uncomfortable images: a very steep narrow stairwell, a child made out of sticks, and a life-threatening fall. I reckon the stairwell came from our Istanbul trip, but the others were more likely related to sending my eldest lad off to far flung countries today.  I wonder where Zechariah's arose. The local trees coming into bloom maybe, the warriors going out to battle and the horrors of exile in a foreign land. Wherever they came from, it seems clear that God was using them to speak both to the people at the time and to us.  And mine? Well I suspect it's more reminder than warning. 'Know that saying goodbye really does stretch your faith, even if you don't feel it on the surface - put your son in my hands for I am ready to save, not just now but each day. And the stick boy? No idea - I...
Read more