Is sin just an opinion?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 John 3:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4

More and more our society is losing its connection to moral absolutes. Justin P. McBrayer (a Colorado professor of philosophy) writes recently in the Opinionator column of the New York Times: "What would you say if you found out that our public schools were teaching children it is not true to say that it's wrong to kill people for fun or cheat on tests? Would you be surprised?"

He goes on to describe his visit to his son's Grade 2 classroom where two definitions hung over the bulletin board:

"Fact: Something that is true about a subject and can be tested or proven.

Opinion: What someone thinks, feels or believes."

These two definitions, he points out, leave no room for things that are true even if no once can prove them and things that we believe which can also be proven, like historical facts. He found assignments where kids were asked to categorize statements as facts or opinions. When sorting statements such as  "Copying homework assignments is wrong" and "Cursing in school is inappropriate behaviour" the correct answer was that they were opinions. His conclusion:

"In summary, our public schools teach students that all claims are either facts or opinions and that all value and moral claims fall into the latter camp. The punchline: there are no moral facts. And if there are no moral facts, then there are no moral truths" - reported by Dr. Albert Mohler in "The Briefing 03-20-15," original article:  "Why Our Children Don't Think There Are Moral Facts").

This, of course, is a far cry from what the Bible teaches. Today's reading from 1 John 3 repeats the word "sin" in various forms ten times. Sin, by its very definition, assumes that moral facts (truths) exist:

[Sin - hamartia: to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to wander from the law of Gd; violate God's law.]

What is sin, according to the Bible?

• The verse we're focusing on defines sin as lawlessness or rebellion against God's law - 1 John 3:4.

• Unrestrained talk and foolishness are both called sin - Proverbs 10:19; 24:9.

• Contempt for others is sin - Proverbs 14:21.

• Whatever is not done from faith is sin - Romans 14:23.

• Failing to do something good when we have the ability/opportunity to do it is sin - James 4:17.

• All unrighteousness is sin - 1 John 5:17.

Though governing our lives by these standards may put us increasingly out of step with a world that insists God's standards are mere opinions, I'd rather find myself in the company that John describes at the beginning of the chapter: "called children of God," "like Him," full of the "hope" of seeing Him. As a result I need to line up my life with His standards of purity (1 John 3:1-3) no matter what others think of them.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me grow in my sensitivity and abhorrence to the things You consider sin and to live for the day I see You. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God's contempt

"Ask of Me and I will give you
the nations for your inheritance."
by F. Hanfstaengl - 1894

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 2:1-12

TO CHEW ON:"He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision." Psalm 2:4

If there is one thing we dislike, it is to be laughed at and viewed with contempt.

[contempt: 1] the act or feeling of one who views something as mean, vile, worthless; disdain; scorn. 2] The state of being despised, disgrace, to be held in contempt.]

Thus the label "Divine Contempt" beside Psalm 2:4 in my Thompson Chain Bible  caught my attention. Here are some of the things, I discovered, that evoke God's contempt:

National rulers or political systems that despise God and Messiah.

• David invoked God's scorn on godless nations threatening Israel, her king and the seat of power in Psalm 59:5-8

"But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;
You shall have all the nations in derision."

• In a similar vein, Isaiah said to King Hezekiah when he was threatened by Assyria:

"Because you have prayed to Me against Sennarcherib king of Assyria, this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:
'The virgin, the daughter of Zion
Has despised you, laughter you to scorn...
has shaken her head behind your back...'" see Isaiah 37:18-22

• Our focus verse widens the net to include any nation or king that sets itself against the Lord and His anointed.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
         "The Lord shall hold them ("the nations"..."the kings of the earth") in derision"- Psalm 2:4.

Rulers who refuse to acknowledge God.
"He pours contempt on princes
And causes them to wander in the wilderness
where there is no way" -  Psalm 107:40.

The wicked who appear to prosper despite their godless ways.
In the end, they will experience God's scorn as opposed to those who appeared in their lifetimes to be the underdog. Psalm 73:
"Until I went into the sanctuary of God and understood their end..."
"As a dream when one awakes, so Lord, when you awake, You shall despise their image" - in the context of Psalm 73 especially verse 20 (Psalm 73:20).

His own people who forsake Him.
In case we're getting complacent thinking God's scorn is only visited on those bad guys, here is the sobering warning of Moses to God's own people, who had forgotten God:
"He spurned them ..." Deuteronomy 32:18-19

I ask, do I ever, do we ever put ourselves in a place to be objects of God's contempt? Let's let Proverbs 3:34 be our plumb line in this:

"Surely He scorns the scornful

But gives grace to the humble."

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to live humbly under You, always acknowledging Your ultimate sovereignty in the affairs of this earth — both largely in its kingdoms and particularly in my own life. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.