Say What?!

[This is a reposted blog, so it may be a bit dated. However, it is still relevant to our world today.}

If my hair wasn't already thinning, I just might pull it out.

This is a good follow up to my last post on Human Nature.

I don't know why the absurd ignorance of reality constantly paraded before us still surprises me, but sometimes it does. We're corrupt, fallen, selfish people, and without the regeneration and new life given through Jesus Christ we can never really comprehend morality. People can learn good habits and even have good humanitarian reasons why "being good" is, ... well ... good. But depraved minds just don't really get it.

Everyone's favorite "Twilight" star (thankfully the LAST one is out soon. I won't see it, but at least it will finally be over) ... anyway, she was apparently caught in a heated make-out session with the directer of her new film. Not a big shock there. She's 22 and he's 41. Still no real big shock there either, but it gets a little too day-time-TV drama when you learn she has a boyfriend and he has a wife and kids!

Scandalous, even in our rapidly declining society.

The part that just really got me all riled up is a supposed "source"'s take: Apparently the girl "is absolutely devastated." Well, at least she has some conscience left. Let's pray the Holy Spirit can use it to prompt her to receive the Gospel, if there's anyone in her life who will share it.

The source went on to tell People, "It was a mistake and a complete lapse in judgment." (ya think?) "She wasn't having an affair with Rupert. It was just a fleeting moment that shouldn't have happened. She never meant to hurt anyone." We seldom do, but that doesn't change things. Here's the REAL kicker that got me, "She's a good person who just made a bad choice." 

WHAT?! 

OK, I don't want this to be a drama filled, bash on a celeb piece. So let's forget the who we're talking about. The Who doesn't matter.

You don't get to be hot-and-heavy with a guy nearly 2x your age who has a family and say "Oops, I feel bad about it."  You don't accidentally make out with a married man. And a married man sure as heck doesn't accidentally play kissy-face with a 20-something co-worker.

And yet, many still have the audacity to say, "They're really good people at heart. It was just a mistake."

When will we wake up? No they're not really good at heart. They're just like the rest of us, "sinful from birth" (Psalm 51:5) and in need of forgiveness (Romans 3:22-24).

People ask how a loving God could allow bad things? We've so deluded ourselves that we don't see that the bad in the world comes from us, and not just the big stuff but even the small miseries. We do them to ourselves and to each other.

If God wasn't loving, the bible would be about 3 pages long, and He would have sent the whole lot of us straight to hell ... and He'd be right to do so!

But He loves us enough to give us life and give us hope, hope that we can be forgiven because of His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8).

We're not a bunch of good-at-heart people making mistakes every now and then. We are selfish, pride-filled sinners deserving of justice. Some people have asked me why God puts up with us. If we're so bad, why doesn't He just wipe us out? Why drag this out?

We are guilty, and we have a death sentence (Genesis 3). The same reason we keep death row inmates around for decades before actually carrying out the sentence. Mercy. We allow time for appeals and a chance for them to prove their innocence, or maybe even for a pardon to come through. While we are certainly guilty, and there is no higher appeal than God, we can be pardoned. Jesus Christ died and rose again to purchase that pardon for all who would repent and believe. God is not being cruel in allowing us to stay in this broken world with all of its miseries and problems. He is giving us time to come back to Him so that we may be pardoned.