MORAL SOFTNESS

I write many of my articles based upon my experiences. As a recent example, I was relaying an incident that occurred to me to a receiver at Wal-Mart that is a Baptist. As I told him what had happened, he reacted negatively to something that I said by saying that I was being harsh. It was at that point that I realized that his theology is morally soft. This is a common occurrence in the church of our day. The church is morally soft.

There is an old saying that goes when things get tough the tough get going. What happens when times get tough, what happens to the soft? They do not get going, they capitulate. The consistent in any endeavor always dominate. Anyone who believes that we live in a soft world is deceived. Evil is ever present among us and evil must be overcome by persistent goodness. Theological softness produces moral softness.

The one doctrine that the church has forgotten or has watered down is eternal punishment. We act as though God is morally soft. We have forgotten just how tough God is on sin and punishment for sin. We think in this present age that God is not opposed to sin like He was in the Old Testament. Nothing can be farther from the truth. We need a theology that is full of fire and brimstone. All law-breakers’ place will be in the lake of fire which is the second death.

Some how we think that we get a better hearing if we leave out some of our of doctrines. Most people have no problem in proclaiming that God is love but when it comes to saying that God is a God of wrath, they want to hide this truth. Most people do not understand how to preach the gospel. Preaching the gospel requires giving the bad news first before giving the good news. It is no wonder that many who profess Christianity have never repented of their sins.

They were presented a false gospel of getting the news that Jesus had died for their sins with sins being undefined, and He wants to come into your life and make everything wonderful for you. Really, what they needed to hear is how sinful and wicked they were and how deserving of eternal punishment they were, prior to showing them how to get relief from their wicked state. The negative must always come before the positive. This is the only effective way of preaching.

The law of God must be used to bring the sinner under conviction (rendered guilty) for their sins before someone will be willing to amend their ways and their behavior change for the good. This is called repentance. Since the law of God is no longer used to bring sinners under conviction what we get are people who have never repented and this lack of repentance leads to the moral softness of the present church.

Back to the incident that I related to the receiver at Wal-Mart. We had been in church on Sunday, May 31, 2009. I noticed about 5 teens standing in the street out in front of the church after service. When I was going to the parsonage, I noticed that my wife had a broom and dust pan in her hands. I asked her what was going on. She said that some kids had broken a beer bottle against the curb where we park our cars. She said that she hoped that she got it all up.

She told me that she heard these kids outside and heard the breaking of the bottle. She asked them who was going to clean up the mess. They of course ignored her. I knew that they went to the park by our house, so I hopped in the car and went to confront them. I found them at the park. The one who had broken the bottle, a teen about 15 years old was smoking a cigarette. There was a younger boy and two teen girls with him. I asked who had broken the beer bottle.

They all told me that they did not do it. I knew that they were lying. I told the teen boy that it was illegal for him to be smoking. As they walked by, I told them that they were liars and then I told the teen boy who I knew broke the beer bottle, that I hoped he died and went to hell. This is what the receiver at Wal-Mart said was harsh. What he did not realize that I was attempting to awaken this teen that his behavior has him headed to eternal punishment.

Let us analyze the actions of this teen before anyone says I am harsh. What had he done? He was destructive in the breaking of the beer bottle. Had my wife not heard what was going on, our daughter would have come home and driven over the glass and I would have to buy a new tire. When this teen was asked to tell the truth, he lied. He is of his father the devil, the chief of all liars. On top of this, he was being a law breaker by smoking under age. This teen is a law-breaker and law-breakers are harsh, not me.

It is amazing that the Baptists, who are the first to claim Matthew 7:1 of not judging, judges me as being harsh. That is a judgment. What is astounding is that this receiver did not take into account the actions of this teen. He did not judge the teen, he judged me. He judged the righteous, not the wicked. This is what happens when the church rejects God’s law. The church becomes Pharisees. This receiver ended up justifying the wicked rather than condemning them.

This is the reason I despise Baptist theology. It is the Pharisee’s theology. It is the same one that put Jesus on the cross. I learned a lesson from this situation. Do not relate incidents in your lives to those who reject God’s law and call themselves brothers. They will condemn you and justify the wicked. The Bible tells us not to throw our pearls before swine. I personally like this receiver at Wal-Mart but I realize it is better not to bring up theology with him. Father forgive him because he knows not what he does.