Category: Don’t Be Like the World

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Should A Christian Support Israel?

Should Christians support Israel? Boy, there’s a can of worms.

Well, there’s a lot to it, but the short version is…generally yes. God gives both conditional (“if you do this, I will do that, but if you stop doing this, I will stop doing that”) and unconditional (“I’m doing this regardless of what you do”) promises. Genesis 12:1-3 contains an unconditional promise God gave to Abram when He told him what He was going to do through the man:

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

I mean…there you go. The most neutral option you can take is to be indifferent about it, but if you go that route, you’re kind of avoiding behavior you know God wants to encourage (you just read it, taken right from scripture). So in this case, even neutrality is a form of disobedience.

Years later, Genesis 17:8 records God again talking to Abram (now Abraham): “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” You could say the descendants of Abraham have an everlasting divine claim to the land.

So how does that square with all the heat Israel’s been taking over the past few years with its involvement in Gaza?

Well, I wouldn’t say it’s complicated, but I’d say we have to zoom way out to look at history and the prophesied future of Israel. In the Old Testament, the Israelites’ disobedience led to their being kicked out of the land and taken as captives to foreign nations. They were eventually allowed to return, and they reestablished the country, though the temple was a much reduced version of its former glory. Skip ahead to the New Testament and the Israelites still occupied the land. The Romans controlled it, and they even destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, after most of the New Testament was written.

But what about the events that have happened after Bible times? It’s been almost 2,000 years since the latest books of the Bible were written. There’s been plenty of time where God’s chosen people weren’t ruling, or even occupying, the land. More recently (say, around the year 1900) the land of Israel/Palestine was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, a Muslim state, who was not fond of giving up territory for the sake of establishing a Jewish nation. Its alliance with Germany led to defeat and subsequent loss of support after World War I, and the British began forcibly making room in Palestine for the Jews, making lots of enemies in the process. Skipping ahead to 1948, Israel became a nation again and has remained so ever since. The nation is currently run by a secular government; while many devout Jews (and some Christians) live there now, the term “Jewish” in Israel generally refers more to an ethnic term than to religious beliefs.

Here’s the short version: the Jews are God’s chosen people, and will one day fulfill His original desire of having them be the ones to proclaim the Messiah. In Romans 11:25-26, Paul notes a future mass Jewish revival…all of Israel will be saved. So that means there will still be a sizable Jewish presence at that time, but we don’t know any details of what occurs to the physical land of Israel between now and then. Israelites have lost control of it in the past and could very well do so again between now and the mass revival, we just don’t know.

So we know the land of Israel will one day undergo mass revival, and we know that hasn’t occurred yet. In the meantime, the country, like any other country, is ruled by imperfect people. They’ll make bad choices sometimes. We don’t have to agree with everything they do, but they should generally enjoy the support of Christ-followers (barring decisions that go against what we know God’s will to be, as in things that run counter to scripture).

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I Ordered One Thing But Got a Surprise Instead

I recently learned a lesson in forgiveness.

My wife and I were out for lunch, just the two of us. We don’t often get a chance to do that, and we always look forward to it. Ordinarily we don’t grab dessert when we’re out, but on this occasion I had been looking forward to a special treat. I had been anticipating it for days, actually; a gigantic slice of chocolate mousse cake topped with whipped cream. There was no way I could finish it in one sitting; it was something I planned to order knowing full well I’d have to bring at least some of it home.

Our server was very nice, and he answered whatever questions we had. We gave him our order and chatted while we waited for the food to arrive. I think we were even able to chat the whole time without talking about the kids. At last, he came with our food, but he mixed up our orders and put down the wrong plate in front of each of us. In hindsight, we should’ve just let him walk away and switch them after he left, but we let him know he had it backwards. He picked both plates back up and switched them, but in the course of swapping, he knocked over my glass of ice water, spilling the whole thing directly into my lap.

He apologized multiple times and started cleaning up the mess. I was irritated, obviously, but kept my cool and didn’t flip out on the guy or anything, and assured him that everything was fine. I’ve had bad days where I made mistakes and other people had to deal with the consequences of my bad choices, so I reminded myself of that and just tried to let things go. It was an honest mistake and the guy seemed genuinely sorry. I used a cloth napkin to try to soak up as much water as I could from my soggy pants, and was grateful it was just water and not something sugary or hot.

After the excitement died down my wife and I were able to start enjoying our food. At some point I started thinking ahead to that dessert I’d been looking forward to so much. Then it dawned on me that I might be able to snag it for free! They’d want to make it up to me after the inconvenience they put me through, right? There was a silver lining! As we neared the end of our meal, we didn’t want to stick around and have dessert at the restaurant, so I asked for the check and a slice of cake to go.

When the check came, I expected the dessert to be on the house, but there it was, marked as full price on the receipt.

Truth be told, I was a little miffed. I could have pulled the guy aside and said “look man, you kind of ruined my lunch here a little bit, don’t you think? What do you say you guys comp me the dessert?” I’m sure he would have made something happen, and if he didn’t, I’m sure the manager on duty would’ve cut us a break.

Yeah, I could have, but I just kinda got this sense, like somebody was saying “You forgave him. The relationship is restored. There’s no need for him to provide additional restitution. You know full well you intended to get that cake days in advance. They don’t owe you anything.”

That was a little deflating, but I begrudgingly acknowledged it was the right thing to do. We treated the guy as if he hadn’t spilled water on me, and we went on our way. After all, forgiveness shouldn’t come with strings attached, right?

Well, by throwing out this example of just how gracious I am, I’m pretty sure I lost my heavenly reward on this one. Even so, I’m hoping it’s somehow worthwhile to someone who reads it. Don’t take the wrong lesson away from this one (“what a sap…he should’ve made a bigger stink about it so he could’ve got what he wanted!”). No. Asking forgiveness can be hard, but granting forgiveness can be harder. If someone’s genuinely sorry, you gotta let it go. That doesn’t mean you need to be their best friend, and it doesn’t mean you can’t learn from your interactions. It just means you need to forgive them and move on with your life.

This Christmas season, is there anyone you need to settle accounts with, either asking for, or granting, forgiveness?

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Quick Hit: What are You Actually Celebrating This Week?

This one’s probably going to rub some people the wrong way, but I just need to throw a little reminder out here: sure, Halloween is a fun time to let little kids get dressed up and walk around to neighbors’ houses to get candy, but there’s a whole lot about it that isn’t so innocent.

In the Northern Virginia area, people go crazy with Halloween decorations. While a lot of it is silly and fun, I don’t have to drive very far to see 9-foot-tall skeletons, some pretty demented-looking blood-soaked psychos, and evil-looking supernatural-themed decorations. People go over the top; one family nearby has a husband/dad who loves the scary stuff, but it’s a little too much for the wife/mom. The compromise was to buy an event-style tent so he could put it on the front lawn and fill it with the sicko stuff, because she didn’t want a yardful of it tormenting the kiddos in the neighborhood.

Halloween celebrates death and evil. I’m not sure how we got to the point where we think it’s a good idea to put up “cutesy” 26-foot-tall (no exaggeration) inflatable slashers in our yards.

I’m not going to sit here and say that the birth of Christ in a manger makes for a flashier lawn decoration than some of the craziness I see in peoples’ yards right now, but it is definitely more consequential. If you’re a big decorator during the Halloween season, I don’t think that makes you a bad person. Lots of people make lots of fun and light-hearted skeleton decorations. If you’re a Christian though, does your enthusiasm for Halloween decorations match that of your zeal for Christ-focused Christmas decorations (not Santa, reindeer, icicles, and gift-themed)? Sure, let’s make dress-up fun for the little kids, but remember that the actions you take to celebrate Halloween are helping shape the perspectives of what’s to be celebrated in younger generations. Let’s steer them away from celebrating death and toward celebration of new life and second chances.

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Ever Have Someone Else Facepalm on Your Behalf?

During my senior year in college, a buddy and I drove out west in February and did some winter camping in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. This was quite the leap for me; prior to this, I think I had only slept outside in a tent in someone’s backyard once.

Our first day in Utah, we stopped to see some of the sights in Salt Lake City. It was probably 40 degrees and overcast as we walked around and explored a little bit. Soon after, we got back in the car and headed for the park where we’d planned to set up camp.

That area is kind of funny; it was warm and pleasant (for February) in the city, but as we drove just a few miles and gained some elevation, it started snowing. This was back in the dark ages before everybody had GPS, so we weren’t as confident about our location as it’s easy to be today. The roads got smaller and snowier, and we had to drive slower to be safe.

As we passed signs confirming we were where we wanted to be, we started relaxing about being lost, but got a little intimidated by seeing white everywhere and knowing this was the environment we’d be sleeping in. We passed a little parking lot that said something about paying for a parking pass, but with all the stuff going on in our heads, we didn’t pay much attention to it, or figured we’d come back once we knew for sure we were in the right place. We got to the final parking lot before a locked gate barred any further vehicle passage, parked the car, and skied off into the forest for our winter camping adventure.

Fast forward a day or two, and we’d survived at least one frosty night in the snow. My buddy and I were back at the car in the parking lot, swapping out some gear or something. A park ranger was making the rounds in the parking lot. Seeing us, she came over with a big, bright smile, and we started chatting. The Winter Olympics were in town, which was why we had come. She wanted to hear about where we’d come from, what events we were going to see, and we swapped perspectives about some of the big news of the games so far. She was very personable, and thought what we were doing was really cool.

Eventually she took a look at the front of our car and didn’t see the parking pass that was supposed to be displayed on the dashboard. When she asked about it, we were forced to admit we hadn’t purchased one. She squinted her eyes shut and tossed her head back, as though she were saddened for us. “Oh, guys, come on!” She then performed her duty of writing us a citation, which I probably still have sitting around somewhere in the basement. I think she signed it Ranger Chen or something. She was perfectly willing to spend time being nice to us and chatting with us, but her cordiality didn’t supersede her authority and responsibility.

One of the conundrums non-Christians can fall victim to is some version of the idea that “if God’s all-knowing and knows my heart, he knows I’m a mostly good person, and even though I never ‘gave my heart to him’ or whatever, he must know that I would have if I had been presented with the choice.” I can see how that might make sense to them, but they’re looking at the picture without having all the information.

God is holiness personified. Holiness means “set apart.” He’s beholden to abide by the rules He Himself laid out. That means He can’t let unholiness exist in the glory of His presence. Someone who hasn’t accepted Christ as Savior does not have their sins blotted out, so their unholiness would be in danger of contaminating God’s holiness. Although God freely offers Christ’s righteousness to all, He can’t/won’t tolerate the unholiness of those who don’t accept it.

In His role of authority, God looks at those who don’t make the choice to follow Him and says “Guys, I love you, but you DO have to play by the rules. You ARE subject to the penalty associated with sin.” For every person who dies without accepting Christ, God hurts for their loss. I imagine He might toss His head back with eyes squinted shut, just like that park ranger, saying “Rrrrghh! Even after all the evidence I put in front of them!”

If you’re still breathing, you still have the opportunity to accept Christ as your savior. Don’t assume you’ll have time to think about it later, though. Every breath you take is a gift from the Lord, and you don’t know how many more you’ve got left. Take some time right now to consider what to do with the question of who Jesus Christ is.

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When You Make the Easy Stuff Difficult

I was fortunate one summer during college to get a job working in the field of residential construction despite not having any experience. It was interesting work and taught me stuff I still use years later.

When you’re an entry-level guy on a construction crew, it’s no surprise that you get a lot of the jobs nobody else wants. Grunt work: carrying heavy stuff, doing the sweaty work out in the sun while everyone else is in the shade or air conditioning, etc. You get the idea.

One of the not-so-bad new guy chores was going on coffee runs. The first construction crew I worked on had a coffee break every morning, so whoever went on a coffee run would take coffee orders and pick up a box of donuts or something at a gas station in town.

There was only one problem. I didn’t (and still don’t) drink coffee, and it’s not a good idea to send a non-coffee drinker on coffee runs unless they know what they’re doing. And man, I did NOT know what I was doing.

The size of our crew varied, but in general there were anywhere from three to eight workers giving orders to the coffee runner. The only thing I could reliably deliver was the box of donuts.

“Yeah, get me a large coffee, light and sweet.” Okay, so that means cream and sugar. But how much cream and how much sugar? Is that like, half coffee and half milk? (That’s what “half and half” means, right?) I can get you a black coffee and grab the number of sugar packets you tell me to, but if I have to just dump in sugar, you might not like what I bring you. Powdered creamer…what the heck is that? Does that take the place of cream and sugar?

It wasn’t long before someone else started doing the coffee runs.

Admittedly, I could have done better with this task. “Hospitality” is not one of my gifts, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have tried harder. I think one thing that makes God smile is when you’re willing to take on a kingdom role totally outside your normal skillset. While it’s important to use the gifts God’s given you, it’s also important to be humble and reliant on Him. After all, successful use of your spiritual gifts could bring a degree of success that makes it easy for you to get a little too big for your britches. Floundering in something you’re a little less cut out for every now and then helps you keep some of that humility.

So use your spiritual gifts, and use them as best you can for God’s glory; just don’t limit yourself to the things you’re good at. Sometimes all God wants from you is a willing heart, regardless of how good (or bad) you might be at what He’s giving you to do.

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Quick Hit: Now You’re Speaking my Language!

My dad grew up in a house where Norwegian was spoken frequently. He also spent at least one of his childhood summers with an aunt and uncle living in Norway.

Living stateside, even if Norwegian was the only thing spoken in his home, he still had exposure to plenty of English (friends, school, etc.). Making the transition for a summer to an environment where he was totally surrounded by people speaking a different language, he could speak English and some people would still understand him, but he eventually started switching over to speaking Norwegian because it was just easier to communicate that way. He said the weirdest thing was how, after doing this for awhile, he began to think in a different language.

Ever been faced with text you can’t read?

This is like what Christians are faced with in their lives here on Earth. Though this life figures prominently in our thinking and what we spend our attention on, this place is really only our temporary home. Even though Christians are citizens of Heaven, we’re deeply immersed in a foreign culture that shouts loud enough to drown out the values and ideals of our eternal home. Without maintaining connections to God-approved values in the form of Bible readings, prayer, Bible teachings, and Christian fellowship, it’s easy to be overcome by the persistent influence of this world.

Even though we’re only here for a brief lifetime, it’s important to maintain these connections to “back home” where we’ll be spending the bulk of our time. We’re in this world, but not of it. Don’t get too attached to the things your home culture places no value on, and don’t let your thinking be overtaken by the culture we’re only visiting. We’re going home someday, after all.

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Don’t Lose Sight of the Objective

Though our world continues to darken, there is always hope in Christ, and it’s our job to reflect that hope.

This past week some controversial news came out of the Vatican. I’m not Catholic and I’m not familiar with many Catholic practices, but it seems the Pope has made some changes that now allow blessings for homosexual couples under certain conditions.

To be clear, he’s not changing the Catholic Church’s view that marriage is between a man and a woman, but he’s enabled blessings to take place which formerly could not occur. I’m not real familiar with what exactly a blessing means in this case. If a blessing is something you give to everyone that comes inside, like a handshake or a fist bump, it’s probably not such a big deal. If, on the other hand, it represents the Church saying “we sanction your behavior,” then we’ve got serious problems. I suspect it’s not at either of those extremes. The guidance is that such blessings must not have the appearance of endorsing gay marriage. It is, I think, a relatively minor change to those familiar with Catholic practices and protocols, but again, he has changed policy to enable blessings for people who could not have blessings granted previously. Overall, Pope Francis is trying to make the Church appear more welcoming to homosexuals.

He’s in a tough spot. The number of people that claim to be Catholic (or Protestant, for that matter) is in decline, and he’s trying to do something about it. Unfortunately, when church leaders around the world ask “how can we make the people of the world be more open to attending church?,” the only real answer is “make the church look more like the people of the world.” That’s a mistake.

Christ knew He came with an offensive message, and we, the Church, are to purposely stand in stark contrast to the darkness around us, echoing that offensive message. “You’re all sinners, and therefore unworthy of Heaven.” While that will certainly make you feel defensive the first time you hear it, it’s not the whole story. The rest of the story is that Christ made a way for all sinners (regardless of skin color, wealth, gender, age, political persuasion, social status, etc.) to get to Heaven and spend eternity with God. There are two ways to Heaven: 1. Live a perfect, sinless life, or 2. Ride the coattails of someone who already has. Since option 1 isn’t possible for anyone reading this, we’re all depending on option 2. The only person who’s lived a sinless life is Jesus Christ, and He wants you to accept His offer, which He gladly extends to all without prejudice. The audacity of standing in contrast to what the world says is acceptable is exactly what makes Christ stand out.

I see what Pope Francis is trying to do, but I think if sinners don’t feel welcome in church, that’s as much our fault as it is the fault of upper levels of church leadership. Different churches absolutely have different feels to them, but their primary goal should always be twofold: 1. knowing Christ and 2. spreading Christ. If you’re part of a church that isn’t doing either one of those, it’s probably time to start asking some questions.

We should be going out of our way to make sinners feel welcome at church. After all, we’re sinners, and we’re there, aren’t we? Life is messy. People are broken. No church can fix them, but Christ can. If people are seeking truth, do what you can to make them feel welcome at church, which in turn can help them find the truth of Christ, especially this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas to all, and may you know Christ deeper in the coming year!

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Benchmarks Are There for a Reason; Use Them

Before all the modern tools used in making today’s maps, cartographers had to do things the old-fashioned way, with surveying tools. As you might imagine, using the crude instruments of yesteryear could be tedious, and if surveying teams had the opportunity to take steps that would save them some work on subsequent projects, they’d be eager to hear about it.

Enter the idea of the benchmark. On a topographic map, a benchmark is a spot whose exact elevation is known. A benchmark is a small disc that’s permanently installed at such a site, and it’s inscribed with numbers that display the elevation of the spot where the disc lays. Surveying teams can show up and get right to work using the benchmark as a hard and fast fact; it’s something they know is true and can be relied upon to build accurate information off of.

Today’s society could use some reminders about one of the Lord’s benchmarks.

In many places the Bible condemns sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is an umbrella term under which several types of specific categories fall. Often times it seems like Christians are quick to condemn homosexuality as sin (which it is, according to several verses in the Bible, like Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-28, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10), but in focusing on just one type of sexual immorality, other types are ignored or somehow seen as “less bad.” In all cases we’re to love the sinner but hate the sin, but we also need to remember that all sin is detestable to the Lord and is something that should not be accepted, especially among Christians. Christians engaging in sin should be confronted (in love), and not be “given a pass” for something that eats away at their witness.

God intended marriage to be between one man and one woman. That’s the only acceptable combination in His eyes. (Don’t get mad at me, take it up with the Man upstairs.) Sexual activity you engage in with someone that is not your spouse is sin. The natural question is “How do you define ‘sexual activity?’” I’d say that if you have a behavior in mind that you’re already trying to rationalize, it’s probably something you shouldn’t be doing. Jesus described it this way in Matthew 5:28 – “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Just be honest with yourself. Call sin what it is. One-night stands, quick flings, cohabitation, etc. If you’re doing something you know is wrong, come clean to God with it. (Trust me, He already knows; the coming clean part is mostly for your benefit.)

On the flip side, it’s important to recognize that we are all sinners, and all of us struggle with sin in some way. The attraction of a sexual sin like pornography that has a stranglehold on one Christian may have no power at all over another. At the same time, those that have overcome such addictions are in a prime position to come alongside a brother or sister that’s currently losing in their struggle with the sin. I urge you: if you’re one of those two types, seek to connect with someone of the other type. The fear is often “nobody would even want to associate with me if they knew what I’m keeping secret.” I understand why you may think that, but Christianity is not a spectator sport; it is to be lived in the trenches and we’re supposed to help one another in our struggles.

Sexual sin is one of, if not the only, sin where the advice we get is to outright run from it. First Corinthians 6:18 says Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. That means actively taking steps to prevent certain situations and outright extracting yourself from others. If you use a computer to access sites you know you shouldn’t, don’t use the computer unless someone else is around. Put your phone down, turn off data, or shut it off unless you’re purposefully using it for appropriate things. If you have a coworker or someone else in your life that you enjoy being around a little more than you should, actively avoid spending any more time than you need to with them. It’s on you to recognize the problem and start trying to do something about it.

You may think the things I’m saying here conflict with the messages you get from our culture. I hope so. The Christian’s message is supposed to do exactly that. We’re supposed to stand out. The messages you’re hearing from the world are the moral equivalent of installing numerous false benchmarks all around real ones. Keep track of what’s true and trustworthy, and it will cut down on a lot of the confusion you’ll otherwise face. Remember…sin is something to be avoided, not tolerated.

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Why Do We Even Bother Going to Church?

What’s the point of church? Like, why do we have church?

Many people think it’s a place to bring non-believing friends, family members, or acquaintances so they can hear about God. It’s great if you can bring unchurched people to hear about God, but that’s not the main purpose for church services. When you get right down to it, church exists for believers to gather in corporate worship, be bolstered in their faith, grow in their knowledge of the Bible and the Lord, and then scatter for the purpose of executing different types of ministry on behalf of Jesus Christ.

If Christianity is a seven-day per week commitment, church is a pep talk. Church is where you go to hear one of God’s representatives proclaim the truth. It’s where you call sin “sin.” You’re supposed to walk away from church feeling uplifted and hopeful, but also a little convicted and a little uncomfortable. If you’ve got a pretty good handle on living the right kind of life for God, you should walk away from church with an increased sense of urgency for all the people that still need to hear about Christ.

There’s a problem that’s been happening with churches for a couple of thousand years now, though. There are too many churches that don’t want to be the bad guy by calling something “sin.” Some churches don’t want to touch controversial topics. Some don’t want to offend anybody. Others just want to do “feel good” messages.

A couple of seasons back I bought a new garden hose. The ones I had been using kept breaking near the connection where you screw the hose onto the spigot, so I bought one that had a more robust connection. It was great, I’ve still got it, and it’s still very sturdy. The problem is that I left it attached to the spigot too long, and now it won’t unscrew from the spigot.

I don’t know if it’s because minerals in the water precipitated out and solidified on the connection, or if the two different metals somehow corroded together, but the end result is the same: the two different items that were very distinct before have now become, for all intents and purposes, a single entity that’s now a liability. I shut off the water to the spigot, but can’t fully drain the hose for the winter. Assuming it doesn’t sustain any permanent damage through the winter it should still be able to function when things warm back up, but the hose has lost some of its value (I can’t for example, unscrew it and attach it to my house’s other spigot).

The reason the church exists is to act as the “salt and light” for the world. That is, it’s the means by which the earth’s decay will be slowed. The church exists to provide moral clarity for the world and to point the world to Christ. I will fully acknowledge that a greater percentage of people will ignore or choose to turn their backs on Christ than will follow Him, but that should not influence the Church’s purpose. To be effective at preserving the world, the Church must stand in stark contrast to it. Have no doubt about this: one day God will look at the state of the world and how badly its morality has decayed, He’ll look at the Church and how watered down some teachings have become, and He’ll say “that’s enough. I’m pulling all my children out of there.”

At that point, the earth will have no true church left; it will have to start over again with zero believers. There will be plenty of people that have attended church for years but have not actually embraced Christ as Savior. The earth will still have church members who are more concerned with social events and community garage sales than they are with evangelism, and those people will be confused about why so many parishioners are gone while they’ve been left behind.

Since the “salt and light,” or “preservative” has been removed from the situation, it’s at this point that there’s no longer anything holding back the acceleration of society’s moral decay. To everyone that’s left, God will say “you know what? I gave you plenty of chances. Have it your way, do whatever you want, but I’ve pulled all my people out.”

A note of encouragement to those of you that are pastors/priests/teachers. Those that have a leadership or teaching role when it comes to God’s word are going to be held to a higher standard when they stand before the Almighty, so now’s not the time to compromise for the sake of appeasing earthly voices. We’re counting on you to say it like God wants you to say it. Don’t water things down. Don’t talk yourself into thinking that the Bible means something other than what you know it’s saying. If you make a leap like that, you’re going to have to answer for it someday.

I could apply brute force to that hose to try to get it off, but by doing that I’ll run the risk of twisting and breaking the pipe it’s connected to. I can apply heat to try to cause differential swelling to break the hold, but that risks damage to the hose itself. I can try applying lubricants and penetrants, but odds are that I’m going to need to combine that method with another. In any case, there’s going to be some pain and discomfort associated with breaking that “merged” entity back into two different ones. It would’ve been much better if I’d simply removed the hose from time to time to ensure it wasn’t bonding too closely with the spigot. Let’s take the lesson here and make sure the Church’s teachings are distinct from the audience we’re trying to reach and aren’t getting too bonded to them. It will be a lot more painful to break them apart than it will be to just ensure they stay separate.

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The Physics of Sin

It’s been a long time since I’ve done it, but years ago I got scuba certified. As you might expect, there’s a lot more to it than just grabbing an air tank and jumping into the water. I found learning about some of the physics behind it to be very interesting. I know not everybody is a math person, so I’ll try to keep it pretty general.

Scuba diving is all about pressure. Before we get in the water we’re only dealing with the weight of air on us. If you’re standing on the shore at sea level, the weight of all the air above you equates to a little less than 15 pounds per square inch (psi). That’s not much, considering how many miles up that column of air extends. This level, 14.69 psi, is known as one atmosphere.

The water is a completely different story. Since water weighs so much more than air, a column of only about 34 feet of water exerts the same amount of pressure as one atmosphere. Standing at the ocean’s edge you have one atmosphere pressing down on you. Scuba diving 34 feet deep, you have two atmospheres pressing down on you (one air and one water).

Moving from sea level to 34 feet under the surface causes the pressure that’s exerted on your body to increase by 100%, to nearly 30 psi. It’s definitely noticeable. If you move another 34 feet deeper, you have a total of three atmospheres (almost 45 psi) pressing on your body. The same amount of air pressure in your tank offers differing amounts of breathable air at various depths because there needs to be enough “oomph” in your air tank(s) to overcome the water pressure to make it through the regulator, hoses, and into your lungs. That excess “oomph” is what determines how much air is available for you to breathe. The deeper you go, the less time you can stay there.

Here’s the kicker: as you’re descending deeper, you notice the biggest pressure difference early on, and even though you’re still descending, the rate of increase gets less noticeable the deeper you go. Ever dive deep into a pool or a lake? You probably had to plug your nose and equalize the pressure in your head/ears before you went 10-12 feet deep because it felt like there was a huge increase in pressure. Mathematically, moving from one to two atmospheres is a 100% increase. Moving from two to three atmospheres is an increase of only 50%. Moving from three to four atmospheres is an increase of only 33%. The further you go, going even further feels like less of a big deal.

Sin is like that too. When you first encounter something you know is wrong, it’s easy to identify as being wrong. Once you start accepting it, rationalizing it away, or getting comfortable with it, it becomes more difficult to think of as being “wrong.” You start to accept additional things you formerly would’ve rejected outright. Once you make the jump from “one atmosphere” to two, it becomes easier to move to the third, and from there to the fourth.

What’s the bottom line? If you know it’s wrong, don’t do it. Don’t compromise. The more you compromise on living a God-honoring life, the more you’ll be willing to make subsequent concessions. Stay in that area near the surface, where you’re still sensitive to small changes in pressure and where going only 10 feet down becomes painful.

Our world is changing. Things that were once considered unspeakable are now commonplace and even endorsed. God’s view of sin has not changed, so neither should ours. We’re all sinners, and we all need the salvation Christ offers. Everyone needs to hear about it (God loves each and every person He’s created, so we shouldn’t play favorites), and you may be the only way someone encounters the truth. The truth will be more evident in your life if you’re living the way God wants.

Lord Jesus, thank you for creating this wonderful world and even giving us examples from science! Help us all be sensitive about the things in our lives that we should not allow to be there. Also help us to avoid a “holier than thou” attitude and be willing to genuinely reach the “tax collectors and sinners” of the Bible. Praise You for what You’ve done for us! In Your name, Amen.