Decline and fall
Jul 31, 2007 Americana, O Mores!
As of the time of this posting, here are the four top stories at “U.S. National – AP on Yahoo! News”:
-
Car dealer accused of killing 2 workers
– one hour ago
-
Calif. woman held in baby abandonment
– one hour ago
-
Texas mom kills family, self, police say
– 44 minutes ago
-
2 S.C. kids found dead under home sink
– 2 hours ago
What is going on in this country?!
August 1st, 2007 at 12:45 am
300 Million people. Lots of news sources. Just about August. I’d say we were doing okay.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:43 am
In fact, you are exactly right. Nice to see you, by the way.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Augustine defined sin as “the heart turned in on itself.”
Luther said the greatest expression of God’s wrath is His silence. He allows to go our own way. We prefer our sins to God and He allows the choice. St. Augustine said that the penalty of sin is sin. We choose sin and that sin is our punishment.
If I am lazy, being lazy exacts it’s own penalty. If I am gluttonous, then gluttony exacts its own penalty. If I am selfish, that selfishness exacts its own penalty.
Sin is the self turned in on itself. Look at athletes, celebrities, rock stars. When people get greater position, the ordinary rules of life seem waived; people think they can get away with it. The ego is fed and the self absorption grows, our natural narcissism expands to the point where perspective and sense is lost. And people do crazy stuff because it does not seem crazy in the bubble they live in.
Luther wrote about using reason. Between the believer and the unbeliever, you have to use reason. But I have long wondered at our ability to discern right from wrong using solely reason.
Reason is not absolute. We use it to justify abortion. It isn’t just that sin makes you stupid; sin makes you justify the unjustifiable. (Light has come into the world and men loved the darkness for their deeds were evil). For the sake of our sins, we reject the light, not just the light of Christ but the light in natural revelation.
I wonder if you can distinguish between unbelievers who accept natural revelation and those who reject natural revelation. Believers have a better shot at understanding morality than unbelievers. Unbelievers who accept natural revelation have a better shot at understanding morality than unbelievers who reject natural revelation.