One of the great harms come of secular humanism, and that includes also the humanism that has insinuated itself into Christian churches, is the decision to ignore the prevalence of evil in the world.
As we are so often reminded, certainly in a significant way by the mass murder in Las Vegas, authentic evil exists and its author is active and seductive and no amount of ignoring such will make this a less evil world.
Many church denominations now join the secularists in seeing evil as only something that comes from other people who hold ideas with which they differ and most disagreement gets labeled “hate” even when such emotion is absent from the objection.
Overcoming and avoiding obvious expressions of evil such as murder, rape, robbery, as well as a very long list of actions, ranging from lying to infidelity, are no longer a focus of many religious institutions from pulpits to church governance battles. Instead focus now mirrors Leftist secularism in redefining major sin as expressions of disapproval of the lifestyle of others whether sexual, cultural, or political.
Societal strength is not derived from encouraging us to be a nation of adult-children who find the disapproval of others as the primary manifestation of evil. Foot stomping about how others should accept your ideas no matter your odd life decisions is not courageous but self-indulgent.
Courageous are those willing to recognize and name authentic evil while understanding that evil is not the creation the sinner but his enslaver. The act of sin must be condemned and fought while having compassion for the state of bondage of the sinner.
A healthy society recognizes the pre-existence of evil and makes fighting such the a priority of its institutions.
Redefining sin, ignoring evil doesn’t lessen its effect
Robert Pratt
One of the great harms come of secular humanism, and that includes also the humanism that has insinuated itself into Christian churches, is the decision to ignore the prevalence of evil in the world.
As we are so often reminded, certainly in a significant way by the mass murder in Las Vegas, authentic evil exists and its author is active and seductive and no amount of ignoring such will make this a less evil world.
Many church denominations now join the secularists in seeing evil as only something that comes from other people who hold ideas with which they differ and most disagreement gets labeled “hate” even when such emotion is absent from the objection.
Overcoming and avoiding obvious expressions of evil such as murder, rape, robbery, as well as a very long list of actions, ranging from lying to infidelity, are no longer a focus of many religious institutions from pulpits to church governance battles. Instead focus now mirrors Leftist secularism in redefining major sin as expressions of disapproval of the lifestyle of others whether sexual, cultural, or political.
Societal strength is not derived from encouraging us to be a nation of adult-children who find the disapproval of others as the primary manifestation of evil. Foot stomping about how others should accept your ideas no matter your odd life decisions is not courageous but self-indulgent.
Courageous are those willing to recognize and name authentic evil while understanding that evil is not the creation the sinner but his enslaver. The act of sin must be condemned and fought while having compassion for the state of bondage of the sinner.
A healthy society recognizes the pre-existence of evil and makes fighting such the a priority of its institutions.