The Problem of Religion.8

"You build monuments to the prophets, and place flowers at the tombs of the righteous, and say: 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have allowed their innocent blood to be shed.'

Be witness to your own inconsistency! You are the descendants of those who killed the prophets, and have surpassed even their wicked acts. Snakes! Generation of vipers! How will you escape the condemnation of eternal judgment?"

--Jesus

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"Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance." --CS Lewis

One of the most challenging aspects of parenting is "practicing what you preach!"  During our boy's formative years I often reflected, not so much on what we were trying to teach and train them in, but in what was I or my wife unwilling to change that might have destructive consequences in their lives.  

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Not having Omniscience can prove troubling in predicting the outcomes of every nuance of every sin of which we are capable. More troubling still, at least from the Omniscient One's point of view, is mankind's vain attempts to put lipstick on the pig's snout of reprehensible deeds.

"We would never have done that" is a good fall back position when confronted with the likelihood of moral failure and perhaps shock if someone could show us what, in the future, we will do that is as bad or worse from that which we deny.  A close friend found out that her husband had been a serial adulterer over the course of their marriage.  Was it really such a shock that the son had indeed followed in his father's philandering ways?

But shock is exactly what the Son of Man attempted to do for the moral and spiritual leaders of his day --and any day-- for that matter.  For He knew that Goodness comes from God alone; goodness cannot be separated from God-ness. Unfortunately, mankind's response to sin exposed is usually the same: kill the message or the messenger! 

Any attempt to define goodness without a reference point in God, in other words, not recognizing what in the thought or deed is God-like or God-worthy, leads to oppression and tyranny.  As an example, societies across the world are being confronted with pressure to legitimize a special class of mental disorder and sexual deviancy: transgender-ism.  The debate over granting special protections and privileges to an extremely small population segment in public schools and commercial institutions is reaching hysterical proportions and is completely devoid of any spiritual or moral foundation save that which proponents press upon the pubic through threats of retaliation and retribution. 

Any attempt to make ourselves, and not God, the measure of goodness is, rest assured, Hell-fire warmed over.