Daily Devotionals

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

Devotional: December 18th

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.”

God pronounces a woe on those who reverse moral standards, making sin respectable and suggesting that purity is something less than desirable. Herbert Vander Lugt cited three contemporary illustrations of how men tamper with moral distinctions. “First, I read an article which treated lightly the bad results of pornography, but deplored the ‘puritanical attitude of religionists.’ Second, I came across a newspaper account that told about a group of concerned parents who were trying to get an unmarried pregnant teacher removed from her job. The writer portrayed her as a beautiful person, while the moms and dads were made out to be villains. And third, I watched as a guest on a television program defended the hard rock, the drunkenness, and the use of drugs connected with a concert in which several young people were killed. He blamed our social problems on individuals who don’t like these kinds of gatherings.”

I would suggest two reasons why we are witnessing an increasing wave of moral reversals. First of all, people have abandoned the standards of absolutes that are found in the Bible. Now morality is a matter of one’s own interpretation. Secondly, the more that people indulge in sin, the more they feel that they must rationalize the sin as justifiable behavior and thus vindicate themselves.

Some who find it hard to justify sin resort instead to ad hominem arguments, that is, they attack the opponent’s character rather than answer his contentions. Thus, in the illustrations cited above, the libertarians attacked the “puritanical attitude of religionists,” they made out moms and dads as villains, and they blamed social problems on people who speak out against drunkenness, drugs and a rock concert in which several young people were killed.

In addition to those who reverse moral distinctions, there are those who satisfy themselves with blurring them. Unfortunately a large number of these are religious leaders. Instead of coming out squarely on the side of the Bible and calling sins by their right names, they pussyfoot around, implying that they’re really not that bad after all. Drunkenness is a sickness. Perversion is an alternate life style. Sex outside of marriage is allowable if it is culturally acceptable. Abortions, public nudity and prostitution are personal rights that should not be abridged.

Such confused thinking betrays a serious lack of moral intelligence. These perverse arguments are lies of the devil that eventually drown men in perdition.