Imagine a pond.\u00a0 Beside the pond is a sign that says \u2018Stay Off, Thin Ice.\u2019\u00a0 Now consider an individual who wants more than anything to skate on the ice.\u00a0 Now imagine there are two individuals next to him.\u00a0 One is a conservative.\u00a0 One is a liberal.\u00a0 The conservative says, \u201cDon\u2019t do it.\u00a0 If you do and fall through the ice, you\u2019re on your own.\u00a0 Don\u2019t see why I should help.\u00a0 You know better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The liberal says, \u201cIf you feel compelled to do it, for whatever reason, go ahead.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll get you out somehow.\u00a0 Even if others have to die to save you, or we have to deplete our accounts to build rescue equipment, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 The important thing is doing what you are driven to do.\u00a0 Follow your passions, your desires, above all things.\u00a0 There is nothing that shouldn\u2019t be sacrificed in order for you to do what you want, or what you are compelled to do by your own desires.\u201d<\/p>\n
And therein lies the problem.\u00a0 Our modern division between liberal\/conservative is one that has done little to help the average person.\u00a0 After all, how many people look around today and say \u2018gee, things are better than they\u2019ve ever been!\u2019?\u00a0 We\u2019ve reached a point where most old values have been discarded, and we are encouraged to do what we want to do.\u00a0 Despite our tendencies to be compassionate, we are given plenty of excuses to let people stew in their own juices.\u00a0 And yet there is nothing out there to suggest we really are happier, better off, more fulfilled than ever before. <\/p>\n
In fact, just the opposite.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s a pandemic of teenage suicides, unprecedented levels of drug dependency, or a genera malaise toward living, the indicators are that a vast sea of people in our nation are feeling left out, missing something, floundering in the wake of two ideological warships locked in mortal combat.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The reason could be the extremes from which we are left to choose.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t be \u2018do what you want, consequences be damned\u2019, not matter why you may want it.\u00a0 Nor should it be \u2018everyone for themselves, if you screw up, you\u2019re on your own.\u2019\u00a0 A good, Christian, alternative should be, \u201cHey, don\u2019t skate on the thin ice.\u00a0 No matter what, no matter why you want to.\u00a0 Don\u2019t risk if.\u00a0 It could be thin.\u00a0 You could break through and die.\u00a0 And others could be impacted by your decision.\u00a0 But know this everyone else: sometimes humans in their weaknesses will sneak out and try\u00a0the ice just because they are human.\u00a0 When that happens,\u00a0we should work together to do what we can and save them.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In the same way,\u00a0Jesus handled a situation many years ago on the streets of Jerusalem.\u00a0 When a woman was dragged from the act of adultery and tossed at the feet of Jesus, the pundits of the day thought they had him where they wanted him.\u00a0 She was caught in the act<\/em> of adultery.\u00a0 The Law of Moses makes it clear what must be done: death by stoning!\u00a0 But Jesus would have none of it. Famously, and in the part everyone loves to quote, Jesus asks that the one among them who is without sin\u00a0cast the first stone.\u00a0 One by one the rocks, those rocks held in hand eager to do the throwing, begin to drop.\u00a0 Realizing the degree of their own sins, they got the point.<\/p>\n Then Jesus walked over to the woman.\u00a0 In another statement often quoted on shows like Oprah<\/em>, and other post-modern venues, he asks her if there is anyone left to condemn her.\u00a0 No doubt shaken, she looks around at the thinning crowd and realizes that all who were there ready to stone her to death have dispersed.\u00a0 There is no one left.\u00a0 Jesus then says, \u201cNeither do I condemn you.\u201d\u00a0 Now this is one of the favorite passages by those on the more liberal side of the tracks.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard entire sermons centered around this line.\u00a0 This is telling the skater, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, no doubt you had to skate on the ice, it was beyond your control, it was you affirming your desires and passions. We would never, ever condemn or criticize you in any way for fulfilling your desires, no matter what the outcome.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n But Jesus doesn\u2019t merely say, \u201cNeither do I condemn you.\u201d\u00a0 He says, \u201cNeither do I condemn you, go and sin no more<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s that last part that is missing in our post-modern age.\u00a0 Sure, the sometimes self righteous condemnation from the right, or worse, the Darwinian philosophy of everyone for himself, can sound as cold and callous as a mob with stones in hand ready to pounce.\u00a0\u00a0 But the other, that there is no condemnation which means there is no moral absolute, no truth beyond our right to fulfill our every desire, is no less flawed; no less disastrous, as the body count in the wake of the deplorable sexual revolution should more than attest.\u00a0 <\/p>\n It is the combination.\u00a0 The Christian faith says \u2018there is no condemnation, but go and sin no more.\u2019\u00a0 For there is sin, sin for which we will all be held accountable.\u00a0 It is not \u2018skate if you want, everyone else can suffer to affirm your desires.\u2019\u00a0 Nor is it \u2018skate if you will, and if you fall through the ice, then screw you.\u2019\u00a0 It\u2019s \u2018don\u2019t skate, because you and others could be hurt.\u00a0 But if you do, we\u2019ll do everything we can to save you\u2026so that you will never do such a thing again.\u2019\u00a0 Having that as the foundation of our modern value system could only help, given the disastrous legacy of the two fallacious choices with which we have been left in recent decades.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Imagine a pond.\u00a0 Beside the pond is a sign that says \u2018Stay Off, Thin Ice.\u2019\u00a0 Now consider an individual who wants more than anything to skate on the ice.\u00a0 Now imagine there are two individuals next to him.\u00a0 One is a conservative.\u00a0 One is a liberal.\u00a0 The conservative says, \u201cDon\u2019t do it.\u00a0 If you do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n