Something I've noticed, about the Christian community in particular, is that we've dubbed certain subjects "holy" and other subjects "unholy." It's like we think it's our job to decide what's good and what's evil. (Haha.) And what makes it really interesting is the fact that, everybody decides different things are "holy" and "unholy." One follower of Jesus says that playing cards is of the devil, the other says it's fine. One christian says raffle tickets are gambling, another says they're supporting a cause, even if they don't win the boat. And I understand that everyone should have their own opinion and decide what is wise for them. I'm totally for that! I think it's absolutely imperative that we, as followers of Jesus, work through what we believe about certain things and decide what is wise for us. My problem is when we start saying that the thing itself (whatever "the thing" may be) is evil in and of its very nature. Many times I believe we look at something that God himself designed and presume that it's evil by nature, simply because it can be abused. Allow me to give some examples:
Drugs. Drugs can be extremely harmful to the human body. You can become addicted, suffer all kinds of negative physical effects, and die if you use them a certain way. Yet drugs can also be used to put people to sleep in surgery so they don't feel their arm being sawed off. Drugs can dull the pain of cancer patients. Drugs and medicine can actually HEAL your body when they are used a certain way. God designed things with medicinal value for a reason. And when they are used appropriately, they are very beneficial.
Alcohol. Alcohol can steal your life and leave you in a drunken stupor. It can cause you to behave irrationally, violently, dangerously, and downright foolishly when it's used a certain way. It can actually kill your body if you use it a certain way, even if it never gets you in a wreck. But wine is one of the healthiest things on the planet for your body when it's used the way God intended.
Sex. Immorality runs rampant using the body's desires. Sex can land you in hopelessness and a life of emptiness and sadness. It can even transmit disease when used inappropriately! But God designed it. It's God's creation. When used in the proper way, it's also extremely healthy for you. Without it, you wouldn't even have been born. You wouldn't be alive without the reproductive system, and yet it's conversationally avoided within families so much so, that children end up thinking it's some mysterious evil that is so bad that nobody can talk about it.
The Arts. My Mother talks all the time about how the Creative Arts have become filled with bad stuff because the christians have run the other way. Yet it's a beautiful thing when the few, brave, followers of Jesus take back the arts and make them into what God designed them to be. One of my best friends loves Rock Music. He is greatly ministered to by it. We shouldn't say that the thing that gives him joy is evil, even though people have abused it.
My point is this. Everything in creation can be misused. Everything God designed can be harmful when it's abused. Everything beautiful has a counterfeit. That doesn't mean we should say things that God Himself designed are evil in and of themselves. God's creation is never evil by nature. It's when his creation is misused that it can become something harmful. Saying that ANY creation of God is evil by nature is an insult to the beautiful creativity of our Father. So let's teach ourselves to have a healthy view of things that God designed and see them as what they were made to be, instead of seeing the mockeries they can become.
Drugs. Drugs can be extremely harmful to the human body. You can become addicted, suffer all kinds of negative physical effects, and die if you use them a certain way. Yet drugs can also be used to put people to sleep in surgery so they don't feel their arm being sawed off. Drugs can dull the pain of cancer patients. Drugs and medicine can actually HEAL your body when they are used a certain way. God designed things with medicinal value for a reason. And when they are used appropriately, they are very beneficial.
Alcohol. Alcohol can steal your life and leave you in a drunken stupor. It can cause you to behave irrationally, violently, dangerously, and downright foolishly when it's used a certain way. It can actually kill your body if you use it a certain way, even if it never gets you in a wreck. But wine is one of the healthiest things on the planet for your body when it's used the way God intended.
Sex. Immorality runs rampant using the body's desires. Sex can land you in hopelessness and a life of emptiness and sadness. It can even transmit disease when used inappropriately! But God designed it. It's God's creation. When used in the proper way, it's also extremely healthy for you. Without it, you wouldn't even have been born. You wouldn't be alive without the reproductive system, and yet it's conversationally avoided within families so much so, that children end up thinking it's some mysterious evil that is so bad that nobody can talk about it.
The Arts. My Mother talks all the time about how the Creative Arts have become filled with bad stuff because the christians have run the other way. Yet it's a beautiful thing when the few, brave, followers of Jesus take back the arts and make them into what God designed them to be. One of my best friends loves Rock Music. He is greatly ministered to by it. We shouldn't say that the thing that gives him joy is evil, even though people have abused it.
My point is this. Everything in creation can be misused. Everything God designed can be harmful when it's abused. Everything beautiful has a counterfeit. That doesn't mean we should say things that God Himself designed are evil in and of themselves. God's creation is never evil by nature. It's when his creation is misused that it can become something harmful. Saying that ANY creation of God is evil by nature is an insult to the beautiful creativity of our Father. So let's teach ourselves to have a healthy view of things that God designed and see them as what they were made to be, instead of seeing the mockeries they can become.
When I compare 19-year-old you to 19-year-old me, I am constantly blown away. You are so much further along spiritually than I was: in wisdom, balance, sensitivity, freedom... I can only imagine what you will understand when you reach 50. You have manifested our family credo: our ceilings are your floor!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dad. Without your ceiling I wouldn't have any foundation.
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