Thoughts on our non-COVID-19 problems facing our society

I wish to shed some light on the tensions we are seeing in our country at this time. Being a christian, I will be referencing statements of God from the bible.

Root problem
Jesus said “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within . . .” This is the short list. More to come

Extent of the problem (The real pandemic)

Jesus said (speaking through the Jewish king David and repeated a few centuries later by His follower Paul) “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Consequences.

Jesus speaking through His follower John says “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, THEIR PORTION WILL BE IN THE LAKE THAT BURNS WITH FIRE AND SULFUR, WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH.” (emphasis mine) This is a description of Hell.

and

“They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS DESERVE TO DIE, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (emphasis mine)

How many of you have told a lie or were disobedient to your parents. We (including me) are in serious trouble with God (i.e. we are in unfathomable excrement).

Solution

Jesus, speaking through His representative Ezekiel, says, “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.”

What rules?

Jesus again through Paul says “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

How do we get this new heart (and life purpose)?

Repent (think intent). Without repentance (change of intention) we go through life either passively ignoring God or in active rebellion against God. We must change our intent (i.e repent) to following God and His directives. But changing your intent is not enough because we will still mess up.

Believe (i.e. faith or trust). We need forgiveness. We must believe that Jesus paid the penalty (death) meant for us so that God will forgive our offenses. We also must believe that God raised Him from the dead which proves that God has the power to give us the strength to live a life pleasing to Him.

SPOILER ALERT. If you believe in Santa Claus, stop reading and jump to START HERE.

To illustrate let’s look at Santa Claus. No one was born believing in Santa Claus. At some point, upon hearing the fable, a change comes about. It happens on the inside. You repent and believe. As a result you try to stop shouting, crying and pouting. You might even leave out cookies. The night before you are filled with the confidence that Santa Claus is going to do his part. The difference is that Santa Claus (a historical figure) cannot perform the deeds in the fable that has become a part of his story. Jesus can and will do all that He has promised.

START HERE

If this is new to you I encourage to repent and believe so as to become a part of the solution.

If you have already have done this (repent and believe) I encourage you to insert this message into every conversation in which you are involved that is based on the problems of our day so as to become a part of the solution.

Next post. The way to racial reconciliation.