Morality and Sin
by William P. Wilson, M.D.
-- Commentaries from past newsletters --

Many years ago when I was a young Christian, I wrote a series of essays on what I believed. They were important to me because they helped me formulate many of my Christian concepts. The first letter was entitled "Why Morality?" and it is this subject that I would like to examine with you. It is important because the greatest problem we face today in our society is immorality.

Morality is defined as the principles of right and wrong in conduct. These principles have been codified in our laws. Laws of some kind are found in all societies. The law that exists is a set of rules that defines behavioral norms, and has as its immediate object the resolution of social conflicts. Laws have three elements. These are regularity, official authority, and the application of some type of penalty as a privileged possibility. They arise out of the secular history of the society.

In the western world secular law has been profoundly influenced by God's law. This has been true of criminal as well as common law. This law was incorporated in the saving deeds and revelation of Yahweh who elected Israel as his people and laid down, as terms of his covenant, the laws by which Israel should live (Deut. 30:15,16). The difference in his laws and secular law are reflected first in the laws that have to do with his lordship and with his worship. A second difference is the authority for the law. The law given by an infinite, omniscient God has his authority. It is absolute and unchanging. This is in contrast to secular law whose authority comes from the state controlled by finite men. These men are selfish, whimsical and often subject to error.

God's law carries with it the certain application of penalty (punishment). The penalty for transgression is spelled out for application in this life and in the life to come. God's justice is sure, and his justice includes judgment for every transgression the person has ever committed. Deserved punishment is to be meted out. This is not true of secular justice, for men can be as capricious in the application of penalty as they are in legislation. Modern penal statistics corroborate this statement.

Immorality (or sin), is transgression against God's law. It is a result of man's inherent desire to exercise his free will. Even so, transgression produces a knowledge of wrongdoing (guilt) with the attendant emotion of shame. This occurs because of an awareness of personal failure. Man does not like to suffer the emotion of shame. Therefore, he repudiates God's authority, doubts his goodness, disputes his wisdom, rejects his justice, contradicts his veracity and spurns his grace. Along the whole line of God's perfections, sin is the contradiction. It is no wonder that Paul said that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

Sin will be judged by God, whether man chooses to judge it or not. God has spoken and expects man to obey. It is not his intent to always punish him immediately for his transgressions. He may instead allow him to suffer the consequences of his misbehavior. The punishment comes as a result of retaliation on the part of someone he has harmed, or by secular authorities. If he escapes either of these consequences, God has guaranteed a judgment in the life to come. Jesus has promised that at an appointed time in the future he will bring all men and women before him and judge them on the basis of their righteousness (Matt. 25:31-46). This righteousness will be determined by their having accepted him by faith, confessed their sins, received his forgiveness and obeyed his commandments. Having religion that exists in form only will not suffice. (Matt. 7:23).

Sin is a sickness and gives rise to psychological and behavioral symptoms. Just as obsessive-compulsive disease gives rise to obsession with germs and dirt, ritual hand washing or bathing, anxiety, depression and other symptoms, so does sin give rise to symptoms. The symptoms and signs of sin (immorality) are as follows: 1. There is moral paralysis. The sinner cannot stop sinning. She is compelled to continue her activity even though she may want to stop. This paralysis is best seen in the effort of an alcoholic to stop drinking. It is said that the road to hell is paved with the good intentions of the alcoholic. They know their drinking is injurious to their health. They know their loved ones are being harmed by their behavioral aberrations. They know their vocational pursuits are compromised by their drinking, but they cannot stop. They carry out all kinds of maneuvers to bring their sin under control, but they keep on drinking. They are morally paralyzed.

The second major symptom of sin is a compulsion to hide it. Adam and Eve hid in the garden after the fall. Modern man continues to try to hide his sin today. He does so because of the shame that the knowledge of his personal failure has stimulated. All of us have knowledge of right and wrong. One does not have to be a Christian or a Jew to know it (Rom. 2:16). It is this knowledge that stimulates the emotional response. The alcoholic will hide his liquor, drink vodka so his breath does not give him away, or drink only away from home. The need to hide also causes the sinner to lie.

The third major symptom of sin is a selfish attitude. Rationalizations bring the sinner to believe he is right in the things he does even in the face of the obvious pain he is causing himself and others. One of the worst examples of this I have ever seen occurred in a man who had sexually abused his daughter since she was 5 years old. In her twelfth year she began to be both disturbed herself and disturbing in school. An insightful teacher eventually was able to get her to tell her what was going on. The teacher then informed her mother and the authorities. When her father was confronted by the social worker, he rationalized his behavior, and denied any wrongdoing. I saw him after this, and even when I confronted him with his daughter's behavioral disturbances as evidence of the pain he had caused her, he still did not admit that he was wrong. His lack of repentance resulted in a conviction and prison sentence. In every other way this man was a model citizen.

Fourth, misbeliefs that have caused sin are exaggerated if the person continues his sinful behavior. This is especially true among Christians who sin. Very often their sin has resulted in adopting a worldly belief that is in obvious conflict with the word of God. A young Christian college student listened to the repeated, persuasive worldly arguments of her sorority sisters about sex. When a fraternity man she had been dating tried to seduce her, she reasoned that it was alright because her sorority sisters said it was. She finally submitted to his advances. Immediately her conscience began to tell her she had sinned. It was only a few days before she was in a severe depression that took months to heal. Even though she knew she was forgiven, she could not forgive herself. It took much persuasion to convince her to believe God had even forgotten about her sin, and that she did not have to continue to accuse herself.

Morality is living by the rules that God has given us. God, our Creator, knew what would be best for us. He gave us choices. His advice was to choose to be obedient to his commandments. If we are, he will bless us. If we are disobedient he will curse us. Read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy and find out what is in store for us in each instance. Finally in the thirtieth chapter he makes an offer: life for obedience, death for disobedience. His recommendation--"choose life (vs. 17)."

The wages of sin are the same today as they were in Moses day. The extraordinary death rate among persons in the drug culture; the messed up children that come from broken homes; pain suffered by the spouses and children who are deserted; alienation of a father or mother from the children they deserted; jails full of people from all walks of life; psychological pain that follows abortions in both men and women; profound psychological sequelae of incest are all evidences of the high price of sin. There is no inflation in the cost of sin. It is still death.

Today we are witnessing the moral degradation of our society. We as Christians have not spoken out and defended our beliefs. To be sure the ACLU, the humanists, the radical feminists, the homosexual activists and the godless of our society all have positions that they promote aggressively. Our response has been a defensive one. Sometimes we do not resist their attacks because they seem to have the upper hand. They use an intellectual approach and try to persuade us we are wrong. They try to convince us that we are clinging to archaic beliefs. This is a new world. Technology has made our views antiquated; they no longer are relevant. We can even ignore our public health practices that have been so effective in the past in controlling epidemic diseases.

Now we have an epidemic of HIV that will kill more people in the world than all the plagues and epidemics of the past. We have not used effective public health measures against venereal disease or tuberculosis, so we now have epidemics raging world wide. We have new diseases such as hepatitis C, Lyme disease, and the strange fatal disease that had its origin in the southwest. I can go on but I point out to you that public health measures for controlling epidemics are found in the Bible. In every area of our lives where we have ignored the word of God there has been a price to pay. We cannot afford to do so any longer. I have never been a political activist, but I believe that we cannot continue to ignore the belief systems of those who govern us. In a democracy we can do something about it. No longer should we vote for a person because of his or her party affiliation. We must now examine that persons moral stance and determine whether they will govern accordingly. Hard questions have to be asked of them. Our future and the future of coming generations is at stake.

It is even more important that the persons who govern us are interested in character formation and support those institutions that influence this important psychological characteristic of all persons. A recent report of the Search Institute points out that those youth who lived in healthy communities had the fewest at risk behaviors. These at-risk behaviors were tobacco, alcohol and drug use, sexual activity, depression and suicide, antisocial behavior and school problems.

The factors that reduced the at-risk behaviors were: attendance at religious services; possession of a caring and supportive family; a caring and supportive school environment; involvement in structured activities; motivation and commitment in school; and avoidance of negative peer behavior.

I am certain that the family and its supporting institutions such as the church or synagogue, organized activities such as boy and girl scouts, FFA, and FCA have a powerful effect. During my 15 years as a scoutmaster I came to realize the power of the scout oath and law in shaping the character of the boys I had in my troop or explorer post.

You may remember the oath and law that went as follows. "On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country. To obey the scout law. To help other people at all times. To keep myself physically strong, mentally clean and morally straight." The law read: "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave clean and reverent." As I watched the oath and law repeated over and over, I realized they contributed to a mindset that made for good character. In the same way character is built in those churches where the Ten commandments are memorized, where God's laws are taught as rules to live by, and where principles of behavior are taught and modeled. Families begin and continue character formation if they teach Christian principles. The findings of the Search Institute certainly emphasize their importance. I must say that we have to be sure that these institutions and the schools children attend congruently emphasize the same values.

To conclude, I have to say that the reason for morality is ensure the possibility a long, abundant and fruitful life. We will have less pain; we will be involved in fewer at-risk behaviors; and we will be physically and psychologically healthier if we are moral. The most important factor determining our morality is to be certain that Jesus is our Lord. The Holy Spirit provides the power and the word of God the guidelines for right living so that we can maintain our righteousness. With faith in Jesus and a moral life, we can look forward to eternal life. Without Him we live an immoral life that leads to eternal death.