There has been no shortage of articles and reading about the sexual abuse scandal rocking Penn State. I will reserve judgment until all facts are in, but it sounds horrific.
Here is a very difficult question that has made me think in the middle of this issue: is sexual abuse wrong?
Seems dumb, I know. Seems like everyone thinks sexual abuse is wrong. And I’m not really trying to argue the point. I believe it IS wrong. Just let me follow a line of reasoning.
The line of reasoning goes like this:
1. Culture says Christians are narrow minded and label people sinners.
2. Culture says what is right and wrong should be left to the individual.
3. See where I’m going with this?
If we’re all the product of ooze and happened by chance, why should we not be free to act like it? That’s an awful question, but it’s one I’m afraid any atheist/evolutionist must wrestle with. Truly in their viewpoint, there is no morality. The best that can be argued is that there must be basic structure to protect others in any society. But the question still remains: why?
The answer simply is this: if no supreme moral being created the universe and humanity on earth as we know it, then no moral code can be assumed. If however, a moral being did create the universe and humankind, then we can expect that nature to be found in humans, thus leading to a knowledge right and wrong. Further, if said moral creator being left His flawless Word to us and it puts other human texts to shame in regard to how much we can trust it (which is indisputable fact), then we could find His moral code there. And we do.
And that same book (the Bible as we know it) shows us we have no hope, that all of us are immoral, without any chance of repairing the separation from God that our sins creates. But thanks be to the mighty work of God through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. We can be forgiven of our sin.
And we can speak authoritatively on issues of right and wrong, where the Bible permits us to speak.
And we can pray for forgiveness of anyone involved in any wrong, for this promise is open to any who will respond to the work of God.
So tonight, I pray for those involved in this situation in Pennsylvania. For healing, for the hope of Jesus Christ to be revealed to them, and for forgiveness for any possible perpetrators, should they reach out to God and ask for it, trusting Jesus as the only one who can grant it.
Be challenged . . .