Wednesday, December 30, 2020

day no. 15,409: Christianity Yesterday

"'Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.' Hugh Latimer once presented a Bible to Henry VIII with the Bible marked at that passage. Hugh Latimer doesn’t write for Christianity Today. He wrote for Christianity Yesterday, a periodical that has fallen out of favor with many of our thought leaders." -- Douglas Wilson, How to Fly Your Cast Iron Kites

When a man draws attention in such pointed fashion to another man's sins, you can rest assured, he isn't doing so without also attempting to motivate that man away from his behaviors. Hugh Latimer was not content with Henry VIII's sins, but more importantly, he wanted Henry VIII to be discontent with his own sins. The reason God sends harbingers is to motivate repentance before it's too late, not merely announce what is going to happen. The reason He tells someone ahead of time something like, "I judge these kind of shenanigans" is to move people away from said shenanigans, not merely to state a fact of future recompense that matches the offense.

This kind of straight, up-the-middle confrontation of sin is often confused today with legalism. If you have the audacity to tell someone that God judges sins, and in particular you will be judged for that sin you are committing without repentance, you are accused of being a legalist. It is en vogue to be in sin. And it is a faux pas to be so bold as to suggest that someone in sin should stop and instead repentantly be in Christ.

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