Desensitizing Our Moral Outlook

by Terry Wane Benton

I remember that early TV entertainment had some moral guidelines. In the 1950s the Dick Van Dyke Show was your average TV viewing. The couple was presented as married, but bedroom scenes were of two separate single beds. Later, in the 1970s, you began to see more of the “live-in” arrangements like in “Three’s Company”. As people began to accept non-married “live-in” arrangements, morals declined faster.

I remember when it was a shock when a single word of profanity was used in “Gone with the Wind,” and now it is commonplace along with many other vulgarities. Now the shows are regularly slipping in transgenderism as the norm that is accepted in the entertainment industry, and giving us commercials about HIV meds for gays, who are kissing and told to “love who you are.” Some shows feature the gay-trans storyline with a clear message that not loving and accepting this is religious hypocrisy and unreasonable hatred that is equivalent to racial prejudice.
Morals have gotten very corrupt. While we “abhor what is evil” (Romans 12:9) and “expose the unfruitful works of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11), we must also remember that we don’t seek the harm of people but give enlightenment to people. Our objective is to win souls to Christ. People at Corinth had been adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, etc. (I Corinthians 6:8-10). How did gospel preaching turn them around?

It seems obvious that in preaching the gospel you do not just say “God loves you just as you are.” You would surely have to point out that God is holy and has a way to separate us from a life of sin that is condemned by God. We would have to identify sin and present the need to repent of sin (Acts 17:30-31).

The message of repentance was crucial (Luke 13:1-3). Paul taught openly and without shame about “righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come” (Acts 24:25). It was a confrontational message that made Felix tremble. While preaching this message, Paul was not a personal threat. He could confront the common issues of man needing to know what is right and righteous, to accept responsibility for not exercising self-control, and point out that there is coming a final day of judgment before God, who will render to each man what his choices called for in righteous judgment. He would talk about these things without seeming to hate anyone personally. He feared for souls captured by sin and sought to win them. His approach was kind and did not seem to be a personal threat, though many hated him because they had no desire to turn to God and repent of sins.

Peter’s first message on Pentecost was not “God loves and accepts you just as you are.” It was confrontational: “You with lawless hands crucified the Lord of glory” and “He is now both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:22,36). When truthful people were convicted, they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter did not tell them to “just accept Jesus as your personal Savior.” He told them to "repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). Notice that the message was not Peter personally hating and personally threatening people. He was harmless but bold in confronting the needed issue.

Our culture would charge Peter with hatred and being mean-spirited, but our culture is just as wrong as the culture gathered in Jerusalem in Acts 2. Our culture is morally desensitized and would not tolerate a sermon where sin is exposed. What Peter preached was the truth in love. We must not discourage preaching that addresses sin. Exposing the cancer of sin is the first step in bringing about a cure. We cannot get the cure if we cannot identify that we have cancer.

Desensitizing ourselves by ignoring sin only makes the cancer worse and reaches a point of no return. “Except you repent, you will all perish” (Luke 13:3). Let those loving words sink in!