So, I went to class at Denver Seminary this afternoon and started the Spring 2012 Semester with a bang! When I got home, I realized how much work was going to be involved in this semester's classes so I thought I'd get a head start on some of the reading. I picked up one of the text books for my "Integrative Seminar in Christian Formation and Soul Care" class and started reading. The book is called The Good and Beautiful Life by James Bryan Smith. I came across the following excerpt from the book and just had to share it with you:
In Romans 1:18-32, Paul describes how a human life spirals into ruin. Written nineteen centuries before the advent of modern psychology, Paul's assessment of the human person remains the most brilliant depiction of soul destruction I have ever read... I would like to summarize his ideas in what I call "The Six Steps of Ruin: The Process of Becoming Nothing."
1. The turn away : I want to be God. The first step toward ruin is to refuse to let God be God. To be more specific, it is refusing to give honor and reverence to God. Paul writes, "though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" (Romans 1:21)
2. The mind darkens (contra reality). Now, if there is a God, as Christians suppose, then that God is the creator of all, the only being that exists without a first cause, a perfect and powerful being. In short, if there is a God, we ought to honor and give thanks to God. Therefore, refusing to do that (step 1) is a step away from reality. It goes against the truth of the universe. Therefore, our minds, which thrive on truth and reality, become dimmed. Paul observes: "they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:21-22)
3. Idolatry: We must have a god. If we reject God, then something must take God's place: "Nature abhors a vacuum." Someone or something must take the place of God. We would like a god who would do a lot of good for us and ask very little in return. The solution: create an idol. Paul describes the next step downward: they "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles" (Romans 1:23). Idols do not have to be little images; they can be anything we invest our lives in, in order to gain pleasure, happiness and a false sense of purpose. Here is the key; the idol serves us by giving us our desires, and we serve it by sacrificing our life energy to it.
4. God leaves us alone: Wrath. Unless we discover the futility of this existence and turn back to God, we are forced to push forward in our idolatry. Being rejected, God has no other choice. Paul delivers what I consider to be one of the most frightening verses in Scripture; "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity" (Romans 1:24). God simply lets us be. God's wrath is his righteous stand against sin, which he cannot endorse.
5. Pleasure is pursued at all costs. Disconnected from reality and on our own, we must find a way to find fulfillment. Though temporary, the easiest route is through our bodies. Lust and gluttony are shortcuts to happiness. But the "high" that comes from our bodies (through drugs, alcohol, food, sexual encounters, pornography) has a constantly diminishing effect. Each time we engage in these activities, the pleasure decreases, thus requiring greater frequency or greater quantities to match the level of pleasure sought. Paul puts it this way: "For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions" (Romans 1:26). The initial "lusts of their hearts" has now turned in "degrading passions."
6. Sin reigns. The final step is the worst and is a natural conclusion to the previous five steps. Sin and wickedness become normative, automatic behavior. When we reject God and consequently try to replace God with things that cannot satisfy, we naturally begin to reflect everything that stands against God, namely, sin. Paul offers a list that, though ancient, is descriptive of many today:
"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. The were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless." (Romans 1:28-31)
Each day when I pick up the newspaper I see Paul's depiction of the downward spiral lived out in the modern world: politicians using their power improperly, rape, murder, arson, runaways, gangs, drug dealers, prostitution and so on.
It all starts with the fatal first step, the same step by which Adam and Eve fell from God in the Garden: refusing to show respect and thankfulness to God. That step begins a movement away from a good and beautiful life, and ends in a life of sin and ugliness.
Wow! As I read this excerpt from The Good and Beautiful Life I couldn't help but think of what I see every day here in Colorful Colorado Springs! What a testament of our world today!
I'd like to offer a word of encouragement though. You may identify with this spiral into a ruined life but there's hope. Jesus Christ and surrendering your ruined life to Him is the only solution for this ruined life.
I'd be happy to talk to you about a relationship with Jesus if you're tired of your ruined life. My email address is mpratt@newlifechurch.org. I look forward to talking with you.
Mike
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