Delayed Consequences

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17)

We have become a generation that believes that it can get away with anything, even disobedience. We have looked for a way out of the consequences for most things we do. We have explained the consequences and sought for a way to remove their sting. We have sought to demystify the command so that as many as possible can break it.

We forget that we are simply echoing the ancient serpent who told Eve that you shall not surely die. But even worse is that we are not even willing to look at the statement beyond that. That is how the devil succeeds in baiting us all the time by giving statements that are open ended. And I think this is the reason God did not ask the serpent to explain anything. His statement did not actually negate God’s; it twisted it just a little. What he cast doubt on was not death but the surety of it.

Adam may have been scared of instant death and so the devil brought in another dimension. Disobedience will bring death so slowly that we may safely assume it is not there. The pleasures of the sin can’t compare to the Day of Judgment especially since it may take forever before that day comes. And that forever can be so subjective to the one looking at it. Another thing Eve was deceived about was that physical death was the only result, which, like the devil and his advocates continually argue, cannot come from a loving God.

The appetizers to sin are also very attractive, especially to the senses. Bending the perception of the consequences will then make disobedience so desirable. Deferring them will really confuse the tempted. The option of there being some way of dulling the sting of the consequence will make the temptation irresistible. And I think that was how even Adam was deceived to disobey God’s clear command.

You see Eve had eaten and had not died. In fact she may have brightened from the realization that God may have been issuing empty threats about that dying. She may have argued that way with Adam to convince him to also eat. She may have convinced him that he may have misheard or misunderstood God. And there was the serpent to add fuel to the fire of temptation.

Did they die immediately? Of course they died. Their innocence died. Their relationship with God died. Their relationship with each other died. In fact physical death was the least of the deaths to fear. But since Satan had succeeded in shifting the goal of the consequence a whole new scenario was created.

The favorite sin I like to deal with is the one most advertised, sexual sin. It is the one sin where this connects to closely. It is the one whose consequences are most disastrous among all the commandments relating to our dealings with others. It is the sin whose consequences continue long after the sin has been repented and forgiven. It is the sin that transgresses generations in its consequence. And it is the sin that many times leads to certain death through innumerable infections, some worse than HIV.

 We talk about terrorism because Abraham slept with Hagar instead of waiting for the son God had promised him. David’s posterity was condemned to violence and treachery because of adultery. Israel was divided because Solomon strayed in that direction. One clear sin we see in Sodom was homosexuality. The Benjamites were almost wiped out because of sexual sin. And closer home many ministries and ministers have collapsed due to sexual sin.

Yet what do we see? We are trying all we can to dull the consequences of that one sin. Like Eve we think delaying the consequences will somehow negate them. We think explaining away or dealing with physical death will remove the sting of the consequence. And like Adam we will realize that we are biting more than we can chew. We realize that the consequences we fear are the least we will be dealing with. Death comes with even greater measure after we put off the physical aspect of the consequence. And the physical consequence will come eventually, anyway.

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. (1Corinthians 6:18)

Like a friend who with her husband pioneered True Love Waits in Africa says, there is no condom for the heart. No sex is safe if it is outside the boundaries God set. All the enticement we are getting to even consider sex outside God’s bounds is unimaginable if we decided to think straight.

You see thinking about practicing sin safely is not just a contradiction. It is folly of the highest order. In fact it is insanity and extreme delusion. How can I think of diluting poison so that I don’t die quickly? Or like the Bible asks how can I walk on fire and not expect to be scorched?

Some time ago we had a set of adverts that were advising married people against unfaithfulness because it had been found out that most HIV infections are occurring in marriage relationships. But it did not work. What with all the movies people are watching? What with the advertisements that lean toward sex? What about the flimsy, almost naked dress of the girls even in church? What with the busyness of both working parents that ensures that they are never together?

So they came up with another that caused an uproar until it was removed, until later. ‘Carry a condom in your unfaithfulness’ is what this one says. It has since been brought back.

Are we animals to walk by instinct? Can’t we really control our bodies? Is the sex drive so powerful that it can replace our thinking capacity? Or does it remove our brains altogether when our bodies become hot?

Deferring the consequences or appearing to do so makes a bad situation even worse. Thinking about physical consequences and trying to avoid them is trivializing a very dangerous situation.

The danger of nuclear power does not come from its usage. It is very clean and effective. The worry about the same is simply concerned with the waste. Where do we dump nuclear waste? Waste is never meant to be stored but dumped. And that is the headache of people involved in that progress. Of course there is the danger that comes from leakages and accidents like the recent one in Japan.

That in many ways is how sin behaves like. We might bottle it up to make it appear less harmful yet like nuclear power we can be able to do only that which is in our power. There are many other dynamics we will not be in control of when we get sin in progress.

We may think that we have done away with the consequences by practicing ‘safe sex’ but we will discover that the effects of that safety are worse than the disease we may have got. Among the issues we will have to deal with is guilt. I will find out that I stop trusting myself.

There is nothing as dangerous as trust betrayed, whether one knows they have been betrayed or not. I read this story that brings this in perspective. Two boys were playing. One had many sweets (candies) and the other had billiard balls. The one with the balls asked the other that they exchange whatever each had and the other agreed, giving him all the sweets he had. His friend however kept his best ball and gave him the rest.

At night the one who gave everything slept soundly while the one who cheated could not sleep. Why? He kept wondering what the other boy had kept from him. He simply could not imagine somebody being as honest as per the contract.

This is what safe sinning produces. Guilt. And no wonder Sharon said there is no condom for the heart! Sin is never safe.

Yet that is the celebrated position the devil takes. For any sin in existence the driver is the delaying or reversal of the consequences that makes temptation so tempting. Looking beyond the physical to other consequences will make the temptation look so foolish to fall under. And that is the reason many people will be wondering what befell them or how could they have been so foolish.

Temptation blinds me to the future. Lust pushes the future so far off. Pleasure drives imagination to only the present and simply blocks the future from our sight.

But temptation has no capacity to altar the future, especially as it concerns the consequences for those acts of sin. It is therefore pure shortsightedness and feigned blindness to imagine otherwise. It is pure folly to imagine that the fleeting pleasure one experiences at the point they are sinning is worth comparing with the lifetime of regret and pain they must endure for that single moment of pleasure. That is what the devil aims at diverting our attention from.

Think before you leap is an apt statement. Incidentally it is many times used against the wrong targets. Many will want to look before they obey than they will before they sin. In other words God is less dependable than our whims so that I must really examine what He is offering before taking it yet jump to bed with a stranger especially if I have ‘protection’.

Nothing can be as dependable as God. In fact dependability can only be defined with respect to God, even by atheists.

Why do we then depend on our flimsy and shifty feelings and lusts? Surely we will not jump at that plate of food we find on the wayside when we are hungry after a long journey. We will first want to understand the who, why, what, how of the food before eating. Hunger will not take the reason from us as food does not cook itself.

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. (Proverbs 6:23 – 34)

I have just thought to give a longish passage to give us God’s take on sexual sin. We see a whore and an adulterer. These are the two types of sexual sin we are being warned against. It can be broken down into fornication and adultery. The rest (incest and homosexuality) are offshoots of these two sins. Someone who can’t control himself in the presence of a beautiful woman will eventually become worse than an animal as he will become uncontrollable. His body cravings will be such that they MUST be met. The thirst for sexual release will so overpower the person that any opening for that release will be exploited.

But there is judgment. Let us forget for an instant about the physical consequences like STDs and even AIDS which are givens. The guilt, the conviction, the suspicions, the depression are a few of the consequences of one who has released himself to gratify his sexual urges against the boundaries God has set, marriage.

My prayer is that we will transfer that craving for something better, something enlightening, something life-giving.

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42: 1, 2)

Otherwise we are on the path to destruction.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1:20 – 28)

I am sure we are seeing some of these things with increasing frequency nowadays. I am convinced that even those of their most arrogant advocates have no doubt that their lifestyle is abominable even to themselves. They argue for those sins because they need the numbers to at least dull the guilt that is eating into them day and night as their lives are lower than those of animals. The increasing crowd will dull their pain at living so badly.