Having seen a friend of mine on national news for a very sad reason has got me thinking again: Is sin more prevalent today than at any other time in history?
The crazy part of me wonders if part of it is due to all the EM radiation (EM as in Electromagnetic, not English Ministry… although the latter might be a contributor to all the craziness as well…) in the air today. Cell phone towers that cover almost every square mile of the civilized/populated world (although you might disagree if you have a bad carrier), wifi in addition to the already existing radio waves. For a brain that works on something similar to EM pulses, someone might make a connection (between erratic behavior and EM waves) one day. But that is some crazy thinking…
Sin, since the Fall, has been a part of the human nature. We live in a world that is so populated by us sinful people that we don’t deal with just our own sin, we deal with other people’s sin on a day to day basis (as we do in any community, but now on a grander scale). If you’ve ever lived in a densely populated area, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Many people in crowded places seem grouchy and mean.
But has sin increased?
It might be that media coverage of it (and everything else) has increased, especially for people who the media want to expose as sinful. When people are exposed, they often do whatever they can to cover up the story. It’s interesting to note that one of the first interactions we see in the Bible between the man, woman and the serpent is one where the serpent tempts the man and the woman with a way to point out what is sinful. Then, the first thing that the man and woman do is try to cover up their shame.
We live in a dark, broken world. The church is to be light, and it’s to embrace broken people (even people marred in sin), but it’s not to condone the sin that people struggle with (as many in the church are doing at this present time). We can’t cover up sin. Jesus, by his blood, is the one who covered our sin.
Has sin increased though? It’s very hard to be objective, especially on the scope of the world overall. But I would argue that sin (and the tolerance of it) in the church has increased.
We read at the beginning of 2 Timothy 3 about what times will be like in the last days. In Luke 17 we read about a similar teaching. In Revelation 2-3 we also read about about the marks of sin in the church itself.
Are we in those days? That question is beyond the scope of what I can fathom. The Spirit knows. We need to be faithful.
Many of us will fall into sin. But for those of us who do, let us repent. And for those of us who see what is exposed, let us forgive. Even if we are living in the last days, we are to do our best to live as Christ did. Let us not give up on this broken, sinful world. We are strangers and aliens here yes. But we need to live as Jesus did. Forgiving, loving, and never giving up on a standard of holiness, his righteousness has been imputed to us. Let us live as righteous people would.