[From 2006 church newsletter]
The other weekend, I personally experienced a most horrific sight. A commencement speaker for a graduating class suddenly and surprisingly threw-up on the audience! Vomited. Barfed.
Of course, I do not mean physical sickness. I mean spiritual sickness.
In Isaiah 64:6 describes sin as “filthy rags”—more precisely “garments of menstruation”. Yes it is a repulsive thought; it should be. So, when I write about the verbal vomit—the explicitly religious lies showered upon the graduates, families and friends—I have biblical precedence. Isaiah 1:5 also relates sickness to the sin of rebellion. Overt false teachings from those in positions of authority and influence are especially sinful; therefore, they are a sickness as repulsive as “filthy rags”.
It is hard to know where to start since there was so much vaguely worded euphemisms and explicit denials of the uniqueness of Christianity. “Spirituality”—that good-feeling of relationships with other people (or things?)—was contrasted with “religion”—that evil domain of “rules and regulations.” He also advised the graduates to follow that “inner voice” we all have; they are to “practice” using it because it gets better with use—indeed, it becomes an unswerving guide to life against all advise from others! Naturally, the graduates were encouraged to “look to themselves” above all. And in good pagan fashion, they were admonished to find good friends—not just everyday friends—no, those friends that will “never judge you”! And this is only a partial list.
Why do I bother mentioning this? Were not the errors obvious? Maybe. It depends on the level of doctrinal and spiritual ability a Christian possesses. And it depends upon the level of zeal to recognize and avoid error. That is why immersion in the Word and prayer is important. When we realize how noxious sin and error is in the sight of God—like Isaiah—it should direct our expectations and passions accordingly. With this desire, we more readily recognize error. And protect our loved-ones.
We should be sensitive to such errors and their level of harm (obviously some sins and doctrines are worse than others). And our children and young adults should be trained accordingly. Thus, we can avoid random sickness flying in our general direction.
