Call it what it is!

"The Bible makes plain what natural science seems unwilling to admit: that nature reveals both a Creator and a Corrupter.  Man blames the Creator for the work of the Corrupter.  Man forgets that our world is not as God made it. God made the world good; sin corrupted it. God made man innocent, but sin entered and made him selfish.  Every manifestation of evil is the result of basic sin -- sin that has remained unchanged since the moment it first entered the human race...

Today, the general reaction is: "So what?"  In fact, there is a definite attempt to popularize and glamorize sin.  Our most popular TV series are concerned with the decadent rich. Our magazine covers frequently feature the immoral, the perverted, the psychologically sick.  Sin is in.  People don't like to be told they are sinners... yet the Bible declares that every person on earth is a sinner in the sight of God.

Whenever I hear anyone take an exception to so strong a statement, I am reminded of the story of the church officer who came to talk to the minister one day about sin.  He said to the minister, 'Doctor, we of the congregation wish you wouldn't talk quite so much or so plainly about sin.  We feel that if our boys and girls hear you discuss the subject so much, they will all the more easily become sinners.  Why don't you call it a mistake or say that our young people are often guilty of using poor judgment, but please don't talk so openly about sin.'  The minister walked over and took down a bottle of poison from a high shelf and showed it to his visitor.  The bottle was plainly marked in big red letters:  'POISON. DO NOT TOUCH.' 

'What would you have me do,' asked the minister?  'Do you feel it would be wise for me to remove this label and put on one that reads: Essence of Peppermint?  Don't you see that the milder you make the label, the more dangerous you make the poison?'"

~Billy Graham, Peace With God 

Yesssss, PREACH!  I had to pause the audiobook then go back and listen slowly to type that out. That last illustration and final sentence says SO MUCH.  Our culture keeps wanting to relabel sin to avoid offending people, but God is clear that sin has eternal consequences, and it does far more harm than good when we try to ignore or sidestep or rewrite that truth!! ❤