Accomodating Sin

Why are we as Christians so eager to accommodate ourselves to sin?

I suppose that this question has always been present within the church; we know that Paul dealt with it in Corinth and the Apostle John speaks to the church of Pergamos about the very same issue.  Perhaps it is simply something that is within the sinful human condition.  But it still haunts me.

I know.  Haunt is kind of a big word for something that I seem to have minimal control over.  But it bothers me at a deep level when Christians and the Church seem to cut themselves down from within.

A challenge from my own life that I believe is the same for others and the church:  name one sin that you made accommodations for in your own life that improved your life.  Let us be clear:  I'm not speaking of things that are preferences or things that we may name as "sin" but God clearly does not or even things where we are given latitude to determine what we do.  I am speaking here specifically of something God names as a sin that we bring into our lives as a form of accommodating living with it instead of eschewing it and fighting against it.

An simple example from my own life:  I tend to enjoy certain kinds of movies which often (largely towards the "R" rating end) for their plot even though they embrace things that I am to have no part of in my life.  I do not, of course, but none the less I vicariously see them through the medium of entertainment.  I have two options:  I can continue to justify the fact that entertainment is my "right" and I watch away or decide that, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 "Abstain from every form of evil" - which in my case would mean putting aside such movies altogether based on the rating, regardless of whether or not I want to watch them.

The question germane to my thought above is "Does anything in my life improve by watching these movies?  Do they make me more holy?  Do they strengthen my witness?  Do they glorify God?"  With perhaps one exception - The Passion of the Christ - I can honestly say no. But I am willing to accommodate this in my life.

Why?  Because of my desire to do what I want to do?  Because of my belief that this is not as serious as it really is (after all, who am I taking more seriously:  God or myself?)?  Or have I simply stewed in the culture long enough that the difference is no longer there: I am no longer "salt and light" but rather the gravel and darkness of the world around me with a slightly different texture?

The reality is this:  accommodation of sin in the life of an individual or organization never improves that individual or organization.  Never.  It may feel reasonable, it may feel relevant, but it never improves it.  Accommodation over time will simply lead to the the same sort of process as bacteria unchecked on an enamel tooth:  a shell with a deep wound in it which is painful, infected, and threatens to destroy the integrity of the tooth.

Interestingly God never accommodates sin, nor did Christ during His time on earth.  Were they forgiving?  Yes.  Did they constantly express their love to sinners - both Jewish and Gentile - who lived in sin, forestalling judgement even as they called them back?  Absolutely.  But God does not look upon sin and attempt to find a way to accommodate it - through the work of His Son, he found a way to pay for it now and eliminate it in the world to come.

Not accommodating sin is hard - no doubt about that.  It will cost you in terms of interactions and popular culture.  Once you start down the road of not accommodating sin you will find that it has become even more enticing to you.  It will whisper to you of how you are being "unreasonable" and denying yourself very simple pleasures and actions that God does not really damn all that much anyway.

But as Christians, we are called to a different standard - as Paul says, "For God did not call you to uncleanness, but in holiness" (1 Thessalonians 4:7).  Let us seek not accommodate the sin in our life; let us rather seek the far more difficult task of cultivating holiness.