Easy to Be Hard

It’s easy to say no.

Considering myself a sincere Christian, I have paid close attention to the biblical text and exhortations by my betters since early youth.  My spiritual dwelling has been among conservative peoples though I’ve not partnered with what might be categorized the extreme right (interpretation, I know).

Separation from the world and to God is a deep and wide scriptural theme.  It is replete in Holy Writ by announcement and analogy.  Sincere Christians take distinctive living to heart though applications vary.  The concern among the concerned is purity in presentation which is daily becoming less pure.

For the separatist (and I do not mean that harshly), the chief enemy is compromise and the slippery slope to depravity (which point is always true).  It is the unvarnished that many professing Christians take few scriptural prohibitions seriously.  The Bible plainly teaches that the unconverted world is worsening which influences believers to lax living.  Misapplications of the doctrine of grace cloud the water.

While I share sentiments and convictions with the exacting, observation and experience inform that there is more to godly living than being picky.  It is possible for well-meaning Christians to guild the rose and fiddle with trivialities long after the principles they seek to protect are lost.  In such cases, their matters of contention are misplaced.

I am extremely reluctant to criticize the pursuit of God.  As a matter of fact, I don’t really care what a person believes if they are genuine in their thoughts and efforts.  It’s more that I’ve seen valiant causes reduced to rubble by the sincere.  And that’s not the only problem.

It is possible for the well-intentioned to be misinformed.  No era has been without its difficulties, and those who would avoid worldliness most often reflect on the best of their times and those of their immediate forebears as placeholders of goodness.  By this, I mean they decry daily decay in the light of a not-too-distant steadfast past.  Consequently, they miss important distinctions whereas the loosey-goosey wonder, “What’s the big deal?”

Conservative people will deny themselves pleasures unwarranted, and libertines will be trapped in snares unseen.  It’s a balancing act for sure, and caution is in order regardless of position.  More convenient to not worry about it or just say no.

It is easier for true believers to accept extreme positions than to moderate and modify.  Like the Texan who did not want all the land, only that next to his, the liberal mindset breaches fences, whereas the conservative builds ever more.  The question of why the fence was initially placed is important as is that of necessity.  Swift agreement to perceived logical ends can end irrationally.

In a counterintuitive way, it remains true that prohibition incites sinfulness.  So the “just say no” approach to Christian ethics is not without pitfalls.  There is a fine line between appropriate caution and the type of obsession that leads to temptation.  In the worst cases, staunch opponents of salacious activities become embroiled and enmeshed in their disputations. 

At the end of our days, each of us will rue impulsive involvement and regret needless deprivation.  We will find that the easy answers were not the answers at all.

Sterl