The Reality of Death

Photo: American Psychology Association

In my profession as a paramedic and a county medical examiner investigator, I experience almost every week, the effects of death. I witness each individual's method of coping and mourning. I've seen some people calm and understanding, and I've seen others hysteric as if the world was ending and for them, it might possibly be. Working this type of profession brings a person to consider and think about death in a way that most people don't think. We see the inevitability of death, even in young people and yes, even infants.

I think the only time most people really think about death is in the event of a death of a loved one, or around this time of year: Halloween. It seems to me that when Halloween comes around, people fall into the mainstream Halloween theme of ghost, zombies, grave yards, and of course, death. But it appears that most people use death in Halloween as a cliche theme rather than a reality. Because of that, I feel that I should point people to the right belief about death.

In my profession, it is easy to say that death is a natural process and I hear this often. In some sense, that is true. It is only a part of the life cycle that we are accustomed to. The definition of "natural" is summed up as created by God. Even though death came into the world by God's allowance, it was not the original plan when God created to world. Genesis chapter one is the account of the creation by God and we see in verse 31 that "..God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very Good". When God first created the world, it was perfect without suffering or death. But in Genesis 3, we see how Satan went into the garden, deceived Eve, leading to Adam's disobedience resulting in sin entering the world, and with sin comes death as the punishment. So God allowed death into the world as a punishment for sin, but it was not the original, natural plan God had.

I want to point out 2 sides of death that we can observe and the first is in the perspective of the unsaved person. Because death is the penalty for sin, we are all born into the sentence of death*. For the person who refuses God's gift of salvation, death is terrifying. Lately, I have been studying the beliefs of other world religions and cults and it is amazing, the different beliefs of life after death. Whether it is reincarnation, becoming a trapped spirit, we don't exist in the first place, purgatory, or even no life after death, there is no hope in these religions for after death. Some religions, such as wicca, do not talk about life after death and avoid discussing it, leaving each person to their own belief. Some religions, such as Shinto, choose not to even address the afterlife in their religion. Other religions, such as Norse and Germanic mythology (which is coming back into belief by some), go the other way and believe in a triumphing afterlife, becoming a god.

In America, the prominent humanist belief seems to be no life after death. From a young age, children are taught that we evolve from single celled organisms and, by chance, form into a human with no personal God being involved in our existence. If we evolve by accident and have no purpose on this world other than to exist and have no personal God (or even God at all) to interact in our lives, then death means we just turn into compost in the ground. If there is no God, there cannot be a hopeful afterlife. It's no wonder some people see death as the worst tragedy. If your loved one dies and has no immortal soul, you will never see or interact with that person ever again.

The Bible tells us that there are 2 options for the afterlife. Hebrew 9:27 tells us "..it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgement". Once an unsaved person (has not accepted Christ) dies, the only thing to look forward to is God's judgement where all of his sins are displayed before him (Revelation 20:12-13). After the judgement, he is thrown into the lake of fire to eternal torment (Revelation 20:15). There is no purgatory (NEVER mentioned once in the Bible, or any concept of it), only judgement and hell. So from a Biblical perspective, death is worse that any other religion's belief about the afterlife and the reason is because there is a personal God that will judge us and hold us accountable for what we do here on Earth, which most people reject. If we are accountable for our actions, then we aren't at liberty to just participate in every sin we wish. That is why man-made religions do not have a belief that we are accountable to a god that will judge us.

The other side of death that we see is also the second option for the afterlife. In John 3:16, we are told "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." If we go a little further in John to 5:24, we see Jesus say, "verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believe on him who sent me [God], hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto light." For the Christian, we have hope in death. We know that upon death, we will see the face of Jesus and live with him for eternity.

As Christians, we need to have a right perspective about death. I do not discount the emotions tied to loss and mourning. Losing a loved one here on earth, not having the opportunity to interact with them anymore in this life, is sorrowful. But we also need to maintain the reality that we will see them again in Heaven, if they are saved. At a funeral for a Christian, we should be rejoicing that the deceased person is now in the presence of God with no more sorrow, no pain, no suffering, no sickness. How can we mad at God or be sorrowful that the deceased person is in the presence of God? We also need to use that time to remember the reason death exists. For me, each death I see is a constant reminder of the sinner that I am and need I have for a savior. But this is comforting as well, knowing that even though I am a sinner deserving of hell, God loves me enough to have died, taking our sins so that I can spend eternity with him.

I do not mean for this post to scare anyone, or maybe I do. If you are not a Christian, this should scare you. Read through Revelation and you will see the terrible things that will happen to non-Christians. Only doom follows death for the unbeliever and maybe this will open your eyes to your need for the savior. God is not an unloving God to allow someone to enter hell, but cannot allow sin to coexist with him in his presence, for he is a just God and will punish sin. He wishes for each person to repent and accept him. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise...; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". (2 Peter 3:0) For the Christian, I hope you are encouraged that there is hope after death that does not compare to anything we can have or experience here in this world. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).


*Some people ask if, since we are born into sin and as a sinner, does this mean when an infant dies, he will go to hell? My answer is "no". Jesus tells us that we are to accept him, repenting of our sins and turning to him. Infants and small children cannot yet understand this and upon death, God accepts them. We are shown in the Bible that Jesus has a special compassion toward children and will not condemn them to hell when they do not yet understand their sin and need for a savior because of their young age. 

The Dangers of Evolution

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  

Matthew 7:17-18

But there were false prophets also amoung the people, even as there shall be false teachers amoung you who privaly bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2 Peter 2:1

Image: http://timewgod.tumblr.com/post/40768878943/a-battle-of-worldviews

I think one of the biggest lies that is fed to people in our country is the theory of evolution. I don't want to so much talk about the inconsistencies, flaws, and unbiblical basis of it, but rather, want to show how it has changed our country and what may come as a result. But to talk about those, I do have to explain some things about evolution.

I want to first point out that the theory of evolution is merely a "theory". When Charles Darwin wrote Origin of Species and Survival of the Fittest, he wrote it as a proposed theory, but did not claim it as fact and entertained the fact that it is flawed. He stated "Often a cold shudder has run through me and have asked myself whether I may have devoted myself to a fantasy". Since evolution is a theory, it cannot be disproved, but the evidences support creation over evolution, despite what is published. Creation is supported continually by what is found in the earth and we do not need to derive a theory as how something "might" have happened because it is consistent with special creation. When evolution observes the evidence, they have to develop a theory to explain it and oftentimes changes because the theory is flawed. Creationists and evolutionists have the same evidences to observe, but when the two have to explain the evidences, creationism is consistent. We have the same evidence to look at, but the question is what lens you are looking at through; Creation or evolution? This is our defining foundation to our beliefs. Whether you believe creation or evolution determines the rest of your beliefs. The major difference in these foundations is God's word vs. man's opinion.

Another issue with evolution is the lack of science. Scientists, and every other person who supports evolution, claim that evolution is scientific and that creationism does not follow science. However, it seems to be the opposite. To prove a scientific fact, the scientific process must be followed and when the hypothesis is not proven, a new hypothesis must be formed. With evolution, sometimes the hypothesis is disproved but still published as fact, or sometimes is disproved and every other following hypothesis is disproved. Simply put, the formation of the earth and origin of life cannot be observed. We cannot observe the past and hence, cannot classify the formation of life (or evolution of life) as science since the scientific process cannot be followed to test the hypothesis.

Creationism follows historical science. This is where we have written accounts of what happened by people who did observe it and use their observations to support our hypothesis. And when the evidences support our hypotheses based on historical accounts, it can be proved and considered fact. We cannot "prove" the Bible since it is not observable science, but when we look at the accounts in the Bible and the records, the findings support the text 100%, yet is considered "unscientific". Just because creationism isn't consistent with the modern idea of science, doesn't mean it is anti-science. The fact is that evolution is not scientific, but is claimed as a fact and if anything contradicts it, is considered unscientific. What we have is a flawed definition of science.

I don't want to talk about tall the flaws of evolution, or refute and debate, but rather explain what the belief leads to.

The general idea of evolution is that all life evolved from a simple, single-celled organism from a primordial soup and has "evolved" to survive. Darwin's theory of evolution does not deal with problem of the origin of life but rather on the evolving of the species, so the origin of life has been an accumulation of assumptions and ideas of people throughout the years. That is all that evolution is: assumptions.

There are multiple theories on the origin (and they continue to change), but one is the big bang theory. With this theory, out of pure chance, a "bang" happened and the universe spawned from it. And as time went along, over billions of years, single celled organism evolved into a life form which turned into some sort of sea creature who grew legs to crawl on land and over time evolved into apes, then humans. The exact formation is vague and inconsistent because there is no evidence, so it is constantly changing. The premise of this theory is that we all came from a singled-cell organism by accident, and this belief is dangerous.

Socialism and communism use evolution and atheism as it's religious and scientific basis. Out of these beliefs, we are just parts of the machine (society) and only exist to benefit the collective. Humanism also follows this foundation and claims that we just exist with no purpose or meaning. When we die, that's it. What does this all mean? If we are only here to add to society then die, or not have any meaning on earth, then why are we here? What is the purpose of living and what is keeping us from just offing ourselves? Do you see the problem?

You see, when we view human life as meaningless, it leads to a meaningless life. People go through life with the belief that they don't matter and won't make a difference. When life gets too hard to bear and we don't have a purpose here anyways, why not just commit suicide and end the suffering early. That's a large reason why we have such high depression and suicide rates. When you remove God from the picture and we evolved as an accident, what meaning does that have? As Christians, we know that we are created by God for a special purpose here on earth and when we die, will receive rewards for what we do, not to mention dwelling with our Creator for eternity! That gives us meaning, but without it, there is no purpose, we are not special, and there's no reason to thrive to do better because what will it matter?

If we are just a part of the society machine, what happens if we break and can no longer contribute to society? Just like any other machine, you throw away the broken part and replace it. When people can no longer contribute to society, they lose their purpose and there is no reason to keep them around. That is the basis for euthanasia. Modern day abortion was started by Margaret Sanger who lived during the Nazi regime. Her belief was that black people are inferior and cannot contribute to society, so if we kill the babies before they are born, that is less pollution. And speaking of which, that is why Hitler killed as many as he did. He saw them as an inferior "race" who couldn't contribute to the collective, so he killed them to better society. Abortion has evil roots and now the reasoning for abortion has changed. If we originated as a conglomeration of molecules that came together by chance, then when we are in the womb, when do we transition from a simple molecule into human life? If we are an organism that happened by chance and not created and designed by a Creator, then what is so wrong about killing an infant? If we start as an animal and evolve into a human, what is the difference between killing a fetus and killing a deer? Why not harvest human stem cells if it benefits the collective? If we are no more that advanced animals, why not have sex with whomever we want? And if sex is just a normal, polygamous act between mammals, what is wrong with pornography? If we don't have a purpose on earth, what's wrong with murder and suicide?

These are just a few examples of what happens to a world who believes that we are an accident without a special Creator. Chaos develops because our view of ourselves is meaningless. This is by no means, a comprehensive study of the effects of evolution on our world, but rather a taste in the hopes that you might research for yourself, the effect of evolution. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee...". We are also told in Ephesians, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto great works, which God hath ordained that we should walk in them. (2:10)" How great is it to know that we are not an accident, each created by a loving God who wants to have a relationship with us? How great is it to know that God knew us before we were even conceived? God tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made which makes abortion murder, no matter the trimester. And how great is it to know that we are not only created by God, but that God has a specific purpose for each person and wants us to fulfill that purpose? When we begin to believe evolution, we believe that we were not specially created by God, that there is no God, and that we don't have a reason to exist.

Some Christians believe that God created the earth then used evolution to develop it. But for evolution to take place means that there is a flaw in the life and it needs to change to survive. If that is the case, then God made mistakes in his creation. And if he made mistakes, he would not be God. The Bible is clear in Genesis that God created everything as it is intended to be in six literal days. It's when we start to rewrite the Bible that we get into trouble. Proverbs 30:5-6 says "Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Add thou not unto unto his words; lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar." We are, likewise, told in Revelation "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of the book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book. (20:18-19)" You see, one cannot simply believe the Bible and evolution. You cannot be a God fearing Christian and tolerate the evil absurdities that this theory brings. 

Victory In Jesus!

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time and not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Fort the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestations of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willing, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn amoung many brethern. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justifed, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how she he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, Yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For i am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angel, nor principalities, not powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:18-39

This last week I was on a missions trip to the island of Dominica. I have never been on a missions trip prior to this and had expectations of what the trip would entail, but it was much different than I expected. If you have never been on a missions trip, I highly encourage you to go on one. When someone would mention "missions trip", I had the notion that it involved going to a deprived country to help others less fortunate than us and spreading the gospel. And though some of that may be true for most trips, I had a much different experience than I expected. I feel that though we were a blessing to them, they were much more of a blessing to us. The people we worked with are on fire for God and are passionate and genuine about serving and living for God.

We were in a more Christian-friendly country so we didn't have to worry about being persecuted for spreading God's Word. But there are countless countries where church services are held underground and in homes. In China, many church services are held throughout the day so people can gradually trickle in as to not arouse suspicion. Those of us who live in a country where Christianity is legal are fortunate.

When we were in Dominica, we saw a video of a teenage girl who attended a prayer meeting in a Hindu country and was beaten by a mob and eventually lit on fire to burn alive. This is a sobering fact that as we sit here in our comfortable environment, taking for granted that we can get up and go to church when we want and preach in the street without being set on fire; others are being tortured, crucified, persecuted, and dying for Christ. This has led me to believe, after a lot of thinking, that those who are persecuted are more committed to serving God than those who have the luxury of never having it cross our minds. They could easily hide their faith and avoid the persecution, but instead, proudly bear Christ's name. I feel that we have grown complacent here in America. Those who experience what it really means to love God are the ones who not only grow closer to God, but understand the rewards of suffering for Christ and will receive those rewards.

I see our country starting to lean that way. We are fortunate to attend church without worrying about law enforcement cutting in, but Christianity is attacked harder in America now than it ever has before. Christianity has been labelled a hate religion and is the only religion that cannot be "tolerated". The government is starting to regulate churches and in many states, outlaw certain things that can't be preached. If a Christian speaks the truth out of love or attempts to lead a lost soul to Christ, they are rejected, ridiculed, and even dying. Yes, people are being killed and imprisoned in America for being a Christian or trying to live out Christian beliefs. So the question now lies, if you have to face severe persecution for your faith, will you, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and like that teenage girl, stand firm?

I want to now call you think. Our souls were created for eternity, not this earth. When we die, our souls are taken from our bodies and continue to live for all eternity. This body and life are temporal and will pass away. Everyone will die at some point unless Christ comes to take us up in the near future. So the question for you Christian is this: Would you rather be persecuted and die for Christ to reap the Heavenly and eternal rewards, or would you live for yourself to extend your life and livelihood but for a short time longer, only to find the rewards that you could have had? I am not taking persecution lightly by any means. To live for Christ and to be persecuted is not an easy thing, nor something to be taken lightly. We can all say that we are willing to die for Christ, but if put to the test, how many of us would pass?

I feel that it is easy to imagine the extremes, such as death, and say that we will endure through the persecution, but let me ask you something. Would you be willing, right now, to live for God if it means persecution? I do not mean torture or physical death. I mean ridicule from your friends or coworkers. I mean the rejection from your family. I mean the hard decision to throw out a friend because they are taking you down a sinful path. I believe this is one of the hardest persecutions people face in America. When compared to what many of our brothers and sisters in Christ face, ridicule doesn't seem that bad. But take heart, God gives hope.

We are only here for a season and "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." I love this passage because it gives hope that the sufferings here on earth are only for a short time. God will give us the strength to face persecution if we ask and if we endure to the end, we will received the rewards that cannot be compared to what we gain in this life.

"We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." When we read through Romans 8:18-30, we see the future glory in Christ when we reach Heaven. But when we go into verses 31-39, we see the ultimate final victory in Christ. We may suffer and may be persecuted, but God is still with us. God allowed his Son to die and are we any better? Jesus said that people will hate us because they hated God first and He set the ultimate example for us. Are we any better than our Savior? We are each appointed to die and I ask, who will you die for? Who will you suffer for? Who will you live for? Yes, we may suffer on this earth, but when we reach Heaven and look upon His glorious face, we would gladly come back to suffer ten times worse for the glory of God. "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and nothing less." When you face persecution, remember the One for whom you live. If you do not face some form of persecution, you should maybe be asking yourself who you are really living for.

This may seem like a depressing thought, but as I said before, our bodies were only created to inhabit this earth temporarily, but our souls are created for eternity. When we think of the short time here compared to eternity with Christ, our suffering is but a small stepping stone to the glorious place we will enjoy in eternity. I leave with one question: When death comes and you face Jesus Himself, will you be able to say "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." Will you hear Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant?" That will be worth it all, when we have victory in Jesus.

They Know Not What They Do

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Romans 1:18-32

Photo: From My Utmost For His Highest

I thoroughly enjoy reading through Romans. It starts with the fact that we are sinners and why we are sinners. Then it goes into how our sins result in death and ultimately Hell. But the good news comes when it shows how Christ came and died for us and is now our way into Heaven and it tells us how to be saved. After that, it shows who we are as Christians (our new identity) and how we grow as Christians. When someone accepts Christ and is new to Christianity or is not well educated, I recommend starting with Romans because it is, in poor man's terms, a summation of Christianity. I love reading through this book and as I read each book, I seem to always come back and read through this book.

One of the last times I read through Romans, the above passage really stood out to me. Not that I hadn't understood it before. I've even used this passage prior in speaking with people about these issues, but it wasn't until recently that I was led to really study it, and it's amazing how well it sums up our world today. I know it's a long passage, especially to use in a blog, but it is by no means dry and it all comes together to bring a powerful message. I want to, as short as I can, break this passage down and really evaluate it with you.

The chapter starts with Paul's introduction. He tells the Romans that he is not ashamed of Christ and how the Christians are separate from the Gentiles (unbelievers), then goes right into this passage. This first chapter starts off with how man is a sinful race. Verses 18-20 talk about how God has revealed himself both through creation and by placing awareness of himself in the human heart.

Nowadays, this is evidently disregarded. With the school systems and science trying to use evidence, that is not there, to back evolution to avoid admitting that there is an ultimate creator of the universe. But these verses show us that God has shown himself to us through the "invisible things" that scientists try to explain without a supernatural creator. They try to deny that there is a God, yet every nation, village, and group of people have the knowledge of God ingrained into them. Even the most remote village has some form of a god with the desire to worship.

We see this also in verse 21 where it says the people knew God but didn't acknowledge him. I am led to believe that the anti-God agenda today is nothing new and that they had a similar issue when this was written. More amazingly, we go into verses 22 and 23 where man proclaimed himself to be wise without God's wisdom and changed God's creation and revelation into something of their own interpretation. Man took God's creation and began to worship it. Is this not happening today? No, we don't bow to carved out idols (at least mostly, in America), but do we worship "science" as being the last say and ultimate decision of what is truth? We have taken the natural laws and amazing phenomena that God created and designed and "worship" it as the ultimate creator through evolution and Mother Earth. They have to go as far as to say we were created from the creation, but deny that the creation was created. This is the definition of the perversion of Gods image. 

Verses 22 and 23 dive into what I really took from this passage. After we saw that the people rejected God, started worshipping the creation rather than the Creator, and refused to acknowledge him, God let them live as they wanted. When God allows a person to live as he wants, that's a very dangerous place to be. God essentially says "you want it your way, have it your way". But when that happens, God removes his protection and perverts their minds. We are shown that God gave them over to unclean minds. It doesn't say that he gave them unclean minds but that he let them take their minds where they wanted to and in this case, to do with their bodies that God did not intend.

I love how in the middle of those verses, explaining that God gave them over to uncleanness, he magnifies God by recognizing him as creator. But he does this right before going into the heavy stuff. When he starts out the next verse, he says that because the people turned from God and wanted things their way, God let their minds draw to the most vile things, and in this verse, we see is referring to homosexuality. When people say that they are gay, it is one of 2 things: either they turned from God and God gave them over to it as we see here. Or two, his family or himself has a curse of "vile affections" that he is born with (but that will be covered in another post).

In addition to turning them over to their own affections, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Reprobate comes from the Greek word adokimos which literally translates into unapproved, rejected, or worthless. Christians have the holy spirit guiding us and guiding our minds and even non-Christians have a sense of right and wrong. But when God gives them over to a reprobate mind, they no longer have a sense of right or wrong, what is morally right or perverted. We know this because it says that they were given to reprobate mind to do those things which were not convenient. It follows by saying they are filled with all unrighteousness and lists the sins and type of people that are the fruit of that curse.

This passage, and chapter, ends with saying that people have the knowledge of God ingrained in them and even having the knowledge of God, chose to follow this path, they are condemned to death. They are condemned to death by two reasons. One, because we are told in Romans 6:23 that "The wages of sin is death". But in this case, there is something else. Each of us is born with sin, but also a conviction and opportunity to accept Christ. However, when someone is given over to their own ways as described in this passage they can no longer see right from wrong, they can no longer understand that they require a savior, and ultimately won't understand that they need to accept Christ which we know, results in eternity in Hell.

But it gets even worse. When you have someone who is deep into their sin, turns from God, and their mind turned over to them, they take pleasure in their vile ways. They no longer care if they hurt people, they don't see anything wrong with homosexuality or abortion. Unwed sex is just something you do.

I am convinced that the problems we have in our world today are not new. As Solomon said, "there is nothing new under the sun". Our country started as a godly nation and has degraded. I think that is why so many people think that our country is the worst off spiritually and believe Christ will come soon. I don't doubt that Christ's return is imminent, but just because our country has now fallen to sin, doesn't mean we are the only nation, nor that other nations have been in sin much longer than us.

So why are we to be surprised that our country is where it is? Why should we be surprised when people live blatantly in sin without any recollection? It is heartbreaking, but we should not be shocked when people follow a path that leads to a destination that Paul already described. When you encounter someone that has no problem with sin, remember this passage. There's a chance that no matter what you say to them, they will never be able to understand the truth. Take heart, though! I do not want to discourage you from spreading God's word and witnessing to people. But I also don't want you to become frustrated when you pour your heart out to someone and try your hardest to show them they need Christ and they don't see it. It is unsettling, but God reveals this to us and give encouragement to those who follow him.