The Good Life

"The soul lives by avoiding what it dies by desiring."

- St. Augustine

I once had a brush with a man whom I considered dangerous, wielding a knife in a secluded place when I didn't have my wits totally about me.
The man was masked and I couldn't make out his entire face.
He seemed to know exactly what he was doing as if he had done it a thousand times.
Perhaps, he had; for he was my surgeon.

I remember him with fondness and gratitude; for, without his hand being guided by God I would not be alive at this moment.
Yet, that entire process allowed me to analyze death and pain in a totally new light; it also let me examine the things we do voluntarily.

Throughout my rehabilitation, all things that were fun were vetoed. The great fear was that these things might jeopardize my recovery.
I grew to discover that most people see God in this manner; a cosmic killjoy ready to veto anything we think is fun in His harsh, police-like way.
And if we break the rules, His moral code, then we will pay a penalty.

Due to my lung surgery, I now have to be very aware of smoke and other chemicals in the air. Most of the time, it has to be avoided at all costs.
Yet, spiritually we do not view those spiritual carcinogens with as much danger as we would smoke to our lungs.
The result is that we have drifted, as a society, further away from Christ and His ideal in our lives.

Every society has a level of acceptable/unacceptable behavior; yet, in our society it has drastically changed since the 1960's in America.
That decade, followed by the selfishness of the 1970's, the greed of the 1980's and the sexual license of the 1990's, has led to a redefining of sin and an enlarging acceptability of what was once considered abominable.


Christians use to not smoke, drink, use drugs, divorce or fool around on their spouses.
As of right now, I know people who call themselves Christians who have done each of these or are engaged in these things currently.
But I digress.
The point is, when the 1960's and 1970's arrived in full force, the seemingly stale lifestyle of the past was replaced by what was thought to be a breath of fresh air.

We have paid dearly for that 'fresh air.'

Regardless of what society does, God's morality holds true. 
In retrospect, the sexual revolution fostered the spread of venereal disease and it led to the plague we have suffered under the threat of HIV/AIDS.
In fact, the only thing that was given freedom was men NOT to become fathers and husbands because they were no enabled to do whatever they pleased without being held accountable.

And what has happened in our generation, is that a man with multiple partners will increase his wife's chances of cervical cancer by 11 times.
As a result, we now have Public Service Announcements warning us about these and other 'dangerous activities' concerning sexual practices.
The call in society is to practice 'safe sex.'
Maybe I'm old school, but I always thought sex wasn't suppose to be dangerous.

What we have learned is that what seems most alluring will often prove destructive.
By the 1980's, we had learned that most health concerns were all life-style related.
And today, 2/3 of all deaths before the age of 65 can be traced to a person's choices.
And would you believe that a divorced, non-smoker has the health of married man who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day?

What is amazing is that we have conquered malaria, polio, typhoid and a host of other diseases; but we cannot get a harness on our most base desires.
Those who have shunned society's morals and embraced Biblical values have been proven to live longer, be less diseased and are able to enjoy life more as they age.


Centuries ago, Moses received the Ten Commandments; they demonstrate the wisdom of God about human behavior.
The truth is that we can say 'no' to our most base behaviors; were not animals, and in doing so we will avoid harm.
Which makes me wonder why we refuse to deny ourselves and then take up our cross and follow the Lord.

To this, I have no actual answer; just a hunch that it is becoming harder and harder to overcome our internal desires because we are encouraged on all sides to embrace them and celebrate our own deviance and sin.
Yet, if we embrace society instead of the Lord's values and practice them; we will miss out on the good life God has intended for His people since the beginning.

Until next time, win one for the good guys!