Dear Editor,
Have you noticed how people like to find fancy names to make ordinary things seem more special? For example, I have seen a window cleaner described as a Transparent Wall Maintenance Engineer, and did you know that the role of Education Centre Nourishment Consultant refers to what I once knew as a dinner lady!
That may all be relatively harmless and somewhat pretentious but, but when it comes to talking about sin, it’s positively dangerous and deceptive. The world speaks of ‘an affair‘ or ‘extra curricular activity‘, but God calls it adultery. People talk about ‘adult content‘ or ‘adult humour‘, but God calls it sin, and filth. The world call its ‘pre-marital sex‘, but God calls it fornication. What we lightly refer to as ‘over indulgence‘, God labels gluttony and being ‘economical with the truth‘ or ‘alternative facts‘ is actually, in God’s eyes, lying. So-called ‘women’s health care‘ is actually abortion and the murder of an unborn child, made in the image of God. I was once told by a man in London where I pastored a church many years ago that 'I don’t have any sin in my life, but I will admit to some character defects and flaws in my make-up.'
The idol of autonomy in the West
If I asked you to name one of the great cultural idols of the secular Western world, what would you …