Making Excuses

Don Johnson

Lately, a fair number of folks in my circle of friends¹ are passing along an article at Christianity Today, “Why Christians Should Avoid Watching Rape Scenes.” The article takes as strong a stand as CT is ever wont to take, which is to say, they nuance their objections. Apparently other recent articles also address similar issues. Kevin DeYoung takes a much stronger stand in “I Don’t Understand Christians Watching Game of Thrones” (kudos to him), as does John Piper with his pointed questions in this article. I am not really sure why spiritually minded Christians need articles like these, but apparently they do. Or else they are not as spiritually minded as they think they are.

A good addition to this list comes from a young fundamentalist who we’ve recommended before, Aaron Berry. His “3 Really Bad Excuses for Viewing Immorality” is very well done and worth your attention. I’ll give a quick summary below.

Aaron confesses that he is perplexed by the reasoning of professing believers who reacted to some of the articles mentioned above. He expects some would react to his own position, but hopes that those who react have good Bible reasons and don’t resort to three really bad excuses. The excuses are:

• “Isn’t the Bible full of sex and violence?”
• “You can’t have an opinion unless you see it for yourself.”
• “It doesn’t bother my conscience.”

You need to read Aaron’s comments on each of these excuses. They replicate alleged reasons we hear every time we proclaim our standards in the current cultural morass. The carnality of modern Christianity reminds us of our Lord’s question, “when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Lk 18.8) Are we so far gone as to only be capable of justifying our participation in the moral cesspool?

Aaron concludes his article:

The excuses we use reveal the danger in our thinking. May God use his Word, his Spirit, and his people to grow in spiritual discernment and holiness to the praise of his glory. It is for this purpose that he redeemed us.

Amen!

Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.

1. those real close friends one has on Facebook! [↩]