SIN:
AN
UGLY THREE-LETTER WORD!
by
Pastor Max Solbrekken,D.D.
SIN IS REAL, says
famed psychiatrist Dr. Karl Menninger. The highly-acclaimed
psychiatrist is distressed by modern society's failure to understand
that many of man's problems are caused by sin. It annoys him to
hear people discuss morality without so much as mentioning the word
"SIN".
Menninger
believes that in order to raise civilization's moral tone and deal
with depression, anxiety and worry, people must learn the root cause
of their problems.
And the root cause
in many instances is a person's unwillingness to take responsibility
for his own actions, but rather lay the blame on someone - or
something – else!
Several decades
ago, George W. Cornell of the Associated Press (AP) wrote a column
titled ‘Word Sin Disappears But Remains A Fact’, in which
he quoted at great length Dr. Karl Menninger’s beliefs on this
subject.
“He says
the realities of personal guilt and sin have been glossed over as
symptoms of emotional illness or environmental conditioning for which
the individual is not considered responsible, but he adds:
“There
is sin…which cannot be subsumed under verbal artifacts such as
‘disease’, ‘delinquency’, ‘deviancy’. There is
immorality. There is unethical behaviour. There is wrong doing.”
Cornell states: “He
calls for a reaffirmation of the concept of sin and of personal
responsibility for it. In a new book published by Hawthorne called
‘Whatever Became of Sin?’ he declares:
“If the
concept of personal responsibility and answerability for ourselves
and for others were to return to common acceptance, hope would return
to the world with it.”
We have the father
of psycho-analysis, Sigmund Freud - who was battling his own
weird and kinky imaginations and habits - to thank for much of that!
The founder of the
Menninger Centre in Topeko, Kansas, is seeking to correct the
situation by addressing the problem.
His latest book,
Whatever Became of Sin?, describes the subject as "a
transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the divine will;
moral failure...Sin has a defiant, or disloyal quality; someone is
defiled or offended or hurt".
Modern psychiatry
often lets people off the hook. And failure to bring offenders face
to face with their error could produce a sense of vindication,
without coming to grips with the problem; the need to change
lifestyles.
Menninger
has successfully treated thousands of clients for more than a half
century and has proven that acceptance of responsibility
coupled with repentance, often brings freedom from guilt and anxiety.
The refusal to confront the problem only compounds it by giving at
the very best, temporary relief.
Thousands of years
ago, King Solomon stated: "He that confesseth and forsaketh his
sin shall have mercy, but he that covereth his sin shall not
prosper". (Prov. 28:13)
Forgiveness
is vital to good mental health. We must forgive others if we expect
God to forgive us, as well as being able to forgive ourselves.
A leading
psychiatrist noted that 90% of the mentally ill could be immediately
well if they were able to forgive themselves and others and to
receive forgiveness!
It is difficult for
an individual to forgive himself without the assurance that God has
forgiven him.
That is why the
gospel - CONFESSION, REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS - is so relevant and
necessary!
The Bible states
emphatically: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness”. (1 John 1:9)
“But
if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us
from all sin”. (1 John 1:7)
Some health
officials, in explaining their AIDS program, go to great lengths
promoting condoms, as well as sexual abstinence. Then they
usually add: "THIS IS NOT A MORAL ISSUE".
How stupid. Of
course, it's a moral issue!
If our young people
had higher morals there wouldn't be a drug abuse, fornication or
homosexual problem, putting themselves at risk to the AIDS virus.
And if people were
more moral and stuck with the Bible standard of "one woman -
one man", there wouldn't be such a dramatic increase in
sexually-transmitted diseases.
It goes without
saying, violence would be almost non-existent and crime, rape and
child abuse would drop drastically.
WHAT
THE WORLD NEEDS
IS A MORAL REVOLUTION!
And there are signs
that one is coming. During an earlier Canadian election, former
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was accused of lying.
Constituents were sending politicians the message: "We
won't tolerate dishonesty".
And during
the last general election in Canada, P.M. Jean Chretien was accused
of breaking three earlier election
promises which included the promise to scrap the hated “GST”. In
the recent US Presidential election, nearly all candidates were
speaking about values. Why? People understand that a sense of moral
values is not only important, but necessary.
P.S. This article was written before the notoriously corrupt and scandel-driven Liberal Government finally rotted away so the honest, godly Stephen Harper was able to bring some respect to Canada once more. Now in 2015, we are shocked at the corruption in the Canadian Senate!
The situation in the US Government is out of control. Barack Obama is called Liar-in-Chief and the batttle between him and Hillary Clinton is which one is the biggest Liar!
P.S. This article was written before the notoriously corrupt and scandel-driven Liberal Government finally rotted away so the honest, godly Stephen Harper was able to bring some respect to Canada once more. Now in 2015, we are shocked at the corruption in the Canadian Senate!
The situation in the US Government is out of control. Barack Obama is called Liar-in-Chief and the batttle between him and Hillary Clinton is which one is the biggest Liar!
America's annual
"SIN BILL" topped more than a half a trillion
dollars in 1987.
Dr. Charles Ewing
of The National Statesman said that Americans spent $144
billion for liquor, $177 billion on gambling, $110 billion on drugs,
$73 billion on tobacco and $40 billion on pornography!
AND
TEENAGERS - OUR GREATEST COMMODITY - ARE BEING THREATENED BY
VIOLENCE, MURDER, DRUGS, ALCOHOLISM AND SUICIDE!
An article by Dr.
Robert Blum in the Journal of American Medical Association states:
"Over the past 30 years, adolescents have been the only
population in the US who have not experienced improvement in their
health status".
According to Blum,
77% of adolescent deaths were caused by accidents and violence,
including self-inflicted violence. And there was a shocking
four-fold increase in suicides & murders!
A US National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration report states: "Of
the 10,250 kids born today...one will die and four will sustain
serious or crippling injuries in an alcohol related crash before they
reach the age of 24".
This is a very
sobering, serious warning about sin, accidents and death! May we all
take a lesson from these tragic statistics, realizing that "The
wages of sin is death".
You may say, “All
you have stated is true! But what must I do to be forgiven and freed
from my sins?” The Bible says, “If we confess our sins (to
God) He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness”. (1 John 1:9)
George W. Cornell
writes: “Menninger says that just as it is inadequate for a
clergyman to give only pastoral counseling to a schizophrenic, it is
inadequate for a psychiatrist to treat a symptom like sleeplessness
of a man involved in wicked rascality.
REPENTANCE
VALUABLE!
“It
does little good to repent a symptom, but it may do great harm not
to repent a sin. Vice-versa, it does little good to merely
psychoanalyze a sin and sometimes a great harm to ignore a symptom.”
He
says recognizing the fact of voluntarily willed sin is “the only
hopeful view”, since it implies the possibility of repenting
and correcting it. He adds:
“The
logical reasonable effective solution for tension reduction in such
circumstances is to make atonement, as the theologians call it, or as
we say, by restitution, acknowledgement and revised tactics.”
As
the situation now is “vague amorphous evil appears all around
us” with the presumption that “no one is responsible, no
one guilty” and that there is “just nothing to do”.
BUT, THERE IS SOMETHING WE CAN DO!
BUT, THERE IS SOMETHING WE CAN DO!
“But if we
walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin”. (1 John 1:7)
The Bible says:
“... But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord”. (Rom. 6:23)
MAX SOLBREKKEN WORLD
MISSION
Box
44220 RPO Garside, Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6
JOIN
US IN PRAISING THE LORD AND CELEBRATING
CHRIST IN THESE FULL GOSPEL CHURCHES!
CHRIST IN THESE FULL GOSPEL CHURCHES!
Christ
the Healer Gospel Church
136
Ave F S Saskatoon, SK S7M 1S8 306-477-0200
House
of Prayer Gospel Church
HIWAY
623, East of #21, South of New Sarepta, AB
Cleansing
Wave Gospel Church
Main
Street, Sprague, MB
CHRIST
HAS DIED
CHRIST
IS RISEN INDEED
CHRIST
WILL COME AGAIN
