Setting Captives Free

www.worldviewclick.com

• Home
• Blog Archive
• Centurions

A Bad Precedent

by Kathy Brown on September 29th, 2009 | 1 comment

 

Iowa City is a town full of the hustle and bustle of college students attending the University of Iowa.  One day I bumped into a student that I really cared for at the mall, and a conversation ensued that is memorable.  The topic under discussion was morality.  My friend’s contention was that each culture should decide for itself what is right and wrong.  The majority should dictate law for the group; there is no outside law-giver, only what seems apt from a position of experience and consensus.  

Having been a rebellious hippie-type in my twenties, I lived within a communal philosophy of “free love” and non-judgmental “peace.”  As a former flower child with wire rims and bell-bottoms myself, I had personally experienced the seduction of peer ethics.  So, my hope was to present a scenario that put into question its legitimacy; one came to mind rather quickly.

Let’s say that two sisters decided to backpack through Africa.  They have set out to see the world and enjoy the many adventures of travel.  They come to a clearing where a quaint little tribe of indigenous people welcomes them.  Their cheeks are brightly painted, and their jovial gestures present them with a sense of inclusion.  As the day wears on and the sun sets, the fire is prepared for an evening meal.  A filmy steam, billowing up from a kettle, warms the faces around a circle of fellowship.  Just as the wooden plates are passed out, several bulky men appear from the jungle.  They select the chunkier of the sisters, grabbing her and lifting her up into the fat, black pot.  The thinner sister screams and frantically motions to stop!  An interpreter steps forward, and after a loud interchange, there appears to be a vote and resolution.  Indeed, according to custom, an intruder is considered a gift from the gods to provide nourishment.  There is agreement that the chubby girl will be very satisfying, and they proceed with thankfulness.

Unfortunately, this illustration may have gone too far.  My co-ed had a sister, and this hypothetical brought tears to her eyes and sadness to her heart.  It did not, however, change her mind.  Her retort was that, however painful, there had to be respect for every culture's method of determining right and wrong.  

This response is an alert to us all.  Despite the most devastating consequences, the urge to be independent and do as we please remains.  The inner tug of selfishness is much like our hypothetical cannibal’s appetite. The compulsion to devour someone else was so overwhelming that it left little regard for an important possibility:  it sets a very bad precedent.

  From the Word of God:

“So I find this law at work:  When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”  Romans 7:22-23

 

 

 

 

Next entry: The Door

Previous entry: Sincerely Yours

© Copyright 2010 WorldViewClick. All rights reserved.

This website was established by Kathryn M. Brown. Kathryn was commissioned as a Centurion in 2008 after participating in BreakPoint’s Centurions Program. This is a study program founded by Chuck Colson of BreakPoint and Prison Fellowship to equip Christians to train others with a biblical worldview and to turn the world right-side up through biblical thinking and living. For more information, visit www.breakpoint.org/resources/centurions.