They Don't Realize They're Future Meat

Dr. Russell Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, where I am headed in a few short weeks. This comes from his excellent book Tempted and Tried. 

“The first question the devil asked [Jesus] was a hidden one, wrapped in the first clause of an offer: ‘If you are the Son of God…’ This is precisely the opening salvo the demonic powers launch to this very day. The factory farm wants the cows to see themselves as pets or as companions, or simply as ‘free’ and alone. What they don’t want the cattle to recognize is that they are future meat. Identity confusion is the reason people are able to affirm one thing and do another. And it’s the reason more worldview training on how to think like a Christian doesn’t stop people from wrecking their lives. 

Most people don’t ‘choose’ fiery tempers of alcoholic binges or torturing prisoners of war or exploiting Third World workers or dumping toxic chemicals into their community’s water supply. Most people don’t first conclude that adultery is right and then start fantasizing about their neighbor swinging from a stripper pole. Most people don’t first learn to praise gluttony and then start drizzling bacon grease over their second helping of chicken-fried steak. It happens in reverse. First, you do what you want to do, even though you ‘know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die’ and only then do you ‘give approval to those who practice them’ (Romans 1:32). You start to see yourself as either special or as hopeless, and thus the normal boundaries don’t seem to apply.” 

Russell Moore, “Tempted and Tried” (p. 36)  

http://www.amazon.com/Tempted-Tried-Temptation-Triumph-Christ/dp/1433515806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321620822&sr=1-1

"If I Cannot Believe it Now, It is Because I Am Insane"

More wise words from our fictional friend, Jane Eyre. (I'm reading it for the first time, since I am tutoring Jacob and Isaac Maxwell in British Lit, etc. Warning: there will be spoilers.)

At this point in the novel, Jane has had her hopes of marriage to her beloved Mr. Rochester (literally) dashed  at the altar, where it is revealed that he is already married. Turns out that the insane woman who lives on the third floor--and who periodically tries to burn him alive in his bed--is his wife, Bertha Mason. As might be expected, Jane is heartbroken. In this scene, however, her resolve is being severely tested by Mr. Rochester, who is trying to convince her that a marriage between them would not be immoral, since no one with half a heart could consider his marriage to Bertha morally binding. Endeavoring to lay a guilt-trip on her, he implores Jane:

"Is it better to drive a fellow-creature to despair than to transgress a mere human law--no man being injured by the breach?"

To which Jane honorably responds, in words that give us penetrating insight into the nature of sin:

"I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth--so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--quite insane: with my veins running fire and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs."

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, chapter 27. 

Every Christian should own a copy of John Stott's The Cross of Christ. Just sayin.'

"The Bible takes sin seriously because it takes humanity seriously. As we have seen, Christians do not deny the fact--in  some circumstances--of diminished responsibility, but we affirm that diminished responsibility always entails diminished humanity. To say that somebody 'is not responsible for his actions' is to demean him or her as a human being. It is part of the glory of being human that we are held responsible for our actions. Then, when we also acknowledge our sin and guilt, we receive God's forgiveness, enter into the joy of his salvation, and so become yet more completely human and healthy. What is unhealthy is every wallowing in guilt which does not lead to confession, repentance, faith in Jesus Christ, and so forgiveness."

--John R.W. Stott,  The Cross of Christ