As an example, take the current situation in public education. Elizabeth Gold’s book Brief Intervals of Terrible Sanity records her experiences teaching for a year at what was considered to be one of New York City’s more progressive public high schools. As she discovered, more progressive meant celebration of mediocrity, since the rest was too horrible to consider. A full three-quarters of her class was unteachable, due to the students’ refusal to sit down, be quiet, and learn. A small handful of students attempted to actually learn, but their progress was thwarted at every turn by the majority who, even though they were disruptive and chaotic, were not expelled. Gold describes the effect this environment made on an idealistic and naive new schoolteacher, who saw her hopes of “really reaching those kids” diminish to simply a desire to survive the year. The real tragedy is that although these students could barely read at a fifth-grade level, they continued to ascend toward graduation because failure was not an option. Meanwhile, our top universities are awarding PhDs in science, mathematics, and technology to literally hundreds of foreign nationals every year who then take their education and talent back to their home countries. We don’t want to hear it, but our status as a world leader in things other than bombing and shooting is not just in decline, it is circling the drain. A society without consequences is a terrible place.
Hebrews 10:11 And every priest stands day after day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins. 10:1 But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, 10:13 where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. 10:14 For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. 10:15 And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying, 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” 10:17 then he says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.” 10:18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 10:20 by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 10: 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 10:23 And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. 10:24 And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, 10:25 not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near. 10:26 For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, 10:27 but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies. 10:28 Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 10:29 How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace? 10:30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.10:32 But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened. 10:33 At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and afflictions, and at other times you came to share with others who were treated in that way. 10:34 For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. 10:35 So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. 10:36 For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. 10:37 For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay. 10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him. 10:39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls."
Too often we hear God presented as a kind of cosmic big brother. He’s our buddy, our pal, a guy who wants to give us a helping hand. He’s the “Man Upstairs,” who can get you out of a jam. And this type of thinking isn’t found just among secular people, it is also widespread within God’s Church. Unfortunately, the idea that God is our personal genie is not only unbiblical and heretical, it is also fatally dangerous. As Jonathan Edwards illustrated centuries ago in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, the human race, both individually and collectively, is hanging by a thread over the fiery pit of Hell. God is not our buddy, He burns with a deadly holiness that would consume you whole if it weren’t held in check by God’s equally powerful mercy.
As I have pointed out, consequences, especially eternal ones, are not popular in our culture. We are not comfortable with the idea of eternal punishment because it sounds to harsh to our sophisticated ears. And yet it can be shown that a healthy fear of God can do wonderful things to motivate a culture – ever hear of the Protestant Work Ethic? Our society was formed on the idea that there are eternal consequences to our actions, but now that concept has been rejected by many. And so we circle the drain..........
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