Sin and the United States

As I channel surfed over the weekend, I found a station broadcasting a sermon by Rev. Charles Stanley. Rev. Stanley and I don't always agree on things, but often he does make sense even to this nonconservative, nonfundamentalist person.

He was talking about God's judgment of the United States. He was warning his hearers that one day God will wash His hands of us (does God even have hands?) and send some dire fate onto us because of our national sins.

I did not stick around to listen to all of his sermon because, after all, I was channel surfing, and on this occasion I expected that I would not agree with him. Maybe I would have; I'll never know now.

But it made me wonder. Just what sins was Rev. Stanley concerned about? I hope they weren't the likes of abortion, homosexuals, women's and gay rights, and the evils of teaching evolution in the public schools.

I hope they were more on the line of economic injustice, legal injustice, greed, poverty, crime, our rape of this planet and its resources, and our overpopulation. Not to mention all the ways we kill each other.

The Old Testament prophets all used to warn their country about God's judgment because of injustice. The people were to care for the orphans, widows, and strangers. The prophets had a lot more to say about those things than about whatever people did in their own homes and beds.

We may or may not believe, today, in God's judgment on our nation. In fact, many believe that this country has God's favor and is totally safe from such judgment.

I think that we have made a lot of terrible mistakes, some well intentioned, quite a few not. I think that we have gone a long way toward weakening ourselves and making ourselves vulnerable. I do not believe that God is judgmental. But if we fail to clean up our act we will ultimately have to deal with the consequences of our failure.

I didn't, as I said earlier, listen to Rev. Stanley's complete remarks. But I hope he addressed the real issues of our time.