TADB 051: Criminals or Rebels

Stomach ulcers were on the rise in the mid 1900’s, causing intense pain, bleeding, and even death.  The medical community discovered that ulcers indicated a high level of stomach acid.  The solution seemed obvious… reduce the acid and you will eliminate ulcers.  So doctors prescribed a regiment of drugs, bland diets, and bed rest to reduce stress.  (I am trying to imagine an ulcerated CEO staying in bed to reduce his stress.)

Millions of dollars and frustrated people later the problem didn’t go away.  In 1982 two doctors from Australia looked outside the box and discovered that although acid did cause ulcers, the cause of the acid was not food or stress but a bacteria.  An antibiotic got rid of the bacteria, the acid went away, and ulcers healed or didn’t develop.  The problem was solved overnight.  No more acid meds or bland food…just a dose of the appropriate antibiotic…ulcers gone!

There is a basic principle that says a proximity (related) issue may not be the causal (root) issue.  Stomach acid and ulcers were closely related, but acid was not the causal issue, bacteria was. 

An incorrect cause leads to an ineffective solution.

Most people would acknowledge that humanity has an “ulcer”:  war, injustice, unrest, suicide, greed, etc.  But what is the cause?  When we choose a proximity issue rather than the root issue, our solutions are like giving antacid medicine to a man with an ulcer.  It may relieve the pain temporarily, but not cure the problem.

Evangelical Christianity often expresses man’s problem with terms like lost, gone astray, selfishness, immorality, “missing the mark”, disobedience, etc.  There is no question…the Bible teaches all of these are true and universal (Rom. 3:23).  But could these terms represent proximity issues and not the real cause?  Isaiah described the issue as:

“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own” (Isa 53:6).

Paul quotes the prophets when he writes, “There is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside” (Rom 3:11-12).

Certainly our sins (breaking the moral code of God = criminal) is a problem with devastating consequences.  But our sins are like the acid in the stomach…serious, even fatal, but not the cause of our problem.  The root cause of ulcers is bacteria.  So what is our spiritual “bacteria”?  Unless we assess the true root cause of the ulcers in our lives, we will never effectively solve the problem either personally, socially, or spiritually.

The causal issue is Sin not sins.  “Sin” (or original sin as theologians call it) is not a new concept to most evangelical believers.  Adam’s sin was more than disobedience (ate the fruit); more than embezzlement (using God’s creation for his own selfish ends).  It was the choice to rule himself rather than to submit to God’s rule.  Adam not only gave us a model of disobedience, he gave us the DNA of rebellion against God’s authority.  We are all born into the kingdom of darkness with its rebellion against God and we live each day affirming our own complicity.  Refusing to submit to God as our Creator and Lord, we join in the conflict of rebellion against the Creator, and proclaim our own authority to determine what is right and wrong.

St Augustine of Hippo, writing in the fifth century wrestled with the biblical view of humanity’s “causal” problem.  Augustine believed that man has not simply lost his way (Greek philosophy), but he has lost his orientation and submission to God.  Mankind has replaced the worship of God with the worship of self as specifically expressed by self-rule (Roman 1).

The early church proclaimed a gospel message that addressed this issue.  It was not only a gospel of forgiveness but of transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.  This gospel required not only belief in Christ but repentance:  turning from self-governance to God’s authority.  We are certainly sinners, law breakers who violate the moral code of God (criminals), but that is simply a symptom not the cause.  The cause (“bacteria”) is a rebellious heart.  Rebellion against God is in our DNA and apart from Christ, we live as rebels in the kingdom of rebellion (darkness).  

Jesus Christ came to set us free from the Kingdom of darkness and the hold our rebellious DNA has on us. 

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13-14). 

Rejecting God’s authority is the “bacteria” making us and our society sick.  If our gospel doesn’t deal with our root problem, then it isn’t good news, it is only an antacid.  We may outwardly live a better moral life, enjoy our forgiveness, and anticipate heaven, but still live with the bacteria unless we repent by rejecting self-rule and submitting to God’s-rule in our daily lives.

Discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross teaches us how to live a life submitted to and aligned with Christ.  Apprenticeship to Christ is essential for all the forgiven citizens of His kingdom.

Questions for reflection:

1.  Is rebellion too strong a word?  Compare and contrast it with words such as lost, sinners, and disobedient.

2.  How do the following fit with our discussion of proximity and causal issues?

 “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isa 59:1-2).

 “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Rom 5:19).