The Moral Minority

 "If you love me, you will keep my commands." John 14:15

    Is anything shocking anymore?

    There's a show on Netflix I like to watch entitled, "Call the Midwife." Set in 1950s London, the stories revolve around a group of young midwives and the nuns with whom they live and work. Together, they nurse those who dwell in the poverty stricken East End, not only in obstetrics but in other areas of need. Well written and thought provoking, the show's story lines usually agree with me until one pushed the envelope. This episode featured an elderly brother and sister whose turbulent childhood brought them to a relationship like that of husband and wife. The younger midwives questioned the elder (and presumably wiser) nuns about this case of incest so I carefully listened for morality to be asserted, but it wasn't! Rather, the listener was encouraged to sympathize with the siblings, viewing their love as a noble cause. (I heard my mother roll in her grave, I am certain.)

    Here was an opportunity for the devil to gain a foothold in me. Would the emotions the writers wished to elicit override what God has decreed? Can any form of "love" be stretched to justify our sinful delusions? As Christians, we are part of a Moral Minority; what happens if we lose our saltiness?

    Why do you suppose God had to spell it out for us in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus, telling us not to have sexual relations with our relatives or even our animals!? Because He knows how deep the darkness can be. After all, the pre-diluvian culture in Noah's day was so awful, God wiped out everyone save Noah and his family. If we love Jesus, we are to follow his commands, living in the world but not being worldly. Let us affirm the words of James: "Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.(4: 9, 10)