Symptoms and Cures

Right near my office, there’s a great place I love to eat: DoubleDave’s.  It’s cheap pizza at its best, and I can eat about a pie and a half on a good day (always skip the crust, it’s just dead weight).  Right next door to it, though, is a shop that troubles me.  It’s one of those little stores that’s selling “vape” paraphernalia.

I’m sure you’ve seen similar places by now.  This new “safe” alternative to cigarettes is all the rage and these shops are popping up like particularly aggressive dandelions.  It’s not the shop in and of itself that gets me, though, it’s the slogan.  Printed in broad letters across the window are the words “COMBAT YOUR HABIT”, implying that by swapping your cancer sticks out for new technology, you win at life.

The problem with this slogan is that it’s a complete and utter lie.

This slogan is a particularly insidious example of the world’s ability to stifle and silence shame.  The truth of the matter is that your problem is not that you smoke cigarettes—it’s that you’re addicted to nicotine.  The voice of the world whispers, saying that if you simply change the symptom; if you stop using the stuff that blatantly kills you with tar and cyanide, then you can enjoy feeding your addiction without feeling bad!  It’s just base deflection, it’s not solving anything, and it’s certainly not uplifting you as a person.  You just traded a fast death for a slow one, and one that attacks your brain instead of your lungs.

As human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, we are each given a conscience.  This conscience is used by God to speak to each of us, to nudge us back into the path we’re supposed to be on (and consequentially, closer to Christ).  The problem is that people don’t like to be told we’re wrong, and we’ll go to any length to quell the voice of guilt.  We hang out with those who indulge in similar habits, we talk openly about obviously wrong choices, we rationalize to any length to avoid having to feel bad for what we do.

I have seen this everywhere.  I once read an internet article regarding one of the most heinous, unnatural sins I’ve ever heard of, and the way it went about this was as blatant as it should be unsettling.  “After your first time”, the article said (I’m paraphrasing, of course), “you’ll feel a sense of guilt.  You’ll most likely feel ashamed, like you did something horribly wrong and disgusting.  This is normal.  It’s just the way society has conditioned you to feel.” (emphasis added)

What an artistic lie!  Sin has never been anything but sin, and we all know what’s right and wrong.  Modern society didn’t just decide that cheating on your wife is taboo.  It wasn’t after the Enlightenment that murder became frowned upon.  The feminist generation didn’t tell us that pornography is a debasement of women and sexuality.  These things have never been right, and never have the actions been accepted at first blush.  Someone has always had to fight to silence their own conscience first.  And because man knows right from wrong in his heart, he stands condemned by it.

“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17, NASB)

“…holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. (1 Tim 1:19, ESV)

What in your life do you feel guilty about?  Might there be a reason for that?  The Bible should convict you of things you’re guilty about; that’s part of its purpose—but as always, the news doesn’t end there.  There’s always forgiveness and mercy for those who show humility and repent.  Try it out.  Talk to God about what comes to mind.