114 Sermon Illustrations on Guilt

Edgar Allen Poe story, "The Tell Tale Heart." About a guy who kills someone and buries him underneath floor of his home. Police come to question him and he pulls up chairs, putting his right over the body. Cooly answers questions. Soon he is sure they are satisfied and about to leave; begins to hear a pounding noise coming from the floor. Certain it is the corpse. Starts sweating, wondering why no one else hears. Ready for police to say, "Alright, come with us." Finally screams, "Alright, I did it!" It was his own heart pounding! Scary reminder that you can't hide sin!

Each of us has a conscience. God created us with the capacity for feeling guilt. Of all the creatures God made, only man possesses this quality.

Conscience is a creature of training. It may be untrained or mistrained and therefore of no value. It is in this regard that great responsibility falls upon the shoulders of parents and teachers.

Conscience causes the human to feel the burden of guilt. Some tell us that we would be better off without it. They tell us that if we would break free from the shackles of guilt, conscience and emotional pain, then we would be able to be our true selves, achieve higher plateaus, and have a happier life. In contrast, we believe that conscience is one of God's greatest blessings to man.

The conscience is a warning signal. It is comparable to man's ability to feel pain. Every thinking person understands that pain is a blessing. While none of us enjoy or look forward to pain, we are grateful to have a system of warning which protects us from danger.

Robert Wadlow was at one time the world's tallest man. He died from an infection of the heel. He had no pain endings in the heel, so when a blister appeared, he didn't realize it. By the time it was discovered, the blister had become infected and the infection led to his death. Had there been pain endings in his heel, he would have been warned and could have saved his own life.

Consicence serves as warning; pain that directs us away from danger toward safety. Every thinking person should be glad that it is one of God's gifts.

Many people do not feel guilt. Many do not see the seriousness of sin. Sin is described as a "mistake," or "poor judgment," or "the result of wrong influences," or even "a valid choice of lifestyle." Man's responsibility is explained away. Words such as "sin", "judgment", and "hell" are considered obsolete and are rapidly being dropped from the vocabulary of modren man.

Sin, however, is not imaginary. It is real. Its consequences are so great that Christ had to come and die to free us from them. Knowing the tragedy of unforgiven sin, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

--Westgate Reminder, Dothan, AL (1991)

Several year ago after I had finished speaking at a conference, a lovely woman came to the platform. She obviously wanted to speak to me and the moment I turned to her, tears welled up in her eyes. We made our way to a room where we could talk privately. It was clear from looking at her that she was sensitive but tortured. She sobbed as she told me the following story.

Years before, she and her fiancé (to whom she was now married) had been youth workers at a large conservative church. They were a well-known couple and had an extraordinary impact on the young people. Everyone looked up to them and admired them tremendously. A few months before they were to be married they began having sexual relations. That left them burdened enough with a sense of guilt and hypocrisy. But then she discovered she was pregnant. “You can't imagine what the implications would have been of admitting this to our church,” she said. “To confess that were preaching one thing and living another would have been intolerable. The congregation was so conservative and had never been touched by any scandal. We felt they wouldn't be able to handle knowing about our situation. Nor could we bear the humiliation.

“So we made the most excruciating decision I have ever made. I had an abortion. My wedding day was the worst day of my entire life. Everyone in the church was smiling at me, thinking me a bride beaming in innocence. But do you know what was going through my head as I walked down the aisle? All I could think to myself was, 'You're a murderer. You were so proud that you couldn't bear the shame and humiliation of being exposed for what you are. But I know what you are and so does God. You have murdered an innocent baby.”

She was sobbing so deeply that she could not speak. As I put my arms around her a thought came to me very strongly. But I was afraid to say it. I knew if it was not from God that it could be very destructive. So I prayed silently for the wisdom to help her.

She continued. “I just can't believe that I could do something so horrible. How could I have murdered an innocent life? How is it possible I could do such a thing? I love my husband; we have four beautiful children. I know the Bible says that God forgives all of our sins. But I can't forgive myself! I've confessed this sin a thousand times, and I still feel such shame and sorrow. The thought that haunts me the most is how could I murder and innocent life?”

I took a deep breath and said what I had been thinking. “I don't know why you are so surprised. This isn't the first time your sin has led to death; it's the second.” She looked at me in utter amazement. “My dear friend,” I continued, “when you look at the cross, all of us show up as crucifiers. Religious or non-religious, good or bad, aborters or nonaborters - all of us are responsible for the death of the only innocent who ever lived. Jesus died for all our sins - past, present, and future. Do you think there are any sins of yours that Jesus didn't have to die for? The very sin of pride that caused you to destroy your child is what killed Christ as well. It does not matter that you weren't there two thousand years ago. We all sent him there. Luther said that we carry his very nails in our pockets. So if you have done it before, then why couldn't you do it again?”

She stopped crying. She looked at me straight in the eyes and said, “You're absolutely right. I have done something even worse than killing my baby. My sin is what drove Jesus to the cross. It doesn't matter that I wasn't there pounding in the nails, I'm still responsible for his death. Do you realize the significance of what you are telling me, Becky? I came to you saying I had done the worst thing imaginable. And you tell me I have done something even worse than that.”

I grimaced because I knew this was true. (I am not sure that my approach would qualify as one of the great counseling techniques!) The she said, “But, Becky, if the cross shows me that I am far worse that I had ever imagined, it also shows me that my evil has been absorbed and forgiven. If the worst thing any human can do is kill God's Son, and that can be forgiven, then how can anything else - even my abortion - not be forgiven?”

I will never forget the look in her eyes as she sat back in awe and quietly said, “Talk about amazing grace.” This time she wept not out of sorrow but from relief and gratitude. I saw a woman literally transformed by a proper understanding of the cross.

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told by Rebecca Pippert in HOPE HAS ITS REASONS (1989)

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1301]

William Barclay, a famous Christian scholar, wrote:

We must be clear about one thing. The phrase which forbids a man to eat and drink unworthily does not shut out the man who is a sinner and knows it.

An old highland [i.e., Scottish] minister saw an old woman hesitate to receive the cup of communion. He stretched it out to her and said, "Take it, woman. It's for sinners, it's for you."

If the table of Christ were only for perfect people, no one might ever approach it. The way is never closed to the repentant sinner. To the person who loves God and other people the way is always open, and their sins, though they be as scarlet, shall be white like snow.

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Holwick - This version replaces one by Fredericksburg Illustrations which had an old man hesitating to receive communion; it was submitted by Donald Strobe. I believe Barclay is the original source.

Last evening the members of Neptune Engine Company, No. 7, of

Brooklyn, attended in a body the Second Baptist church, on Leonard

street, to listen to a sermon by Rev. A. B. Earle. As the announcement

was made public, the attendance at the church was so great that nearly

half that came could not get inside.

"The services were opened by prayer, followed by singing, after

which Mr. Earle delivered his discourse. He spoke in a plain but

earnest manner, engaging the deep attention of his audience.

The text selected was from Mark ix: 44 'Where their worm dieth not,

and the fire is not quenched.' He said he should call their attention

more particularly to the latter clause of the text. He thought nothing

would grieve them more than to meet with a fire which they could not

put out; they would go home sorrowful at heart should such an event

happen to them. They had often met and subdued this enemy--fire; they

had always quenched it; but he should speak to them of a fire which

could never be quenched.

"He then divided his text into two parts; first, What the worm is

that dieth not, and why it does not die; second, What the fire is that

is not quenched, and why it is not quenched.

"The worm that never dies is guilty memory,--the remembrance of

past guilt. Memory is like a living, gnawing worm, producing a

restless pain in the soul, as a gnawing worm would do in the vitals of

the body. Impressions once made upon the mind can never be effaced. A

name once heard or mentioned, though forgotten for a time, will return

in after years when circumstances shall recall it. Incidents of

childhood carry their recollection to the grave. Memory is active when

all else is still. In moments of peril the memory is more vivid and

active, and thoughts of the past crowd upon the brain with

inconceivable rapidity.

"Instances are often related of men in peril, by sea or land, who

have seen the events of former days; recalled by memory; words and

deeds they had thought forgotten have returned to them; their past

life has seemed to come before their mental vision with startling

reality. When the soul shall have dropped its fetters, and passed

beyond the restraints of flesh, memory will still be fresh and active.

This memory which tenants the body during life, and clings to the

spirit hereafter, is the gnawing of the deathless worm. This worm

draws all its nourishment from this world.

"He cited as an instance of the activity of memory, and its

effects, the case of a prisoner who was removed from one prison to

another, where the treatment was better. The man said he did not like

the new prison as well as the old one, although he did not have to

work as hard, had better food and kinder keepers; but in the new

prison the convicts were not allowed to speak to each other; and in

this terrible silence his memory was ever active--it was all think,

think, think. So it will be hereafter: we shall be constantly

thinking. We should therefore be careful how we store the memory,

since its recollections will ever be present with us.

"In the second part of his discourse he considered the fire that

can never be quenched.

"They might believe that no fire could break out in the city which,

by their skill and activity, they could not put out; and their

fellow-citizens, confident in their ability, went to their repose,

feeling that by the vigilance, tact, and energy of the firemen their

lives and property were secure. But there is a fire that cannot be

quenched: it is remorse, or the realization of our sin in the dark

world of despair. The Saviour says it is better to have but one eye

than to be cast into hell, where the worm dieth not and the fire is

not quenched.

"The fire of God's wrath is the sinner's realization of his

wickedness, and a guilty remembrance of the past. The reason this fire

cannot be quenched is, there is nothing there with which to quench it.

Suppose a building was wrapped in flames, and the firemen brought

their engines to the spot, but could find no water; they would be

powerless, however good their intentions. So with the fire of God's

wrath--the guilty remembrance in the world of despair; there will be

nothing with which to put it out; there is nothing here that can

quench it but the blood of Jesus.

"He called their attention to the heroic fireman, young Sperry, of

New Haven, who went into a burning building to save a child supposed

to be there, and lost his own life. He felt assured there was not one

among that company whom he addressed but would rush, as Sperry did,

into the flames to save a fellow-creature's life. So if he (the

speaker), by rushing into the flames of perdition, could drag a

brother out of the fire, how readily would he do it.

An Indian, who had been converted, was asked by a white man to

describe how religion came to him. He led the white man out to the

woods, and gathering some dry leaves, arranged them in a circle, and

put a little worm in the centre of it. He then set the leaves on fire.

The worm sought escape, first on one side, then on another, but there

was no way out; so, drawing itself again to the centre of the circle,

it sank into a numb and listless state. The Indian then lifted the

worm from the fire with his fingers, and said, "This is the way God

saved me! Jesus plucked me out of the flames.' So nothing but the hand

of God can save any one; nothing but the blood of Jesus can quench the

fires of a guilty soul.

"To be saved we must be born again. Some people suppose they would

be happy if they could get to heaven. They are mistaken; they could

not be happy there, unless this fire within them had been quenched

here. A guilty soul in heaven would be like a convicted murderer

pardoned at the last moment by the governor of a state. He is now a

free man, and the law cannot touch him. He returns to his home and his

family. His wife welcomes him back with joy, and his children gather

around him. still he cannot be happy: consciousness of guilt haunts

him. The governor may pardon, but cannot justify. Remorse preys upon

him, and he feels that he cannot stay in that happy home--it is no

place for him while blood is on his soul.

"The preacher then drew a metaphor, strikingly applicable to his

hearers, illustrating the free agency of man in his own salvation.

"Suppose the exterior of a building was constructed of fireproof

materials; fire could not reach it on the outside, and it could be

opened only from the inside. Suppose this building should; take fire

from the inside, and you knew there was a citizen within, liable to

perish in the flames. You would go there with your engine, and seek to

save him; but you could not reach the flames from the outside, and

could do nothing unless the man opened the door. If he would be saved,

he must open the door, and that speedily, for the flames were

gathering closer around him each minute. So it is with each of

us--every man holds the key of the door to his own heart. Jesus says

to every one, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if you will open

the door, I will come in and save you.'

"There is a fountain filled with blood that will extinguish this

fire, and it will be poured upon the guilty soul if the door is

opened; for the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. But when we

pass out of this world this blood cannot be obtained, and the fire

cannot be quenched." -- A. B. Earle, From: "Incidents Used ... In His

Meetings," published in 1888

A boy became very nervous and sick. Appetite and sleep departed.

The doctor could not find the cause. In his delirium he could be heard

to moan, "Oh, those eyes, those eyes!" When questioned what he meant,

he said, "The other day I saw a toad hopping along, trying to get away

from me; but I overtook him, and with a sharp stick I pinned him to

the ground. I stuck the sharp stick right through his back down into

the ground and left him there. Then a day or so later I went back to

see him, and he was still alive and looked right up at me, and, oh,

those eyes! He seemed to say, 'You did it.'', Then he explained that,

when he tried to eat or sleep, he could see those accusing eyes.

No matter how we try, we cannot escape from the all-seeing Eye of God!

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

RESISTING THE SPIRIT

Gentlemen:

Enclosed you will find a check for $150. I cheated on my income tax return last year and have not been able to sleep ever since. If I still have trouble sleeping I will send you the rest.

Sincerely,

A Tax Payer

In case you haven’t heard, our children are in danger of dying of cancer from chewing their vinyl toys. At least, that’s what we’ve been told on ABC News. As with all such reports, Americans instantly reacted with fear even panic. But the whole story makes me wonder, are Americans really afraid of toys -- or something else?

ABC’s News Magazine 20/20 recently broadcast a report about a link between phthalates, a chemical used to soften plastic, and the appearance of kidney tumors in mice. The report -- which was put together with the assistance of the environmental group Greenpeace -- strongly suggested that children who suck on toys containing phthalates are risking their health. But it now appears that reports of deadly rubber duckies and Barbie dolls have been greatly exaggerated. Science writer Michael Fumento of the Hudson Institute points out that while massive doses of phthalates did cause tumors in rodents, “other studies showed the chemical caused NO harmful [effects] in guinea pigs” and monkeys, or in human cells.

20/20 isn’t the only news outlet to run scary stories with little basis in fact. Not long ago, the U.N. estimated some 110 million landmines are buried around the world. Well, it turns out the 110 million estimate was a little bit off -- by about 100 million mines. A report from a Swiss foundation that clears landmines says the number is actually less than 2 million.

And then there are the population projections, terrifying us about famines, all of which have proven false. Killer Barbies? Landmines under every step? Why do so many Americans uncritically swallow such exaggerated and alarmist reports? Let me submit one possibility: Many moderns live with an inchoate sense of anxiety, even dread.

We can’t say why we feel this way, and we can’t point to anything we’ve done that would merit death from landmines or chemicals. Yet, the sense of unease is there. The endless gloom-and-doom reports, (remember the Alar and Radon scares?), reinforce this sense of dread. And where does it come from? I’m not a psychiatrist, but I wonder if it isn’t actually displaced guilt.

For all our noisy protestations, we know there’s something wrong with the way we’ve ordered our society. We know that if we were living as we ought to be living, men would not abandon their families, women would not line up in front of abortion clinics, and kids would not open fire in schoolyards. We see the consequences of our sin and folly, but we don’t admit the connection between cause and effect, at least not openly. We know we deserve God’s judgment, but instead of saying so, we look for punishment in all the wrong places. Stories of killer toys and poisoned apples feed our sense of guilt and impending doom. And this is precisely what God told us would happen. In Leviticus 26, He warns the Israelites that if they do not follow His commandments, they will live in such fear that they will flee even when no one is pursuing them.

Our irrational fears are the inevitable consequences of disobedience to God’s law. So when the next scary story comes out, examine the claims rationally and carefully. We don’t need to be bullied by groups peddling irrational fears. And ultimately, the most important thing is to teach our kids that the only healthy fear is fear of the Lord. That’s a fear that will save not only our Lives, but also our souls.

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Copyright (c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

I have heard that a great English prince went to visit a famous

king of Spain. The prince was taken down to the galleys to see the men

who were chained to the oars and doomed to be slaves for life. The

King of Spain promised, in honor of the prince's visit, that he would

set free any one of these men that the prince might choose. So the

prince went to one prisoner and said: "My poor fellow, I am sorry to

see you in this plight; how came you here?" "Ah, sire," he answered,

"false witnesses gave evidence against me; I am suffering wrongfully."

"Indeed," said the prince, and passed on to the next man. "My poor

fellow, I am sorry to see you here; how did it happen?" "Sire, I

certainly did wrong but not to any great extent I ought not to be

here." "Indeed," said the prince, and he went on to others who told

him similar tales.

At last he came to one prisoner who said: "Sire, I am often

thankful that I am here, for I am sorry to own that if I had received

my due I should have been executed. I am certainly guilty of all that

was laid to my charge and my severest punishment is just." The prince

replied wittily to him, "It is a pity that such a guilty wretch as you

are should he chained among these innocent men, and therefore I will

set you free. --C. H. Spurgeon

In a state of unbelief, a man in Providence, Rhode Island, began to pray. In this state it occurred to him that he could say the Lord's prayer. So he began, "Our Father which art in heaven." He said as soon as he uttered the words, he was convicted of his hypocrisy in calling God his Father. When he added the petition, "Hallowed be thy name," he said it almost shocked him. He saw that he was not sincere, that his words did not at all express the state of his mind. He did not care to have God's name hallowed. Then he uttered the next petition, "Thy kingdom come." Upon this, he said, he almost choked. He saw that he did not want the kingdom of God to come; that it was hypocritical of him to say so, and that he could not say it, as really expressing the sincere desire of his heart. And then came the petition, "Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." He said his heart rose up against that, and he could not say it. Here he was brought face to face with the will of God.

David Fidler, 49, had been a respected Darwin, Australia, news journalist for fifteen years; Fidler enjoyed the attention he received from those who believed him to be national Olympic champion ... none of which was true! The burden of these stories had accumulated in Fidler's mind and heart, but the weight was lifted when the lie of it all was revealed. Fidler recently admitted in an interview he had not swum for Australia at the 1968 games in Mexico. The former newscaster said, "The Olympic thing was something that was said that should not have been said and I didn't know how to unsay it. I wished I could, but I just didn't know how. For 15 years there wasn't a day go past when I didn't want it to stop. It was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head."

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Commentary: Believers have know the relief of confession for millennia. When sinners go before the Royal Throne of Grace and asks the Kings pardon the burden is lifted. At first it's a surprise! Most are aware something is wrong but are not able to put their finger on it. Only when the burden is lifted do they come to see it was their sin that burdened them. God is faithful to forgive us our sins if we would but ask. Psychiatrists have known for some time that most of their patients would experience a significant level of healing if they could simply experience forgiveness preceded by a healthy dose of confession.

Source/Attribution: Adapted from Australian Associated Press, National section, "Exposed Olympic lie a relief, says disgraced newsreader," 28 March 2000; John Gillmartin

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Simon Wiesenthal once penned the thought-provoking book, The Sunflower. His theme was the unshakable struggle that we as human beings have with guilt.

In the story, which was a true one, he related how he had been taken from a death-camp to a makeshift army hospital during World War II. One day he was ushered by a nurse to the side of a Nazi officer who had asked to have a few private moments with a Jew. Wiesenthal entered warily and was brought face to face with a fatally wounded man. The man turned towards him and spoke in little more than a cracked whisper as he unburdened his heart of a heinous crime he had committed: He had set ablaze an entire village of Jews. He was unable to silence from his memory the screams of those men, women and children as they burned to death at his command.

Why did the soldier beckon this stranger to his bedside? Knowing that he was dying, he made a last desperate effort to seek forgiveness from one whose people he had killed. Yet as the man pleaded with him, Wiesenthal could not bring himself to forgive him. In fact, during the confession, Wiesenthal tried to leave again and again but was implored by the soldier: "please stay." He needed to get this off his heart.

But the struggle was equally intense on the other side. At the hands of the Nazis Weisenthal had lost 89 of his own relatives. How could he, by a mere pronouncement or the wave of a hand, just absolve anyone of so monumental a crime against humanity? He left the room and walked away.

In the following years, Wiesenthal himself began to feel some confusion and uncertainty, wondering if he had done the right thing. So he wrote to 32 scholars around the world to seek an answer to what had become a vexing question: "Am I guilty in this too?"

What a vortex of human emotion swirls around this subject of guilt! We battle for it in our courtrooms and philosophize about it in our classrooms. We wrestle with it in private and deny it in public. We try to explain it away for ourselves, while denying others the same privilege. Yet we all must deal with guilt and the question remains: Where do we go to deal with it?

Guilt has, in fact, become the cornerstone of all neuroses according to some psychologists. Would it not be wonderful if we could find a way of removing it completely? But it can only be removed if the absolution and the penalty meet the demands of Justice and love. Such is the unique offer of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

[see also HolwickID #986 and #3036, and #34490]

A convenient escape for many a guilty person is to brush aside guilt as a cultural appendage. This view belies the belief that what is right and wrong is decided merely by cultural trends. Guilt, then, is an emotion felt only by those who succumb to a particular culture. However, such a dismissal of morality fails to take into account that even when we differ culturally in our behavior, the reasons that justify our behavior are often the same. In other words, all cultures have ethical similarities.

The very establishment of law and order in any community is because of the realization that without law and order plunder and savagery prevail. Or one could put it this way: Guilt is a good for any orderly society - not because guilt is an arbitrary product of society, but because guilt is a real and powerful thing that keeps us in check. The problem with dismissing guilt as cultural is that morality then becomes untenable.

When I was in war-torn Cambodia many years ago some friends took me to see a play which was a strange cross between fact and fantasy.

It was a story of a peasant man who married a young village woman. The prince, however, became captured by the village woman’s beauty and took her away to live with him. The peasant protest to the king but he was met with outrage. The king told the man he was lying and that the woman joined the prince by her own volition. Nevertheless, proceedings ensued under the direction of a priest and the peasant man was found to be telling the truth. Everyone in the audience roared with approval that the truth had come to light. Yet moments later the king ordered his soldiers to kill everyone who believed the peasant’s story.

Anyone in Cambodia knew the symbolic tragedy of the play. The voice of truth was silenced, and cruel men ruled the land. After the play ended I reflected how behind the drama lay some common values that bind humanity: The purity of marital love. The value of the truth. The cry to protect the innocent. The yearning of a people to see justice. These were not conferred culturally. These truths were evident to people even in a Marxist-dominated land.

To do away with guilt as purely a cultural distinctive does not reflect the reality of our shared experience. Moreover, it causes a "short circuit" with morality such that the covenant of marriage or acts of injustice can be dismissed at whim.

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Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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In the Bible the story of King David reads much like a modern day epic. He inspires us with his bravery and we root for him when he is struggling. But perhaps the most profound lesson we can learn from David is how to truly deal with the guilt in our lives. I am referring to the story of David when Nathan confronted him about his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.

After Nathan presented the parable of the man with many sheep who had stolen the only lamb of another, David could not resist declaring, "That man should surely die." Without him realizing, he had passed the right judgement upon himself. Nathan’s stare must have been devastating to David when he said, "You are the man."

Think of the number of ways that David could have dealt with his guilt. He could have had Nathan arrested and killed. He could have blamed Bathsheba. He could have claimed the divine right of kings. Arrogance could have found ways of self-exoneration. Murder and adultery were incredibly seriously offenses. Instead, he fell on his face before God and cried out with these heart-wrenching words found in Psalm 51:

"Have mercy upon me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only have I sinned

And done what is evil in your sight...

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;...

Cleanse me...wash me...Create in me a clean heart, O God

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it...

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

There is not a more familiar psalm of contrition. Here the worst of wrongdoing and guilt found forgiveness and peace. This is not a cheap prayer seeking escape. David did pay a price for his sin. But David’s heart was mended by understanding the destructiveness of sin and by the restoring touch of God.

Immediately after he prayed that prayer, he wrote in Psalm 32, "Happy is the person whose sin is forgiven." You see, when guilt is surrendered to the grace of God, it makes the sin forgivable. Rather than hearing you are "that" man or woman, we can now hear, "you are forgiven." How thrilling it is to hear those words and find a fresh start in life. Jesus offers that to you and to me.

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Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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Synopsis:

Officer ran a red light, killing a pregnant woman, her son, and her sister who were in a van going the other way. The officer was drunk. The officer is on trial for manslaughter.

A fellow officer is reported as testifying that the drunk officer had had several drinks that day but did not specify the number. “He was unsure how many drinks Mr. Gray had that day.”

When the accident happened, the officers arriving at the scene observed alcohol on the breath of the drunk officer. Here is a report of his condition and his evasions and lies at the time:

“Sgt. Michael Siciliano, the patrol supervisor who arrived at the scene, and Capt. Brian White, the duty commander that night, gave more detailed accounts, saying that a frantic and visibly shaken Mr. Gray smelled of alcohol and said that the victims had caused the accident.

“Sergeant Siciliano said that during questioning, Mr. Gray had told him: ‘Sarge, I never saw them. They walked right out in front of my car.’ The sergeant conceded that Mr. Gray had not immediately been handcuffed because he was a police officer.

“Captain White said that by the time he had arrived at the scene, it was clear that Mr. Gray had been drinking and was trying to freshen his breath by eating Altoids mints.

“Captain White testified that Mr. Gray, a former high school classmate, admitted as much, saying: ‘I was drinking, but it was earlier. I had the greens all the way,’ referring to traffic lights. ‘I didn’t see them coming,’ the captain quoted him as saying.

“For Mrs. Herrera’s family, it was a difficult day of testimony, particularly listening to Officer Conway and claims that Mrs. Herrera and her family had darted into traffic against a green light.

“‘He was drunk and sleep-deprived,’ said Ramona Hernandez, Mrs. Herrera’s aunt, referring to Mr. Gray, in an interview after the proceedings. ‘How could he know the difference between a red light or green light?’”

Dennis Newton was on trial in a district court of Oklahoma City for the armed robbery of a convenience store when he fired his lawyer. Assistant District Attorney Larry Jones said Newton, 47, was doing a fair job of defending himself until the store manager testified that Newton was the robber. Newton jumped up, accused the woman of lying and then said, "I should have blown your (expletive) head off!" The defendant paused, then quickly added, "If I'd been the one that was there."

The jury took 20 minutes to convict Newton and recommended a 30-year sentence.

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Stereo store technicians installing a car stereo in Orem, Utah, found a bag of marijuana in the customer's car and called the police. Officer Ryan Porter confronted the customer and asked if he knew why he was called. “The suspect hung his head and said, 'It's about the bicycle I just stole from in front of Media Play, isn't it?',” a police spokesman recounted. “Yes, that. And?” Porter replied. “It's about the marijuana pipe I have in my truck, right?” Porter again replied, “Yes, that. And?” The 19-year-old man, whose name was not reported, said he couldn't think of anything else, so Porter reminded him about the pot in the car and cited him for all three crimes.

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Salt Lake Tribune

When C. S. Lewis published his novel "That Hideous Strength" in 1946, issues like human cloning were the stuff of science fiction. But, as many of its readers have since come to realize, the book was prophetic; scientists today are debating whether or not to clone human beings.

The technology is in place, but Lewis's novel was prophetic in other ways, as well -- especially concerning the nature of morality. Scholars in a new field called evolutionary psychology are working busily to deconstruct moral behavior, exactly as Lewis anticipated. As Andrew Ferguson recently explained in The Weekly Standard, evolutionary psychologists see morality as "an illusion fobbed off on us by our genes." But where, we might ask, does this line of argument lead? And does it even make sense?

Well, think about the emotion of guilt. Maybe you're impatient and have a habit of honking at slow-moving drivers. You race yellow lights, going through on red most of the time. Now, suppose you're getting away with it. No traffic tickets, yet. But you have a growing sense of unease ... guilt feelings, in other words.

Evolutionary psychology holds that there's nothing real about this feeling: There's no objective basis to guilt. Humans have such emotions only because of our evolutionary past, so they say. If it was adaptive in the past to feel bad when our ancestors behaved certain ways, then that's what natural selection favored. But environmental conditions change, and what we regard as "right" and "wrong" can shift. And they claim there's no objective, biology-independent basis for morality.

C. S. Lewis saw this argument coming over fifty years ago, and put it into the mouth of the most terrifying character in his novel, Professor Frost. Frost tries to win over a protagonist, Mark Studdock, to the dark side, telling him to forget about fundamental human motivations like "right" and "wrong."

"Motives are not the causes of action," says Frost, "but its by-products ... when you have obtained real objectivity, you will recognize, not some motives, but all motives as merely animal."

Guilt? Remorse? According to Professor Frost, such things don't exist. They're illusions -- tricks of the mind.

In the novel, Mark Studdock finds this idea terrifying -- as well he should. If this is where the practice Frost calls "objective science" leads, then science has taken a terribly wrong turn. But, of course, what Frost calls "science" isn't really science at all.

By the same token, what evolutionary psychologists call "discoveries" aren't genuine knowledge; they're speculation. As Andrew Ferguson points out, much of evolutionary psychology rests on surmise and guesswork about what may be "adaptive."

In reality, our moral sense is grounded, not in what we adapt to, but in what is right and true. It may be adaptive to kill unwanted infants, as rats do when they're overcrowded. But it's morally wrong, because infants bear the image of God. And that's something we know objectively.

C. S. Lewis saw where science that denies God will ultimately lead: to unspeakable horror. And Christians need to examine the claims of science just as critically. Science is not value-free, because truth itself is a value -- and what is right and what is true have the same Source.

For further reference:

Ferguson, Andrew. "Evolutionary Psychology and its True Beliefs." The Weekly Standard, 19 March 2001.

Lewis, C. S. That Hideous Strength. New York: MacMillan Co., 1946.

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Copyright (c) 1999 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Dear Pastor Holwick,

I was on the web and came across your church's web site [church.holwick.com]. I just want to tell you I was surprised when I saw your church in Ledgewood, New Jersey! My wife and I moved to Texas in the early 70's. My wife was born in Dover, New Jersey, we lived in Mount Freedom just up the road from Ledgewood. I lived in Morristown and my sister lives in Morris Plains. Your site brought back so many memories that I had to write. Who would ever know what God has planned for their lives until you follow that still small voice within. I left New Jersey because my wife and I had 2 small children and we wanted a house but the cost of living was just too much in New Jersey. My wife's mother had moved to Texas 2 years before we came, sight unseen. Over the years I have come to love the Lone Star State but not its summers.

Back in 1994 I neither knew God nor that he cared for me. But I had a horrible accident that year in which I ran over a young man with the 18-wheeler I was driving. The young man died - he was the son of my boss. The pain and guilt I felt that day was more than anything I have ever felt. The accident was not my fault but the shame and guilt hurt so much. My boss that day hugged me and said "I know it wasn't your fault, we'll get through this." I know now that God was speaking through this man. Many people told me I would be all right and that time would heal.

I told them that I didn't need a doctor but something else. I knew I wanted to see a pastor. I went to the funeral and then to the church where I and a friend, who knew Christ, went to the pastor's office. The pastor said something I thought I would never hear from a "preacher." He said, "I can't help you but I know someone who can. Have you ever accepted Jesus Christ into your life?" I told him if he can take away this guilt and shame that I feel inside, yes, I'll except him. I was crying so hard that I couldn't control it. We all three got on our knees and he led me in the sinner's prayer. When I said "amen" God hit me in the chest and a smile came to my face and the tears dried up. The pastor told me he had never seen anyone have an experience like what he saw in me. But I knew inside God had come to me and hugged me even harder.

I have never been the same since: my life has a passion for Jesus Christ that I can't explain. I have studied the Bible more that most people I know. I started the Hands of Grace Jail Ministries in our town. I go to the Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center where I preach to the young people there.

In September of this year I was ordained a pastor. I love Jesus and all I want to do is serve him. So you see from New Jersey to Texas, God was with us. When I look back over my life I can see where God has been leading my wife and me just like Abraham and Sara. When I saw your site all this stirred in me and I felt I should write. Feel free to use this if you wish. Oh, by the way, is Joe's Pizza still on 46 in Ledgewood? May God richly bless you and your family.

Just Dan

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Guilt is a universal fact and feeling that compels all of us either to deal with it or to find a convincing means to explain it away.

The first response that one may have, and many fall into this attitude towards guilt, is to expel personal and public guilt with a brazen irreverence. This is a posture that implies that nothing in life is essentially sacred and that guilt is a conditioned response orchestrated by religion. What they argue is that religion is something manufactured, to control others with guilt and fear. Even legal theorists are now calling only for the appearance of wrong, rather than calling something wrong.

One wonders whether such a stance is nothing more than a valiant attempt to desensitize everyone, so that no one is left to remind us of our guilt. Watch next time as either a sitcom or a political power player shows us how far we have come down the road of trivializing things that are clearly wrong.

And yet, guilt haunts. Oscar Wilde poignantly demonstrates the self-destructive nature of irreverence in his book The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian flippantly says that morals "are of much less value than a good chef...for even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for cold entrees." Have we really come to value a good meal over the pleasure of a good person, or a good deed, or even of a good God? Dorian himself ended up proving that absolute irreverence destroys the very individual who tests it out. We see this replayed again and again. We laud somebody for being a great speaker or athlete or actor, and disregard an irreverent lifestyle behind it. Can this really be a coherent path for civilization. The answer is No.

Why? Because mockers do not play by their own rules when the tables are turned and something they regard as sacred is vilified.

Far too much damage is done when we deal irreverentially with matters that to many are sacred. Those who mock the sacred and deny the reality of guilt will find themselves desacralized and none guilty for treating them as such in a world of horrors. At some point guilt must be acknowledged, or else the irreverent will end up victimizing everyone, including themselves.

In short, expelling guilt by irreverence is unlivable.

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Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

The maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to the serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.

This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units.

This defect has been technically termed, Subsequential Internal Non-Morality,’ or more commonly known as S-I-N, as it is primarily symptomized by loss of moral judgment.

Some other symptoms include:

(a) Loss of direction

(b) Foul vocal emissions

(c) Amnesia of origin

(d) Lack of peace and joy

(e) Selfish, or violent behavior

(f) Depression or confusion in the mental component

(g) Fear

(h) Idolatry

The manufacturer, who is neither liable or at fault for this defect, is providing factory authorized repair and service, free of charge to correct this SIN defect.

The number to call for the recall station in your area is: P-R-A-Y-E-R.

Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN by pressing R-E-P-E-N-T-A-N-C-E. Next, download J-E-S-U-S into the heart. No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, the JESUS repair will replace it with:

(a) Love

(b) Joy

(c) Peace

(d) Longsuffering

(e) Gentleness

(f) Goodness

(g) Faith

(h) Meekness

(i) Temperance

Please see operating manual, HOLY BIBLE, for further details on the use of these fixes.

WARNING: Continuing to operate the human unit without correction, voids the manufacturer’s warranty, exposing owner to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on J-E-S-U-S.

DANGER: The human units not receiving this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect must not enter heaven or else heaven will be infected.

Author: The Creator.

I never meant to say it. I wasn't even thinking about it. It has been more than 10 years. But for some reason, when the professor asked each of the seven women in class that night to answer, “What is it that most people don't know about you?” my reply was, “I've had not one, but two abortions.” My statement hung in the air. The other students were as shocked as I that I had said it.

There is hardly a more socially unacceptable disclosure. However, in my personal files are copies of not one -- but two -- documents which have the title, “Consent to Abortion.” If I told you the story, most Christians would not condemn me. Preserving the mother's life is a scenario in which most evangelicals accept that the termination of a pregnancy is allowed. Yet, the truth I live with is that there was a point in time where I agreed that life, alive and growing within me, would be terminated. When we begin to talk about people who have terminated life, that includes me.

Within the week, four of the eight people present to hear my statement had called to confess that they also had experienced an abortion. Though I was still shocked that I had made the disclosure, I was not shocked to learn their secrets.

Who were these women? They ranged in age from their mid-20s to mid-40s. Some were married and some were single. Three were believers active in local churches who had made decisions they now regret. Yet none had ever shared their reality with another person -- not even their husbands or families. One told me that even during two years of intensive marital therapy she never found the courage to confess -- even to her counselor.

These women mirror other women God has brought into my path. Women who share their truth only because my journey through abortion is not something I have to keep secret. Through the years I've talked with deacons' wives whose husbands were unaware of their past. Women on church and denominational staffs have shared what they don't dare reveal to others.

The reality of many women in our churches is that their abortions were in secret at crisis points in their lives. I don't condone their actions but, having talked to many of them, it is clear to me that they, too, believed at the time that abortion was their only choice. I've never talked to one who doesn't grieve her choices and long for the child she gave up.

Another common thread for these women is the belief that the reality of their life's experience must be kept secret. Most people have someone in their church and in their work-a-day world who carry the burden of a secret abortion.

Any mother who has lost a child will tell you that few days pass without thinking of that child. Fortunately, the circumstances of my life allow me to share that pain and that regret with a husband who was just as distraught as I over the realities. When I need to grieve, when news of possible long-term health issues connected with terminated pregnancies is the headline of the day, and when well-meaning, but unknowing fellow Christians voice their disgust and disapproval over women who choose abortion -- I have someone to stand with me. Yet the women who have shared with me over the years do not have that luxury.

The third Sunday in January is observed by many evangelical churches as Sanctity of Life Sunday. As your Sunday School class or your Bible study group focuses on Sanctity of Life, do talk about and share a witness of a God who is definitely, unequivocally pro-life. Articulate clearly the options available to women in crisis pregnancies. Commit to being God's instrument of life to those around you.

But even more so, share a witness of a God who is pro-grace. Proclaim a God who extends grace to cover all our mistakes. Speak a word of understanding and forgiveness to those who have made the mistake of abortion. Share your belief and joyful anticipation of a time when all of us (“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23) -- ALL of us will be able to stand before God the Father and experience the privilege of full forgiveness.

The woman who needs to hear it just may be sitting beside you.

__________

This first-person piece is submitted anonymously in the writer's hope that each reader will consider thoughtfully whether she may be in their church.

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A strong current in American Evangelicalism is gnosticism - religion is primarily having a personal spiritual experience or enlightenment that is divorced from tradition, Scripture or moral considerations.

Professor Harold Bloom says this American gnosticism carries with it strong antinomian impulses that can effectively set the believer beyond good and evil. Once one has been “alone with Jesus” or “saved,” petty moral considerations can fall away with distressing regularity.

Philip Yancey offered a case study in these pages when he wrote of a friend of his named Susan, a Christian who told Yancey “that her husband did not measure up and she was actively looking for other men to meet her needs for intimacy”:

When Susan mentioned that she rose early each day to “spend an hour with the Father,” I asked, “In your meetings with the Father, do any moral issues come up that might influence this pending decision about leaving your husband?”

Susan bristled: “That sounds like the response of a white Anglo-Saxon male. The Father and I are into relationship, not morality. Relationship means being wholly supportive and standing alongside me, not judging.”[1]

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1. Philip Yancey, “Nietzsche Was Right,” Books & Culture (January/February 1998), pp. 14–17.

[complete article is at #28052]

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The famous psychiatrist, Karl Menninger, wrote a book called, “Whatever Happened to Sin?” As a psychiatrist he found that many of his patients felt no guilt for things they had done. They had no sense of absolute values. Instead they felt they were just ill or different. Menninger believes this attitude has contributed to the moral rot of our nation.

In a novel titled THE QUIET AMERICAN, Graham Greene tells a story set in Saigon in 1952. Narrating the story is the hardened British journalist, Thomas Fowler, who reports from Vietnam during the French occupation. His bitter cynicism for each of the parties involved is essentially a suspicion of the motives of people in general, fueled by the images of a war-torn nation, feed by his own darkened purposes, jaded atheism, and drug-induced stupors. At one point, Fowler comments of his surroundings, “I envied those who could believe in a God, and I distrusted them. I felt they were keeping their courage up with a fable of the changeless and the permanent. Death was far more certain than God.”(1)

When Fowler first comes in contact with a young American named Pyle, he immediately finds himself wanting to take the naïve idealist under his wing. But eventually attitudes shift with the plot, and the vague “quiet American” becomes the target for murder, while Fowler is confronted with a choice to conspire. The tension is unavoidable. How can a man void of belief in God and moral law make an irrevocable moral verdict? And what if that verdict involves self-seeking motives? His final decision leaves a crushing imprint, and the novel ends with Fowler's haunting lament: “[H]ow I wished there existed someone to whom I could say I was sorry.”(2)

I have spoken of the strange phenomenon of finding oneself grateful without anyone in particular to thank. I should think that finding yourself sorry and having no one to whom you can express regret would be all the more troubling.

Forgiveness and justice are qualities yet on the lips of those who proclaim that we do not live in a moral universe, but a universe void of order and purpose. As one humanist society declares, “Our forgiving self is the strongest, most loving part of who we are.” Another explains, “If we pray, we know we are talking to ourselves - and who doesn't do that, and gain benefit from it? If we ask forgiveness, and for the strength to follow the light of our conscience, we know we are expressing our desire to be better people.”

But how is there such a thing as “the light of conscience” if there is no moral universe, and we are but time and chance? How can we speak of the power of forgiveness if there is no higher law? How can we find ourselves in need of forgiveness if there exists no one to ask?

According to many psychologists today, guilt is the cornerstone of all neuroses. In fact, guilt is one of the oldest sentiments ever expressed in writing, and it is dealt with in the earliest verses of Scripture. In the opening pages of Genesis, we find Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes after they had eaten from the forbidden tree. God’s voice called out to them, “Where are you?” The question was not uttered to reveal which bush they crouched behind, but the condition we've been hiding from ever since.

With the blood of Uriah on his hands, King David cried in anguish before the LORD, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. ... Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place... Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity” (Psalm 51:3,6,9). Our consciences cry out against us: We live in a moral universe, made in the image of a just Creator. Our need for mercy is met by ears that long to hear. David's intolerable guilt was stamped out by the overwhelming grace of God. Chapters later, David declares, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.” (Psalm 130:3-4)

There is someone to ask.

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1. Graham Greene, The Quiet American (New York: Penguin Books, 1973), 44.

2. Ibid., 189

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Copyright © 2005 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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