We are all such moral monsters that we find it rather easy to other-ize other moral monsters. That is, because our sin blinds us to our sin, while making the sins of others bright as a thousand blazing suns, we see ourselves, and perhaps our friends and family on one side of a great moral divide, with Hitler, Jezebel and whoever is annoying us at the moment on the other. Which is one of the benefits of a vigorous practice of the RC Sproul Jr. Principle of Hermeneutics. It helps us learn to recognize ourselves in the grotesque moral darkness of others.
Consider Lot. Not one of our favorite characters in the Bible. We credit him with seeking to rescue the angels from the deviant sexual appetites of his neighbors. But then, he seems to offer up his daughters in their stead. Not a man we want to emulate. But he is the kind of man that shows us the kind of men we really are. Some years ago I remember driving by a forlorn group of teens whose carwash fundraiser was clearly a dud. They were raising money for a mission trip. Just down the road, however, was another carwash fundraiser, this one for the marching band of the local high school. Two worthy causes, one could argue. So why was the second one over-run with customers while the other had tumbleweeds blowing through? The latter advertised itself as a “Bikini Car Wash.” That’s right. The local high school and the parents approvingly sent out their underage girls to raise money through titillation. And the local community drove in in droves.
Consider the Nazis. There’s a culture so debased, so vile that they are the very poster child of evil. The principle reason for this? Because the Nazis systematically put to death roughly 6 million men, women and children for the crime of being Jewish. We, as Americans, may have our embarrassing moments, but at least we’re not like those Nazis. Except we are, only worse. Over the past 46 years we have seen mothers and fathers murder their own unborn children over 60,000,000 times, all for the crime of being unborn. And lest you want to other-ize all these on the basis that these mothers and fathers must be unbelievers, statistics suggest that 12,000,000 of those babies were the children of professing evangelical believers.
No, we’re not on one side of a great moral divide, with monsters on the other side. We are all the monsters. We are all on the same side. That doesn’t mean, of course, that all men are equally as bad as other men. It does mean that what separates the more wickedness from less wickedness is not found in us, but in the grace of God. If I’m less of a monster than Hitler, it’s not because of me. Which means that when I witness acts of moral degradation the moral response isn’t to look down my nose at those notorious sinners who are so beneath me, but to praise and thank the living God who is so above me. And to plead that He would not let me go, lest I should fall and do likewise.