Our right of choice lays upon us moments of serious consequences. Often it is impossible to retrieve the outcomes of the choices we make. They are cast, as it were, in irretrievable molds. For that reason, we must weigh carefully every decision we make.
Every decision we make has moral consequences. We cannot operate in a moral vacuum. To put it another way, we cannot operate in a no-moral zone, commonly called “the gray zone.” We are either moral creatures all the time or we are moral creatures at no time. We cannot turn it on or off at will. We are what we are all the time.
The moral climate of the United States through the years has swung more and more to the no-moral zone. In the short run, it appeals to many of our fellow citizens, supposedly relieving them of responsibility, at least for the moment. The word of God teaches us in Romans 14:12 that “every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” That means we are personally accountable to God. From that, there is no escape.
Of course, this is not the first age or country when people planned to evade the judgment of God. The human family has a horrendous record of trying to run away from God and responsibility.
Recent decades have brought this into the public square with a new venom poisoning the minds of the multitudes to the belief that what God has said in His word can hardly be expected to apply in this enlightened near 21st century.
The anti-moral crowd has chopped away at the moral law of the Bible until they have caused many to not only ignore what the Bible teaches, but they have ridiculed its truth, replacing it with the empty philosophies of men.
The apostle Paul faced this same attitude in his day. He lived in the age of the Greek philosophers, men of keen minds. Their teachings penetrated all levels of society. In I Corinthians 15:29-34 the apostle wrestles with the results of several of these improper philosophies.
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak [this]to your shame.
Here Paul teaches us how to avoid the INDULGENCES that lead to IMPROPER LIFESTYLES.
The first indulgence to avoid is:
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
If there is no resurrection, the apostle says, “why be baptized for the dead?”
Let me point out immediately that the apostle Paul is not condoning the practice. He is showing how ridiculous it is. The argument is called ad absurdum, meaning “reduced to an absurdity.”
Well, you see Paul was standing there with those who said there was no resurrection and yet baptized for the dead, which practice refuted their basic position. He said that if there is no resurrection, then why be baptized for the dead.
In the inmost spirit of every person is the fact of death. We know we will not live here foreve...
