I can empathize with why certain people believe in reincarnation. This whole concept of one life sometimes seems so unfair. It demands that you do everything perfectly all the time. You cannot afford to make mistakes. There are no make ups and do overs in this life. Each person is allotted one hourglass of time and you cannot beg, borrow or steal another.

 So it astounds me how casually so many regard the conduct of sin. The consequence of sin is a deadly serious affair and no laughing matter. One sin can rupture a life and derail a career without the possibility of human repair.

God and the devil fully comprehend the disaster that looms in the body of sin. Hence the reason why the former implores us not to sin and the latter lures you to sin.

Sin by its very nature causes physical, natural and spiritual separation, destruction and death.

You spend your entire life building something noble and worthwhile and in a fleeting instant it can all come undone, crashing down like a house of cards. In one brief lapse of judgement, one temporary moment of weakness, it can all fall apart. The saddest part of all, more often than not, our downfall is engineered by the actions of our own hands.

Forget the devil made me do it. That is Geraldine, Flip Wilson, television fantasy not founded in reality. The harsh truth is the devil cannot make you do anything unless you let him. We do not discount or deny demonic possession but the basic origin of the disorder is found in the verse, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then, desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”  - James 1: 14-15.

Because the desire, objective and aim of God for his children is, “Lead us not into temptation ,but deliver us from evil.” - Matt. 6:13.

From the beginning of time we have never been able to either handle or master the business of sinning. History has taught us that even the best, brightest, strongest, wisest or most spiritual amongst us make a complete wreck of our lives and those around us when we fall in the clutches of sin. Nevertheless, even though God who knows everything tells us it is bad idea, we continue to do it. With foolhardy arrogance, we persist on down that road where we have never seen or heard about anything turning out well. We convince ourselves that we will be the one to get away with it.

Yet, time after time it is the same result.  We find ourselves naked and ashamed taking refuge behind a bush like Adam and Eve. Consider for a moment how deep and far reaching the harmful effects of those two disobedient people in that distant garden were.

Biblical Repercussions

 We cause the death of our wife and children like Achan.

 We lose our freedom, sight and self respect like Samson.

 We impregnate the wife of a loyal soldier, orchestrate his death, displease our God who took us from the sheep fold to the palace like David.

 We betray our Lord and Saviour for thirty pieces of silver like Judas.

Today’s Repercussions

Two incidents I read about this week vividly illustrate all of the above negative consequences of sin.

Bob Coy the former pastor of Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale, acknowledged an extramarital affair. The phrase he used that, “one day  I will disappoint you,” could not begin to describe the horror he has unleashed on his unsuspecting friends ,family and parishioners.

David Ullman, an accountant and lawyer, served on the board of directors of the Polk Education Foundation. This past Tuesday, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment for soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl. Ullman told the judge that more than five pastors and several close friends were attending his sentence hearing to support him.

“For the record, my wife and family are committed to standing beside me,” Ullman said. “However, they are not here today only because of the intensity with which some members of the media have followed this case.” He said he wanted to protect his family from such insensitive coverage, according to the  Winter Haven News Chief.

Sin creates so many difficult complications for people that their lives turn upside down and will never again be the same. In one fell swoop, you carve out in the earth a chasm I would call a “but” impasse or divide. Hereinafter, whenever your name is mentioned one will hear the disclaimer, “he or she is but……..”

If your life was on an incline, no matter how hard you work or how long you try, you will never again occupy the same peak that was yours prior to the fall.

Christians who intellectually understand the concept of forgiveness, and they will vehemently deny this, will find it difficult to forgive you. They will tolerate you and show you some measure of support but you will never be fully embraced.

Even if you somehow manage to overcome that hurdle you may find it impossible to forgive yourself. Judas the disciple is a prime example. In short, it is an absolute mess and ordeal for everyone within your circle.

As your whole existence unravels in front of your eyes, you become excruciatingly aware of the wisdom in the adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” You now fully realize how less costly and time consuming it is to prevent a breakdown than repair a life as the fallout afflicts more than you and your immediate family.

To grasp more fully the ramifications of sin, I consulted two people whom I greatly respect and admire about the incidents recounted above. Please be aware they are committed Christians who genuinely love the Lord and I do not doubt their sincerity for a moment. Moreover, they are fully conversant in the Holy Scriptures.

I dare say the attitude they express is the same entertained inwardly by the majority of Christians even though they may be hesitant to admit it.

Pastor Terrell Matthews – who I wrote about in my last column - has been sober and faithful for 31 years after what one would describe as a fairly eventful life, to say the least. I solicited his opinion about Pastor Bob. The following is the gist of his reply for your acceptance or rejection.

Temptation abounds and will remain a constant throughout our lives. As a man of God in general and a pastor in particular, you must decide every day before you leave your house you will not yield to temptation before you face it. You subdue your mind and members of your body to the Holy Spirit of God and remain confident that He will shield you.  Joseph, when faced with the seductress, Potiphar’s wife, did not say I cannot do this to Mr. Potiphar because he has been so nice to me. His stern rebuke was, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” thereby reminding us that our relationship with God is so precious and inviolate that we dare not break it. In other words, we need to maintain a healthy fear of God.

Pastor Bob, he says, can be forgiven for what he has done but he can never again be his pastor or preach to him. To underline his stance, he offered this analogy. Let’s assume you have known a pastor for a long time who has proven to be a good ,trustworthy and faithful man. Someone tells you that he or she saw your pastor leaving Motel 6 at 3 a.m. with a young lady in tow. You will swear up and down that that is a vicious lie and vile accusation because that is not the person you have come to know and love.  Later on, it is revealed to be true.

From that moment on, no matter what that person does if a rumor swirls around him and comes to your ears there will always be a hesitation and question in your mind. The denial will never again be quite so fast and ready or as strong as before.

Somewhere in the back of your mind an annoying voice will prod you, “I know he says he has changed but…..”

Whenever he is in the pulpit or heard on the radio you will always struggle with,  “he preaches the right word but……”

Regrettably until the day he dies, and this is more our failure than his, he will be more identified with his vices than his virtues.

Somewhat in jest, I showed my wife the newspaper article about David Ullman. I mentioned the missteps of Govs. Jim McGreevy and Elliot Spitzer and President Bill Clinton. I jokingly asked if I were to fall short could I expect her to stand by her man. She was not amused. Her expression was almost funereal in its appearance. Nary a smile creased her lips as her response was swift and immediate in her native Jamaican patois, “Nah, Nah badda wid dat.  Nuh luk fi me, I won’t  be there.”

So much for the notion of grace or the matter of forgiveness seventy times seven.

To buttress her position she reminded me of a scripture from her devotional about the grave responsibility of a Christian person in the church and the world.

“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of the human hearts.” – 2 Corinthians 3:3

If I have ears to hear, let me hear.

I have been warned.

To ensure a happy life and a happy wife, I and everyone else need to adhere to the words of the Master.

Go and sin no more.

V. Knowles is a husband and father with an interest in penning issues that serve to uplift mankind. He melds his love for Classic literature, The Bible and pop culture - as sordid as it may be - into highly relatable columns of truth, faith and justice. Hence the name: Just Thinking. If he's not buried in a book or penning his next column, you may find him pinned to his sectional watching a good old Country and Western flick.