Page 8 - 2015 On The Path

8 – Sunday, October 25, 2015 – El Dorado NEWS-TIMES
Who will have the courage to help?
The wiry woman leaning against the wall smirked, “See these sneakers.”
She stuck out her foot.
“I didn’t pay for them. I just took them.” The guy raised his eyebrows and mused, “I
always wondered who did that.”
He had no hint of admonition in his voice, not
even a casual, “So that’s why the shoes are so expensive at that shop.” With not even the most minimal of con- frontations, she will do it again.
The members of the diet club greeted weekly losses, gains or
a plateaus of weight with mild cheers for loss
We need a willingness to admit our sins, our flaws, our law- breaking. We need to accept all have sinned and come up short.
needs to go home and get dressed.” In- stead the moral compass of individu- als, communities and the nation moves a bit further off center.
It isn’t enough to simply say, “ev- eryone sins.” Obviously everyone — except Christ — has sinned. He did not throw a rock — instead he emphasized she had sinned and she must stop.
Joan Hershberger or plateaus and a News-times staff writer and col- soothing, gentle,
emperor has no clothes.”
No one likes a whistle blower that brings
an accounting of her actions. Those who say, “That’s wrong” find themselves scorned or reminded they are to “Judge not” or told that Christ said, “Let him who is without sin among you, throw the first stone.”
Following those words the stones dropped as the religious leaders silently walked away from the woman caught in adultery (not the man — he is never mentioned.)
Once they all left, Christ asked, “Does no one condemn you?”
“None.”
“Neither do I.”
Most people stop right there in relating the
event.
Christ did not. He continued on, “Go, and sin
no more.”
He knew the sin and the punishment she
deserved. Only the mercy of God kept her from that punishment and told her to not do it again. That is the moral compass society misses to- day. No one says, “Shoplifting hurts everyone; it
raises the cost of all the shoes,” or asks “Why did you gain this week?” or dares say, “The emperor
Many have claimed a great promise for our nation: Deuteronomy 7:14 “If my peo- ple, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
It is a great verse with great promise. Some- times the humbling begins when someone says, “That’s not right, that hurts you and many oth- ers, that is shameful.”
If no one sets a standard, the community be- comes like Israel before the advent of King Saul and King David. Throughout the book of Judg- es, before and after each recording of yet anoth- er ungodly action, the scriptures say, “there was no king in the land.”
When the king (or other leader) misuses their authority and position, their shameful sin also destroys the nation. In the time of Christ, John the Baptist dared say Herod lived in adultery.
It cost John his head — a harsh consequence
for speaking the truth. And would be reason enough for most to keep quiet, but the truth still needs to be spoken.
See COURAGE on page 9
New Beginnings
Your dreams - our mission.
umnist. “That’s OK” for gains — not a
sympathetic, “what happened? What will you do differently next week?”
In the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes, the adults feared losing their jobs if they spoke the truth. Because they kept silent, the emperor marched proudly down the street wearing noth- ing except his pride. Only a child too young
to worry about a job and eagerly anticipating the fantastic clothes declared the obvious, “The
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