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Perception Changes Can Be Dangerous The other day I filled up one of the vans and paid $2.569 a gallon. My first reaction was one of jubilation and joy. After all $2.569 is less than $3.079. More I thought about it, more it struck me how my perception of gas prices had changed. Three years ago $2.569 a gallon would have been highway robbery. But we have been conditioned by post Hurricane Katrina to pay more than $2.00 a gallon for gas. Perception changes can be good or bad, and our perception changes for different reasons. Inflation changes prices and we have to adjust. I grew up hearing from my parents that with a quarter one could buy a whole grocery sack of food. With a $10 bill you could buy a cow and if you had $100 the sky was the limit. Of course they grew up during the depression and no one had $100 or $10 for that matter. Today we may complain about the cost of food, but we have the money to purchase it. If I wait until a candy bar cost a dime or a hamburger at McDonald’s fifteen cents I will starve to death. So we adjust to inflation. Some people perceive that nothing has changed in the Bible. They fail to see a distinction between the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian Dispensations. At the death of Jesus the Law of Moses was fulfilled. "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt 5:18). Thus it was abolished, Ephesians 2.15, taken out of the way. "And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Colossians 2.14b). One can talk about the "good old days" or the Old Law, but we no longer live under that law. We must obey Christ and His word. Animal sacrifices, temple worship, Levitical Priesthood, and other parts of the Law of Moses no longer apply to us. Instead of remembering the Sabbath Day we remember the Lord’s Death on the first day of the week. It does no good to go back to the Old Testament to try and establish authority for what we do today. We are under the Law of Christ. At the same time we must understand that some things do not change despite the change in our perception. For instance, sin and the consequences of sin. We live in a culture of depravity. No longer is it disgraceful for a young lady to have a baby out of wedlock, two men to live together as "lovers", or to do a whole host of sins. To say sin is wrong is old fashion to a lot of people. We can not redefine sin to make it less offensive or simply dismiss it. Sin is transgression of God’s Law, 1 John 3.4; missing the mark i.e. not keeping God’s word, not doing what is right, James 4.17. The consequence of sin is death, Romans 6.23a. It separates man from God for eternity if not repented of and forgiven. Perception change aside, sin is bad and we should never forget it. "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18.20a). The problem in perception change is gradual. Just as we have been conditioned to higher gas prices over the last three years we are conditioned to accept sin by ungodly people around us. I can remember the days when Rob and Laura Petrie on the "Dick Van Dyke" show slept in separate beds. Now we have people of the same sex kissing on television. The change to homosexual characters, profanity, and situation ethics has been over the years. Much like a leaky faucet gradually causes decay and rot over time so has our perception changed, thus the danger. D.T. |