A brief philippic by writer Chris Kratzer is presently making social media rounds. "Evangelical Christian: What the hell did you expect me to do?" is premised on a foolish and blasphemous fancy. 

I'm not an evangelical, but a lifelong traditional Catholic. Still, the obvious flaw in Kratzer's message compelled me to comment.

Reduced to vital essence, it asserts that believers in a loving Christ are hypocrites if they don't also embrace sinful behaviors.

That notion enjoys favor from those who would remake God to reflect current secular peculiarities. (Of course, we are called to change the world, not indulge its negatives.) Loving people who sin, while despising actions that violate His Will, is very much in accord with Jesus's example.

John 8 recounts that while Christ refused to condemn a woman accused of adultery, He counseled her to "sin no more."

Jesus advocated turning away from deviant actions, not embracing them as one's legitimate 'identity.' Christ's admonition is the polar opposite of the 'anything goes' philosophy espoused by Kratzer and his weak-willed adherents. 

There are unchanging Holy standards. Man lacks authority to alter them. They should not be thought vulnerable to popular preference for convenience and comfort. Perverting Christ's message so that deviancy is allowed to thrive without being rightly criticized is contemptible. 

We are all sinners who have fallen short of God's glory. I'm no exception. Baptized into the Catholic Church as an infant, and having attended daily morning masses and even a parochial elementary school, I turned my back on God as a young man. For decades, I called myself an agnostic. 

Some five years ago, I realized my foolishness and returned to the Catholic Church. I asked God's forgiveness for my doubt. 

So I'm hardly qualified to throw stones, to again reference John 8. But I certainly can discern Christ's words accurately, and decry misrepresentations of them.

Placing human logic above God's Word is of course folly. But more importantly, it is dangerous. Romans 12:2 can guide us: "And be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God."

A later verse speaks of "Hating that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good." 

Despite Kratzer and others who misinterpret Jesus's message, right and wrong were defined by the Father long ago. One can accept that or not, but reinvention is not an available option.

Iowan DC Larson is the author of Ideas Afoot. His political blog is https://americanscenemagazine.blogspot.com/

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